Do Right Fear Not

2012-01-15T21:30:00.000-08:00

2012-01-04T16:58:00.000-08:00

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived… I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put it to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world….”

Henry David Thoreau,Walden; or, Life in the Woods (1854)

Opinel No. 6 Folding Pocket Knife

2012-01-03T15:24:00.000-08:00

My grandfather's pocket knife has been cleaned, oiled, and retired to my bedside drawer, and this has become my new utility/pocket/everyday knife. Opinel is famous for good quality, affordable knives of all sorts, and the locking mechanism on their folding series is especially well-regarded. I've had my eye on one of these off and on for years and I finally decided to go for it. I've only had a it a few days, and haven't had much chance to give it any use, but I love the simple aesthetic and functionality. I hope it will be with me through many adventures.

This New Year

2011-12-31T08:00:00.000-08:00

Woodie Guthrie's "New Years Rulin's" for 1942
{click to see larger}
via BoingBoing

I've developed a greater appreciation for New Year's resolutions in the last couple of years than I had previously. I once questioned the value of good intentions proclaimed once and then forgotten or even flouted, but I now see a great deal of potential value in the chance to genuinely reflect on the passing year and assemble a list of things you would like to do better in the new one.

Even the old chestnuts "lose weight" and "stop smoking" when pondered during an annual time-out represent a degree of concern and engagement with one's lifestyle and choices that we may not be able to muster during the humdrum of our daily routines during the rest of the year.

Although our culture seems to grow increasingly narcissistic, this is perhaps one moment in which we can productively turn inward and compose a new (or renewed) vision of ourselves that accomplishes something more worthwhile than Facebook or Twitter status updates or new profile photos. In refashioning what we expect of ourselves, we can perhaps also re-imagine what we might contribute to our shared cultures and communities, and how we might, through many small actions, be the agents of larger and greater things.

I have two big ones this year: 1) simplify and 2) slow down.

Don't Stop Pedaling

2011-12-08T12:05:00.001-08:00

So here are some photos of the finished Bianchi project, a.k.a. "Big Red." As the title hints, it's a fixed gear. Aesthetically, I was shooting for a 1890s or early 1900s look, something that would evoke the early days of bicycling when all bicycles were fixed. I very consciously did not want to build either a trick bike or a track bike, but I did want to tune into the "pure" ethic of the fixed gear, and bringing in the historical element made a lot of sense.

I've been riding it for about a week, and since this is the first time I've ridden fixed, of course it's taking some getting used to. At first, it was fairly intimidating to feel the push back when I tried to stop pedaling or slow down with just my legs, and I was using the front brake a lot. As I've gotten used to riding it, I have started to get a feel for the intuitive response that devoted fixed gear riders talk about and I haven't been using the brake much at all. Think slower, go slower, almost like choosing to walk at a different pace.

Just as riding a bike makes me more aware of how I'm traveling through my environment than driving a car, riding fixed is certainly making me more aware of how I bicycle through my environment. Of course, the lack of gears is a big factor, but I'm also much more aware of my speed, other traffic, road surface, and topography. I'm still not comfortable building up much speed because I'm not yet entirely confident in my ability to bring the bike to a quick stop if I need to, but that's more psychological than anything, and between the front brake and my improving ability to regulate speed with my legs, I'm doing fine. Also, the gearing is fairly low (52-20) to accommodate our San Diego hills and the fact that I'm riding in an urban environment and not a velodrome.

Track stands and tricky dismounts and all that kind of thing are still a long ways off, if ever, but who knows, I might try some of that stuff as I build up confidence.

Geeky details:

Handlebars: Nitto Promenade B-617

Fixed/free hub and 20t cog: Soma

Saddle: Brooks B-66

Handbrake: Dia-Compe from my old parts bin

Tires: 27" Panaracer Pasela

The rest is what came with the bike, including the rear rim, which I used to build up the new rear wheel around the fixed hub. My LBS ordered all the new bits and consulted on gearing, etc., for which I'm grateful. I didn't want to throw a HUGE amount of money into the project on the off chance that I absolutely hated riding it, but that turned out not to be the case.

Here we are again...

