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February 20, 2006

A slow news day

Uh-oh. I think Marcel's head is shrinking.

(really, the camera adds pounds! Its true!!)

Hey, is that a cat??

Posted by pippypippy at 09:09 PM | Comments (2)

February 18, 2006

Meanwhile, back in the Arctic Circle

A little dawg in a handsome sweater is hibernating.

Posted by pippypippy at 09:37 PM | Comments (2)

February 16, 2006

Pippy at the movies ~ Still We Ride!

Tuesday night, Valentine's Day, me and my biking sweetie went to the Lincoln Park branch library to the Chicago Cycling Club meeting, where they showed an excellent movie, Still We Ride. Ah, yes, and a bunch of biking brethren were there, with our collective helmet-hair! This is just one bonus of bikey events, because you can have the worst helmet hair! You hafta like that. Anyway, the film! If you get a chance, see it! Its a documentary about New York's Critical Mass, and the troubles they have been having with the police since the Republican National Convention. It also sheds quite a bit of light on the times we are living in, and the state of our rights in the face of increasingly repressive police and government tactics. Its also a little bit humorous in parts. One moment which got a laugh showed an angry young male motorist cursing at the "beatniks" to get out of his way. The correlation between beatniks and biking is unclear. In any event, that's what makes this whole topic so interesting to chew upon, because the perception is so mixed up.
One would think bicycling, more so than driving, would be proof of one's good intentions in the world. I suppose anything is suspect if you do it in a thundering herd (which is the beauty part, really, I so love riding with the thundering herd! Its exhilerating, believe it!), but I've been on the el at rush hour too. And its not nearly as much fun. (Not the same thing, I know. And no one is ever even tempted to do it naked, as has been known to happen at the Mass, but it wasn't actually going on in NYC, but still.)
Biking. It seems benign. Who knows.

In any event, it made the troubles at our ghost bike memorial ride look a little puny! It was bad enough 4 people got arrested, but at least our locks weren't cut, and our bikes thrown in a heap and carted off in a truck! Whoa.
Really, if ya get a chance, watch it!
The extra added bonus was, a young man who was there in NYC in the mass spoke to us, as well as 2 of our very own Sidewalk 4, the arrestees from our January Ghost Bike ride.

The big follow-up to the story!
Look what happened in NYC! (sorry I think you gotta log in to the NY Times but you can also see it in the Village Voice.)

Posted by pippypippy at 07:42 PM | Comments (0)

February 14, 2006

Its Valentine's Day..

who do you love??
I'll give you a hint~

Oh yeah!

Cause he's always glad to see me!
And frequently has got a big, goofy smile on his face, especially when its sunny and warm and the Big Dawg takes him to the park!

And he looks great in a sweater.

Posted by pippypippy at 01:28 PM | Comments (2)

February 10, 2006

EEeeeek! Lions, Ghosts, and 2-headed Beastes.

Last night I had this knitting dream where I was wanting to make a baby project, a colorful blanket of some kind, and all they had at this weird yarn store was Lion Brand.The best thing about Lion Brand is the name and the nice old skool kinda lion on the packaging. Whoa. I woke up in a panic!
Anyway, I'm over it.
Btw, here is and article from the Chicago Journal about the last Critical Mass ride, the one where the Ghost Bike was installed. There's a nice picture of the bike, Chopper Carl, and the crowd that spilled out into Western Ave. And also, a funny quote from a girl with a funny (mispelled!! And plus that's Rats with a capital R!) name, oy gawd, was she just running off at the mouth?! -Due to adrenalin, due to the police having shown up and begun running amok, as they are wont to do, arresting people at a peaceful memorial
for a community member, neighbor, friend to some, symbol to most of what is wrong with the state of city streets!-You decide! In any event, it was an event, and I thought I'd share.
And all of that took place back when it was still springtime in Chicago~! Now its back to feeling more like what winter used to be, in the times before global warming and all. Which is to say, maybe after the days when dinosaurs roamed in covered wagons, but before the introduction of the personal computer, compact disc or the cellular phone, roughly. I seem to remember it, walking to grade school in snow. I remember walking on the lakeshore when it was encased in creaking hills of ice, one day with my dad, waaaay back in my childhood.

