Uh Huh

Random things in my life that make my heart happy...

Smile with me, laugh with me ... 

Mishie yawning

Martinis

My silly friends

My handsome Brisco

My beautiful city

The Moya

This lady. 

She's not selling anything or trying to convince you of anything. She simply is sharing her message. She made me smile.

5:00. In any time zone

Mishie peeking at me from behind the curtain

This lady is a sign spinner. Every day for at least the last two years, she stands on the corner and dances for everyone. She makes my heart smile. I love how brave she is!

Fresh made, Turkish baklava

someecards. Fucking awesome.

Kayaking

Cock.

a doodle do

Red

Shoes

This

Did I say Cock?

Sand Key Sprint Tri

Before I begin please let me say - Congratulations to all who raced at IM Louisville and IMWisconsin!! We are all so proud of all of you!!

This is where I will be in 2 weekends. Sand Key. Isn't that a beautiful view? Maybe you should join me...

Instead of finding me here on the sidelines taking pictures...

You'll have to look out here to find me.

That's right. I'll be volunteering on September 23 at the Sand Key Tri. ExcelMan is racing and I'll be part of the support crew along with my friend,( ExcelMan's wife) Green Eyed Lady.We'll be in kayaks beating athletes over the head if they try to hold on to our rigs for support! How fun is that? Okay, just kidding about the beating over the head part(I would never...). I am really looking forward to it. This will be the first race I get up at 0'dark thirty for that Bigun isn't competing in. Bigun will be the Sherpa for this race! I am so psyched about being out there giving support to the athletes in a different style. Bigun will need to man the cowbells that morning.

Before you leave ---click HERE

Morton Plant Meese '07

Morton Plant Meese Triathlon at Sand Key, in Clearwater, took place this morning. It was so much fun! There's so much to tell I don't know where to begin. I guess, the beginning is good. 4am, alarm ticks of and begins buzzing. Bigun has coffee ready and I pull my things together. I made sure that I wore Tri Dummy's T shirt (again) for the Triathlon. Word on the street is that if there is no photo - it didn't happen. Well, TriDummy, finally. Here's the proof I wore your T today...

Wait. Sorry TriDummy, that one is from today's race. Wrong shirt. Just a sec....

I think this is the right one.....

Fudge. That's not the right one either. Where did this one come from?!?! Oh, that's right, The 101. Humm, I'm sure it's here, I know I wore it...just a sec...wait...
Here we go.

Oh. Huh. Not lookin' too good for me is it? This one's Miami Man. Still not the one I'm looking for...
Wait....wait....hey, we might have a score here, just a second...

There it is!!!!

The (in)Famous MARANATHA ADVENTURE TRI T!!! Look Jay- no bicycle grease either!!! She's as pretty today (5 races later) as the day I unwrapped her!! LOL. For those of you who don't know, I won the Name The Bike Contest for Tri Dummy's Bike. As a Thank you and Congratulations I got this T shirt. TriDummy is the RD for this race . I have worn it on each race since receiving it, thinking I would get a photo of it being shown off. I photograph everyone else and never manage to be "in" any of the photos - hence, no proof - never happened according to TriDummy. Well my dear, I wore it and I made sure to get a photo. Just for you!!!

As for the race - Got to the park where the Tri was happening and found my way down to the beach. My friend Green Eyed Lady was lending support on the water. She was out there in her kayak and I wanted to get a few shots of her. Bigun and Excel Man (GEL's hubby) were on the beach chatting it up and Excel Man's wave was called forth, so I missed a shot of them together, but here's Bigun. The sun was coming up behind him. It was really lovely out there this morning.

While I was getting some shots of what was going on in the water and the early departing waves , the kayaks, the lifeguards, I hear someone saying my name. It was a friend of mine, Megan Rog. I always knew she was really fit and worked out hard to keep in shape but I didn't know she was a TriAthlete!! Wow!! I have known her for years! Megan took a really big step today. I was so proud of her. This was her first ocean swim. The water was like bath water as far as the temperature goes. She was a little nervous. I followed her through each leg and she did AWESOME! She totally rocked the course.

Luke couldn't race today so he came out and offered his support with my usual Tri Compadre Crew, Luke's wife, Perez and their Sherpa in training, Boo. Check out Luke's new hair do. Cool. Once again, Excel Man was just too fast, I didn't get any shots of him. His wave was so far ahead of Bigun's that I would have had to have been in 2 places at the same time. Excel Man was coming in on the bike as we were walking to the bike route. I was bummed I didn't get any pictures but thrilled we got to see him go by. The same thing happened as we were on our way to watch for him on the run. We were walking to the leg of the run and sure enough, there he is, making the turn around at the final bit of the run.