2011-12-07T11:35:00.001-08:00

Here we are, well into yet another month, and no new posts have been forthcoming. It has indeed been a strange autumn. My instincts have been telling me to stay close to home, hunker down, pull back, and focus on simple things. This has meant renewed attention to work more than anything. My work is my work, not work done for someone else, so to be immersed in work in healthy and productive ways does a great deal to create a good state of mind. It has been a long time since I have found myself in such a positive relationship with my work, and it feels good.

The Bianchi project is finished, I'll do a post on that before too long, once I get a chance to take some good photos. I bit more diligent online research and finally deciphering the remnants of the decals has identified the bike with 99% certainty as a 1973 Bianchi Strada. From what I can tell, a good quality road bike for the American market from the beginning of the 1970s bike boom.

I'll keep posting here as often as I can, maybe I'll try again to use this space for writing. Here's hoping that my handful of readers is doing well and staying warm as we approach the winter solstice.

Biking, Hiking, Underbiking

2011-11-27T16:27:00.001-08:00

After several weeks of not riding much, and generally not going out much, I took a couple of hours this morning to ride around and explore some places in the city I haven't been. One thing San Diego really has going for it is the canyons. This time of year is especially nice, since the natural areas around here are starting to green up again after the summer. Most of the canyons in the urban area are public spaces with trails that are easily accessible as long as you know where the secret staircases and trailheads are. Part of the fun of an exploratory ride is that you get to stumble across them and have little adventures. The photo is from a canyon in Hillcrest, just north of Balboa Park, and these trails are actually part of the Balboa Park trail system.

Parts of the various trails I "discovered" today required hiking with the bike over my shoulder, others I had to walk the bike, but several of the trails allowed me to do a little underbiking*, which is the closest thing I've done to mountain biking since I was a teenager. Granted, it's not very close at all to mountain biking, but it was still fun to ride a little dirt.

*Underbike, ride a traditional road bicycle on surfaces that typically warrant the use of knobbie tires, flat bars, and sometimes suspension.

Hello

2011-11-15T16:48:00.001-08:00

The Bianchi project inches towards completion.

Building a Bicycle Wheel

2011-11-14T08:11:00.001-08:00

I took advantage of a rare rainy Saturday (dark and stormy, even) to build a new rear wheel for the Bianchi project. I've built a few bicycle wheels over the last several years, but I'm amazed every time I do it. It's one of those things that I never thought much about, and then when I did think about it, assumed it was way out of my league. But using Sheldon Brown's instructions, it's not really that difficult. I would even say that it's fun.

Once you have the instructions, the majority of the task is essentially just putting pieces together. If you can assemble IKEA furniture, you can build a bicycle wheel. This is not to say that tensioning and truing and dishing (the last of which I've never done because I've never build a rear wheel with external gears) don't require skill, but they are skills that you can acquire with patience and attention to detail. Hell, I made it through grad school, so I have those in spades.

I took my time, enjoyed the physicality of building something, read the instructions carefully, had a cup of tea, and the whole very civilized process took a couple of hours, with another hour or so the next evening to work on the truing, which I did by mounting the wheel in the frame and using a ruler as a gauge. I probably could have done it faster if I had needed or wanted to, but there was no reason to hurry.

Building bicycle wheels is one of those empowering tasks that you never thought you could do, but if you're willing to take a little leap and just jump in (keeping in mind that failure is always an option), it turns out to be a pretty rewarding experience. Of course, having said this, my wheel will probably explode the first time I ride it. Jinx.

Mission San Luis Rey de Francia

2011-11-02T15:54:00.000-07:00

Oceanside, CA

Happy Halloween from a Pineapple Guava

2011-10-31T10:18:00.000-07:00

Apple Crisp Recipe

2011-10-25T15:59:00.000-07:00

Some of the smaller apples, I forget which kind these are.

But seriously, time is speeding up, right? I just cannot fathom where October has gone.

We went apple picking (yes, apple picking) up near Julian this last weekend and got a nice bunch of imperfectly perfect apples. I think you can judge the organic-ness of apples by the earwig-to-apple ratio. When I made an apple crisp last night with seven of the larger apples, I found two live earwigs in them, which seems like a pretty fair ratio.

