Gypsy and I go for a ride

     Every once in a while I decide to take Gypsy to the park or dog daycare and not use a car. Instead we go by bike. It is simply too far to get to daycare by walking. We could walk to the park, but that would mean a two hour commitment or more since it takes a half an hour to walk there and then when do we have time to actually enjoy the park?

     I’ve found a nice route to daycare that isn’t heavily trafficked, going through quiet neighborhoods. So it’s a pleasure to take her in the trailer instead of the car. 
     We hook up our Burley trailer (which is not a dog specific trailer) to my Omafeits via a connector that is attached to the rear wheel hub. Gypsy wears a harness while in the trailer, and we hook the harness to a pair of straps that are tied to the trailer so that she can’t jump out, even if she wanted to. The trailer is sturdy and handles Gypsy’s weight well. My husband did a great job of training Gypsy to like the trailer when she was a puppy and now she jumps right in and away we go!

Black Belt Karate Cards

      This past weekend four of my fellow karate-ka took their 1st degree black belt test. I was only able to catch the last hour (which is sparring) but it was still great to see. Traditionally they are given gifts or cards in honor of the occasion. I made the cards myself for the candidates and thought I’d do something a little different. The outside of the card says Osu! That means lots of different things, most literally striving with patience, but it is also a term of respect, so I thought it was appropriate.

Inside, I made a cutout of the Seido karate symbol, which is a cherry blossom that has two circles inside it. Then I stitched the two pieces together. I think they came out beautifully. I hope the candidates enjoyed getting the cards half as much as I enjoyed making them.

Ladies Who Bike and Brunch

Ladies Who Bike and Brunch

       This past sunday I met up with a group of ladies for brunch. The ladies came on all kinds of bikes and the commonality is that we all connected through a locally based blog that I follow called Let’s Go Ride A Bike. Two things that I love to do, biking and brunching, what could be better?
       It just so happens that the woman who writes the blog, Dottie, owns a dutch bike like mine. The same as mine, actually. It’s a Workcycles Omafiets (which means grandma in dutch) and I love it. It’s a work horse in bike form.
       After brunch we had our picture taken as a group by Martha, who has a blog called Bike Fancy. She had taken a picture of me for her blog a couple of weeks ago.

Me and my Oma

   

My, Grandma, what big teeth you have!

 
     The husband and I spent a fun evening saturday night cruising down Clark street dressed as a flapper (me) and a soldier (him), mingling with the thousands of costumed revelers. We saw six Where’s Waldos, not sure why he was so popular.
      Sunday was no less exciting, at least for Gypsy. I’d had an idea for a costume on friday and spent that afternoon going from vintage store to halloween store to find the outfits.
      So on Halloween day Gypsy and I went as Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf dressed in Grandma’s clothes. It was hilarious. I stocked my basket with treats and kept feeding Gypsy to get her to accept wearing a bonnet.
      We went to our local pet store (Kriser’s on Belmont) and  had a portrait taken. That was fun, and the really nice photographer even let my husband (who is a serious photographer in his own right) take some photos. The photographer was excellent with Gypsy and the only difficult part was keeping her from rolling over for a tummy rub in the middle of the shoot.
      Later we returned to the pet store to participate in the Pet Costume Contest and Gypsy and I won 1st prize! That was super exciting, more for me than for Gypsy. She’ll be excited later when I open up the gift basket of treats that we won.
      By the end of the day, Gypsy had learned that the bonnet meant lots of treats, and when we put our costume back on to visit a friend, she couldn’t get her head into that bonnet fast enough.
      It was an excellent Halloween.

NaNoReviseMo

     November is here and last year I participated in the National Novel Writing Month frenzy. It was quite inspiring in some ways, but this year I am going to pass. I am in the middle of revising what I wrote last November and the frenetic pace doesn't make for great work.
     What I will miss is the little counter that kept you accountable for having to write every day, so I decided to add it to my blog anyway and update it every day for myself. I may not be participating in NaNoWriMo, but I have a counter and that makes me happy. Of course the 50,000 word goal is arbitrary, but I decided to leave it there.