Bigun coming out of the swim....

Megan looking strong from her first swim in The Gulf..heading to her bike

I couldn't resist this shot. The light was perfect, the water was calm and the Lifeguard was beautiful.

That's Diane on the comm there.... Diane is also a Triathlete. The wave in front of her is Excel Man's wave.

Bigun tearing it up on the bike

Megan finishing up her bike ride

Bigun still going strong on the run

Check out that smile as Megan hits the last stretch of the Tri. She looks awesome! Such a strong finish

Speaking of finishing strong....there's the Bigun with a big smile right before he knocks out another Tri. Chock that one up as D.O.N.E.
Today was a good day at the races.

There are so many photos I would love to post, but I don't want to totally bore you. I'll leave the tech talk up to Bigun and Excel Man. They're better at that part of the reports.

I hope everyone who raced this weekend had a great time and finished well!!

Oh - yes, There are more photos...

In this photo Curt and Linda (who will now be referred to as Excelman and Tomboy) are in the kayak in the front, Bigun and I are in the back. This was shot with an underwater camera. That's why it's so blurry...

This is a shot of the group we were with silhouetted against the sunset. Keep in mind, shot with an underwater again.

Diane and Dennis (our guides) took photos during the trip and for practicality their cameras are encased in a plastic underwater protector. It skews the images slightly when you are out of the water. Hence the slightly misty look of the shots. At the end of the trip, Dennis downloads all of the pictures onto a CD that you can take with you as a memory of the trip. They are sending us a second CD because there was a little snafu and only a portion of the pictures downloaded. You know what that means don't you? Oh yes...more to come.

Kayak Trip at Sunset

Well. Here we are Sunday morning. And I feel great. Bigun and myself went out onto the water last night in kayaks for a little Sunset show. Nature is amazing. Truly, it is. Bigun and I live on a very modest sized lake. Up north, we would have called it a pond. But, we live in Florida and so, it is a lake. It's about 13 acres so it's not tiny by any sense. But it is.










I grew up believing that the Finger Lakes were relatively small in comparison to other lakes. The Finger Lakes, not small. Seneca Lake for example, holds the largest volume of water of all of the Finger Lakes. One of my sisters was born in Geneva, NY at the northern tip of the lake. We lived somewhere near the middle in Romulus and we were regulars at the Glen. Watkins Glen that is ( for those of you who follow Racing).
Watkins sits at the southern most tip of the lake. If you took a boat from Geneva to Watkins it would be a 38 mile ride. By car, well, it's a lot more. The lake is 3 miles wide, so you could see how beautiful it is on the shore opposite of wherever you happened to be. A little known fact is that not only does Seneca Lake support Land Locked Atlantic salmon but it also produces wine that many of us enjoy on a regular basis. Seneca Lake alone supports 52 wineries. 52. Can you believe it? That's not counting the wineries supported by the other 3 lakes. 94 wineries all tolled. Those of you who have never been to upstate NY for the wineries, you are missing out my friends. There is nothing like it. It's pristine, beautiful country. Still.

Sorry, I am full of all kinds of bits of trivia and such.Often times, I get distracted by it.
I digress. This post is about our Kayak trip last night on the Gulf. It was so beautiful out there. The wildlife was scattered all around us. We were able to glimpse a dolphin herding mullet out of the inlet into the school of dolphins waiting somewhere beyond our visual line. The birds ofcourse were abundant. We saw an Osprey diving and actually catch a fish for his evening meal. We went out to a little island to pause for a few minutes and enjoy cheese and crackers with a little Sparkling Grape Juice. Okay, I brought a six pack but the Tour Guides don't advocate drinking on these trips.

Our Guides, Dennis and Diane Peters, were incredibly nice and so very personable. They are living their dream. Kayaking daily and sharing their love of the water with anyone willing to ask. Diane was a plethora of information. She was telling us about the different varieties of birds and their habits etc. I love that sort of stuff. It's banked away now in my UBK (that would be Useless Bank Of Knowledge) in other words, my brain. Yes folks, I am full of it. In more ways than one as Bigun likes to remind me. Full of it. Just what "it" is has yet to be determined.

Kayaking on the Gulf is definitely something I would enjoy doing as often as possible. The couple who own Simply Kayaking offer you a great deal. Purchase your Kayak through them and you can tour with them whenever you like, at no charge. They really are a great couple.
Speaking of great couples, Linda and Curt, the couple who invited us on this trip, are great. I could go into another entire post about Linda and myself....can you hear the twilight zone music playing hauntingly in the background? Oh yeah. It's truly a bizarre story. Like I said, it's a post entirely on it's own. Hell, probably 5 or 6 posts. LOL

In the mean time, enjoy the view......