Anyway. Flash forward to 2006 and we're not exactly wearing spacesuits and eating our meals in pill form, but I have ridden my bicycle every month of this wintertime. Or, someone else's bicycle, or, as happened one cold night, rode someone else's bicycle with them. Did you happen to see it? A beast with 2 heads, 4 legs and 2 wheels, making its way west on North! Two mouths laughing, their visible breath hanging in the cold night air! 2 sets of eyes peering into the darkness, scanning for potholes and car doors! The 2 back legs pedaled while the 2 front ones dangled out in the air, like the little arms of the tyrannasaurus. How did they make it over the speed humps? Oh, they'll never tell!! (was that lewd? Sorry.) It was an excellent way to keep one back and one front cozy, pressed together snugly and generating more warmth by the moment. Try it and see!

Here is the other news round-up~

*Last night The Big Dawg, Darlene, and Picasso and I saw Audrey reading at Quimby's. Fun and edifying! As always.

*Marcel has got a new game going where he plays a kind of solitaire with biscuits that he hides in his sleeping bag to eat later. Pictures to come, I hope.

*I am knitting the second of the Skull Socks of Fury, and am on the last row of the skull chart. Intarsia is getting more familiar and less torturous, (thanks Elizabeth the recent Birthday Girl, for intarsia info!) and giving me all kinds of ideas. We'll see.

Posted by pippypippy at 11:34 AM | Comments (2)

February 03, 2006

Trike of Flame! Or, Zen and the Art of Tricycle Maintenance

Yesterday I came across an article in which a very wise Buddhist teacher was quoted as saying "get used to the feeling of falling."
Words to live by, as well as words I am considering having tattooed, in some lovely and tasteful typeface, above my right knee. (Maybe even in a pretty arch, framing the kneecap?) Ah yes, the right knee which kisses the pavement every chance it gets, most recently, as I made a slow-motion start on a certain coveted chopper, which is slightly too tall for me, but was nevertheless graciously loaned to me by a Travis D. Tipping over sideways, I landed squarely on, could it be, the tip of the tibia? Whatever it is, that delicate little bone below the knee cap always gets to the concrete first. It didn't ruin my chopper ride, (and plus there were muffins involved! I fell in front of the bakery!)
but it did get me thinking about falling, in a metaphorical as well as literal sense.
Most people don't seem to literally fall from bicycles nearly as often as I do, especially in the situations where I have. Maybe I'm wrong about this, but it seems that way. In any event, it kinda makes me wonder what it is the Universe is trying to tell me??
Its hard to say, but here is something else! The Universe will deliver wonderful surprises too! Right to you, on a silver platter, when you least expect them! Or in my case, sitting on top of a heap of filing cabinets and old kitchen appliances in the back of a scrap metal truck! As I came out of the drugstore on Lawrence Ave, there it was, a bright blue adult-size tricycle, complete with only slightly smushed cargo basket! The scrap-metal guys looked surprised to see me rushing out into the street to tap on their window, saying something in incredibly odd broken Spanish about la bicicleta, gesturing towards the back of the truck. They agreed to take $5 for it. Those guys getting the behemoth off the top of the pile was quite something to see. We blocked off traffic and pissed people off! Yes!!
So there I was, last Saturday afternoon, pushing my mountain bike slowly but surely on top of the trike with three flat tires up Damen when I was rescued by three fresh-faced young women in skirts, Christian missionaries from Hammond, Indiana, I kid you not. Angels, like bikes, and objects from one's past, appear in the oddest places, its true! They pushed the trike while I walked the mountain bike, and we talked about Jesus, we really did! I told them what I knew and tried not to lie too much.
Oh there's more to tell, but the main thing is, the trike is home and happily stored away in our bike room, and has been named~ The Tricycle Red Trike of Flame, or simply the Trike of Flame, for short. Why the Trike of Flame? I'm not really sure, it just kind of came to me and stuck. (To be fair, there really is a Trike of Flame in Chicago,-although its called a grillbike- and I've ridden near it recently, so maybe that's why I was thinking of it, although its an inverse trike, with wheels in front.) There is a slight issue with the tires but once that is resolved look out. I will be on my way to the grocery store.
I'm wanting leather handlebar streamers. Some might say they're dorky but I really want 'em.
Pictures to come, I swear.
There is knitting news, too. I finished the first of the Skull Socks of Fury from here. Mine are slightly different in that I used grey for the main color and orange for the skull and also the toe.
Oh for a camera.

Posted by pippypippy at 12:55 PM | Comments (3)