Stan’s Obligatory Blog

Today’s ride was the “Mulholland Meander“. We did this ride last year, and I like it just about any time.

At the start, they were putting up the grandstands for the Rose Parade. But I saw one pile of boards that was labeled, “GRANDSTANS”. Heh.

The ride from Pasadena to Griffith Park was pretty straightforward. And then when we assembled the rest of the group, we set out from there. Somehow, I managed to convince most of them to do my detour up Lake Hollywood Drive. This is to avoid riding on the stretch of Cahuenga next to the freeway. I hate that bit of road, and I think it’s worth riding up and over a pretty big hill to avoid. No word on whether or not the others agreed with me when we were done.

On the way up Mulholland, I saw a half-buried warning sign. All I could see was, “Please Don’t”.

We rode out to nearly where the pavement ends on Mulholland, and then dropped down into the Valley. We then rode straight back across the Valley to Toluca Lake. Along the way, I saw the car with a license plate that said “USA 0002”. I thought this was a bit odd. You never hear people chanting, “We’re Number 2!”

After a stop for a snack at Priscilla’s, we left the planned route and headed down the L.A. River bike path and then home by way of Eagle Rock and Highland Park. I saw a nice abandoned couch in Highland Park. Then we rode across South Pasadena and then back up Sierra Madre Blvd to home.

It was a nice ride.

65 miles.
cycling

1 Cast your bread upon the waters,
for after many days you will find it again.
2 Give portions to seven, yes to eight,
for you do not know what disaster may come upon the land.
3 If clouds are full of water,
they pour rain upon the earth.
Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north,
in the place where it falls, there will it lie.
4 Whoever watches the wind will not plant;
whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.
5 As you do not know the path of the wind,
or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God,
the Maker of all things.
6 Sow your seed in the morning,
and at evening let not your hands be idle,
for you do not know which will succeed,
whether this or that,
or whether both will do equally well.

Ecclesiastes 11 (New International Version)

I was curious, and last night I found out that I’m #1 in Google again for a search for “I hate Texas“. It’s always nice to be #1 at something. But it’s kind of funny, since I really don’t hate Texas any more like I used to. Even though I was tremendously unhappy living there, it’s turned out that my experience there has been a very positive thing in my life, especially now in 2008 Los Angeles. That’s one of life’s little Funny Stories.

This year has been a Trying Time, with Cathy leaving me and all the attendant misery that entailed. But the turning point was when I found out about how the club I started in Texas back in 1993 has turned into a Big Deal. It made me a minor celebrity in certain circles here in L.A. And it also led to my connecting with Susan, which was truly wonderful. So something that only happened because I spent my unhappy time in Texas has had a tremendously positive effect on my life here and now, and right at my Darkest Hour. It’s truly one of those ‘cast your bread upon the waters’ stories.

(And I’m sure that nobody who knows me ever thought I’d be putting Bible verses on my web site. But it just seems appropriate in this case.)

This morning, I saw that the egret is back at the pond at Caltech. I’ve seen it here in 2006 and 2005. I suppose it might not be the same bird, but it’s still fun to see it wading in the pond and snapping up the mosquito fish that live there.

It’s that time of year again, so I hauled out the lights from the back of my desk drawer, and now my office is ready for the holidays.

Sunday’s ride was the “Glendale Vistas” route. We haven’t done this one in a while. This is the ride where I broke my cassette last winter.

It was great fun, even if I wasn’t the first one to the top of every hill today.

40 miles.
cycling

Last night, I went to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Griffith Park Light Festival. I went with Juju, since we’d had originally planned on going on the Museum of Neon Art Neon Cruise, but it was canceled due to not having enough people sign up to rent the bus.

The first week of the festival is car-free, which is nice. We parked at the zoo, and just walked down and back and looked at the lights. The lights were almost all LED-based now, which is part of the DWP trying to ‘go green’ by reducing power consumption.

After that, we headed back to Silverlake and had dinner at Gingergrass, which was quite nice.

It was a nice evening out. And yes, it was a fun time.

Today’s club ride was the Fall Foliage route. This winds around Alhambra and Monterey Park to look a the leaves, and then goes up and down some ridiculous hills just for fun.

We left from Arcadia Park at 8:30 and headed west. Winding around, we saw some leaves that were changing colors. Then we got to the hills and the fun began. Given that I have some excess angst these days, I was looking forward to the hills as an outlet. I managed to do all of them in my Stupid Gear. Riding up Cadiz St and its 14% grade in my 39×17 certainly had a way of clearing my mind. And this was a Good Thing.

The snack stop was supposed to be at the golf course in Alhambra, but we all agreed that we didn’t like that restaurant, so we headed back to Pasadena to the Corner Bakery on South Lake. While we were there, Ben was telling us about an estate sale he knows of that includes a very nice Calfee bike. Gene was interested in it, so we rode out to Arcadia to have a look at it.

It turned out to be a very nice day for riding.

50 miles.
cycling

Alan Gordon, songwriter who was one of two who wrote The Turtles 1967 hit, “Happy Together”.

I can’t see me lovin’ nobody but you
For all my life
When you’re with me, baby the skies’ll be blue
For all my life

Me and you and you and me
No matter how they toss the dice, it has to be
The only one for me is you, and you for me
So happy together

He is quoted in the obituary:

“It’s been such a gift from God. It’s hard to put into words what that song means to me,” he told the Washington Post in 2004. “I know I wrote it, but it’s taken on… it’s hard to explain. You’re driving down the highway and you hear your song coming out of someone’s car. The angels heard me praying the day I wrote ‘Happy Together.’ “

Read the whole obituary here.

Since Lucinda is off with Cathy’s family, I went to San Diego to visit my father. He lives in a big retirement community there. We had our official holiday dinner at the dining room where he lives. It was pretty good. Hyatt does good food. That evening was the regular Thursday night movie. Since he is part of the group that picks the movies, we went to it. The film was “The Captain’s Paradise“, and it was pretty funny. The title role was played by Alec Guiness, and it was amusing to see the man I associate with Obi Wan Kenobi playing a completely different role. Also, one of his wives was played by Yvonne De Carlo, who I always associate with Lily Munster.

The next day we went to lunch at Prado in Balboa Park. That’s my dad’s favorite restaurant, so he likes to go there whenever he has a chance.

On the way home, I called my friend Paul to see if he was home. He was, so I stopped off in Dana Point to visit. I haven’t seen him since June, so I got to tell him all my tales of joy and woe, triumph and tragedy, the good, the bad, and the ugly. It was nice to visit.

Because our family is fragmented now, Lucinda wanted to do a Thanksgiving dinner with me here. So today was our day. I picked her up at 1:00 and we came home to make it. We made cornbread stuffing, snow-white potatoes au gratin, kale, and a cornish game hen. We also made a chocolate bundt cake with the recipe from the Hershey’s cookbook. It was all quite good.