The apple crisp is my mom's recipe that I remember from childhood, and I was very happy to have it turn out exactly right. It's not a hard recipe, but for some reason it's just one of those things I never thought to try. And speaking of ratios, the butter-and-sugar-to-apple ratio in this is probably a good reason not to make it too often. I didn't get any good photos of the apple crisp and I didn't want to ruin anyone's impressions of the recipe with a bad photo.

Apple Crisp

6-8 apples, peeled, cored, sliced

1/4 to 1/2 cup water (depending on how juicy you want it)

Arrange the sliced apples evenly in a baking dish (I used a glass pie dish) and pour in the water. Sprinkle 1 tsp. cinnamon over the slices.

In a bowl mix 1 cup brown sugar and 3/4 cup flour. Cut in 1/3 - 1/2 cup butter until crumbly, then sprinkle over apples. Bake covered (I used aluminum foil, but if have a covered dish, that's better) at 375 degrees about 1/2 hour or until apples are tender.

I found that 40 minutes was better, with the last 10 minutes uncovered.

There you go, super easy, really good.

It's the Middle of October?

2011-10-16T14:51:00.000-07:00

Yeesh. Where does the time go? I've been thinking that it hasn't been that long since my last post, but it has been a few weeks. I've been alternating between working hard and hardly working. It's a weird time of year for me. Being a Northwesterner living in Southern California, I expect fall weather, but really we just get hot and dry. Add to that my 20 + years of conditioning that fall is "back to school" time, yet I am not back to school, and the months of September through November just end up being a muddle of contradictions.

My research trip to Louisville went well, and I've got a lot of information to sort through, plus more research to do as I get started on the article/chapter that will be the result. I really enjoyed my time in Louisville, which from what little I saw of it, seems like a great city. The Root Cellar was on my walk from the hotel to the archives, so I stopped a couple of times to buy some fresh local produce and chat with the owner, who was an extraordinarily nice man. Also, I think I saw more bricks in Louisville in a week than I've seen in Southern California in four years. It was nice, I like brick buildings.

Here's the current status of the Bianchi project, which I'm still going to keep quiet about until it's finished. Yes, that's an IKEA flowerpot it's sitting on. The cranks and chainring are original, as is the front brake. The Brooks B66 came off another bike, the brake lever is from my parts bin, and the handlebars are Nitto Promenade B617.

In other news: I saw the largest spider I have ever seen "in the wild" and I ate my first pineapple guava. I would like to repeat the second, but not the first.

Houses in Old Louisville & The Saddest Lion Ever

2011-09-25T14:41:00.000-07:00

Fig Heart

2011-09-09T13:20:00.001-07:00

Unripe green fig I found on the ground.

Sapote, Sapota

2011-09-06T15:51:00.000-07:00

Picked up a dozen of these exotic fruits from a friend who has a tree. I'm looking forward to finding some tasty things to do with sapote/sapota. So far, I mashed one up (they are also nicknamed "custard apple") with a few strawberries for a little mushy fruit salad. Something with peaches will be next. They're kind of like a mildly sweet avocado, which is a little off-putting without another flavor involved. They should be good as a smoothie ingredient.

1970s Bianchi Project

2011-08-26T17:15:00.000-07:00

Just picked this up last night. Not exactly sure of the year or the model because most of the frame graphics are gone and a lot of the components have been upgraded over the years. Based on the Carnielli stem, (so cool), I'm guessing early or mid-1970s, according to what the Internet says. I have fun plans for this one, but I'm not going to share them yet, since pre-sharing on the Internet seems to lead to failure in many cases.

Nice Socks

2011-08-24T22:20:00.000-07:00

via Nationaal Archief on Flickr's The Commons

Bad Ass

2011-08-24T21:57:00.000-07:00

Mr. R.J. Tate, Museum of Hartlepool on Flickr's The Commons

Street Art

2011-08-24T20:01:00.000-07:00

Spotted in the middle of a street in our neighborhood, a tile mosaic in tar.

I Made This

2011-08-19T21:05:00.000-07:00

Well, sort of. My first copy of my first book, due out officially September 1st from Northern Illinois University Press. It's even on Amazon, but don't buy it there, see if your local book seller will order it.

