Goofy Newfies.

So, this morning...it's raining and Freya went outside to do her business and came RIGHT back in before she finished. At least we know she's smart enough to come in out of the rain. When the rain let up, she ran way out into the cornfield to do it! Good dog! I was so proud of her...until I noticed her foot prints...uh, maybe this will accelerate my ripping up of the carpet in my house.

Yesterday, Gwen and Roger brought Buster Brown, their brown Newfy up to play with Freya. We had a blast. Dogs swam, retrieving things unto exhaustion. Here they are, shaking in tandem. There was quite a bit of slobber in the kitchen all at once.

Photos on blogger: I give up. I put them up in order; I rearrange them. The way they appear has nothing to do with how I posted them. It's not worth spending time rearranging. Back to working on my writing.

Before and After

What else I did this summer. Josh and Emily bought a house, by definition--a fixer-upper. I helped last weekend, and one of the things we did was this room. See Closet door before and after, and the whole room before and after. Now that is a feeling of accomplishment.

Tour de Suisse...once again, almost famous!

So I've been out of the loop for two days, helping Josh and Emily work on their house. Tonight, I checked on the Tour de Suisse, only to find out that Cancellera (one of my favorite riders) won the prologue in Lugano, Switzerland! We (students and Kurt and I) were in Lugano just a couple weeks ago. I took this photo from Lugano, looking across the bay--look! It's the same mountain in this photo of Cancellera's winning ride! But wait. Eek.

Blogger cuts off the photo; Cancellera's not even in the picture the way blogger crops it! So check it out here if you're interested. Here's a youtube of most of the ride--the crazy fast turns on a downhill ride. Scaryfast.

Sirocco!

I'm not flaunting this, but I think I have a pretty good idea how it feels to ride a bike in a Sirocco.

I just got done with 43 miles in howling HOT wind. Went through five bottles and got blasted with gravel, dirt, and sun. Not sure why other than it's what I do. I'm not sure it was fun, but it feels good to have done it.

The funny thing: I rode 6 miles South in about 30 minutes, cranking with my head down AND cranking down the hills (max downhill speed: 23 mph).

Going West was a struggle not to blow off the road.

Turned North and barely had to pedal. When I pedaled hard, I went 3 miles in a little over 6 minutes.

June in bloom

I love Bridal Wreath because it reminds me of my mom and my grandma. We had bushes like these at home. I should trim them in the fall, but it feels like butchery to cut them back. This year, it'll be necessary, I guess.

And thoughts on YA lit

"Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness":

This discussion of darkness in YA Lit is worth reading.

Giro d'Italia

So, the entire time I was in Italy, I kept watching for signs of the Giro d'Italia. This was as close as I got. The Liquigas van passed us on the way to Milan. When we stopped for lunch, the Geox TMC vans were at the same truck-stop cafeteria. I got to meet the guys driving the van. We were in Milan two days before the final Giro stage ended there.