Ginger Beer Batch No. 2 Taste Test

2011-08-17T20:13:00.000-07:00

It looks good, at least...

Well, it was okay. It wasn't great, but it was okay. There's still a lingering yeastiness, and the ginger isn't as obvious as I would like, although it does make its presence known in the aftertaste. Using the champagne yeast produced an ideal amount of carbonation, although there was some minor exploding action when I released the excess carbonation before refrigeration. I might use less yeast next time, and I'm thinking that the key to a really excellent flavor might be in adding some flavor elements after brewing, including lemon peel and perhaps a touch of ginger syrup. In short, I wouldn't say that I've achieved my goal of the perfect ginger beer recipe yet. Stay tuned, I'm going to keep trying.

Old Fencing Postcard

2011-08-15T21:09:00.000-07:00

Fencing Postcard. That's all I know.

Terrible, Yet Appealing

2011-08-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

Richman Lighting Portable Lamp

2011-08-08T10:20:00.000-07:00

We bought this lamp at a neighborhood curio shop this weekend. The handwritten receipt the lady gave us said "industrial lamp," which I don't think does it justice. Can't find anything (didn't try too hard) about the company, but they were (are?) located in Los Angeles. I'm no good at dating stuff like this: maybe 1960s? 1970s? Anyway, it's our new desk lamp.

Ginger Beer Again

2011-08-08T10:02:00.000-07:00

In which I jinx the current batch by blogging about it before it's ready.

I tried to make ginger beer last summer and it was dismal failure. Short version: If you want your ginger beer to be yeasty and terrible, I suggest making it in a plastic bottle with baking yeast. If you come across a recipe calling for either, keep looking for a better one; or rather, substitute good glass bottles and brewer's yeast. I'll write a longer post about brewing ginger beer at some point with recipe recommendations and such (assuming that my current batch doesn't explode or go rancid or develop sentience or something).

The bottles pictured here (yes, from IKEA) are in Day 2 of fermentation at room temperature. The recipe I'm working with says 3-5 days for this stage, during which carbonation occurs. Since I'm working with glass bottles, which I don't want to explode, I'll probably do 3 days before I refrigerate for another week. I'm contemplating releasing the excess carbonation before refrigeration, as some other recipes I've seen indicate.

PS -- If this is the last post I make about ginger beer, you should assume that this batch was terrible and I've given up completely and will forever be satisfied drinking Fentimans instead of brewing my own.

Charmed, I'm Sure

2011-08-05T09:06:00.000-07:00

via Fuck Yeah 1920s!

Phillips Loop Frame Before Paint

2011-08-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

Headset and bottom bracket bearing cups and head badge will be popped off before sandblasting and painting.

I'm finally getting around to working on this project. It's a Phillips loop-frame roadster, probably from the early 1950s. When I bought it two years ago, it was missing the proper wheels, about half of the rear rod brake mechanism, and had a plastic saddle on it. Everything else, including the cool Phillips-branded pedals, chain guard, lamp bracket with a "P" cutout, and Phillips-branded one-piece handlebar/stem, seems to be original. Obviously in bad need of paint work, I'm having this one sandblasted and powder coated in classic black. Some loaner 26" wheels and fenders from another bike will suffice until I can find a cheap Flying Pigeon to salvage for 28" Westwood wheels and rod brake parts. It will have to be a single-speed for a while, but the long term plan is a three-speed. The goal for this one will be a city/errand bike that both my wife and I can ride.

This is how it looked the day after I brought it home.

The Things I Love

2011-07-29T08:45:00.000-07:00

Chicken Raising Pays

2011-07-29T08:43:00.000-07:00

Advertisement from Overland Monthly, December 1895

2011-07-29T08:25:00.000-07:00

Add Two Inches

2011-07-26T09:23:00.000-07:00

Spotted on the workbench in my dad's garage.

I Never Know the Names of Flowers

2011-07-25T08:21:00.000-07:00

@ The Ol' Homestead in Oregon

2011-07-24T22:25:00.000-07:00

What you control @ Root Simple

An Excellent Chair

2011-07-21T15:11:00.000-07:00

Spotted at the Powell's Home & Garden store in PDX.

Portland (OR) is the Best Place #4

2011-07-21T08:04:00.000-07:00

Danger

2011-07-20T15:25:00.000-07:00

Pilllpat's Flickr Photostream

Classic Peugeot Moped

2011-07-20T10:18:00.000-07:00

Spotted in PDX.

Portland (OR) is the Best Place #3

2011-07-20T08:02:00.000-07:00

Portland (OR) is the Best Place #2

2011-07-19T07:58:00.000-07:00

Portland (OR) is the Best Place #1

2011-07-18T10:03:00.000-07:00

Better Together

2011-07-07T10:44:00.000-07:00

From The Royal Library, Denmark on Flickr's "The Commons"

This photo tells me that to be a true success at a tweed ride, I'm going to need higher trousers.

Seems Normal

2011-07-06T17:34:00.000-07:00

Old Normal School Building in University Heights

Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty

2011-07-04T10:26:00.000-07:00

Pretty excited about this. I've been wanting a go-to vegetarian cookbook for main courses and side dishes, and this fits the bill exactly. Mostly Middle Eastern and Mediterranean-inspired, but not heavy-handed about it. Made the sweet potato cakes (think crab cakes -- fritters, you might say), with a Greek yogurt-based sauce for dinner last night. Simple ingredients, easy to make, extremely delicious. I didn't think to take a photo of the meal since we had people over, but I'll try to document more of my cooking from this book in the future.

Instead of providing an Amazon linker, I'm going to recommend checking with your nearest independent bookstore and asking them to order the book if they don't have it in stock. It's a bargain at $35 US.

General Putnam's Ride

2011-07-04T09:45:00.000-07:00

General Putnam's Ride

General Putnam, hearty and stout,

Certainly tired the enemy out,

Boulders and ditches he took with glee,

And from all harm escaped scot-free,

'Twas easily done for Old Glory's sake,

A-riding his Corbin Coaster Brake.

Mourning Cloak Chrysalids

2011-07-03T22:11:00.000-07:00

Nymphalis antiopa

This Town's So Strange, They Built It To Change

2011-07-01T17:32:00.000-07:00

Just Finished: William Faulkner, Light in August

2011-07-01T15:34:00.000-07:00

The Internet, Brought to You By This Horse

2011-07-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

This is brilliant. Via BoingBoing:

Fred, a Belgian draft horse, working with line crews to attach a fiber optic cable to a utility pole in East Burke, Vermont, on June 24, 2011. Fairpoint Communication hires Claude Desmarais and his horse Fred to pull fiber optic cable through difficult terrain in a effort to bring high speed internet to all of Vermont by 2013. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)

Happy Summer, One Day Late

2011-06-22T11:31:00.000-07:00

I forget where I found this.

2011-06-17T07:17:00.000-07:00

The Difference a Year Makes

2011-06-16T12:02:00.000-07:00

Neither of these are ideal photos, but they show the changes I've made to the Peugeot. The photo on the left was taken last May after I bought the bike (a steal at $70), and the photo on the right was taken last weekend. The major changes are a Brooks B-17 saddle, Velo-Orange Belleville handlebars, Tektro inverse brake levers, Velo-Orange hammered 45mm fenders, 28mm Panaracer Pasela tires, and a ViVa saddle bag support and Zimbale 11-liter saddle bag.

And of course, the incidentals: water bottle cage, lights, a bell, and a bit of leftover bar tape and twine on the top tube to protect against the brake levers banging it if the front wheel swings around. I also took the large chainring and front derailleur off, since there are a lot of hills in San Diego and I don't have any need or inclination to ride fast or hard. I may yet change out the pedals for something better suited to urban riding, but these are serving me well enough for now.

I am so, so, so happy with this bike. It gives me good versatility for the diverse San Diego topography, while still being suitable as a town bike. When I'm all the way forward on the bars, I'm in a good position for climbing, and when I'm all the way back, I'm upright and comfortable (that's why I have the bars wrapped well forward, as you can see here). The saddle bag holds a surprising amount, including odd-sized items, so it works very well for running errands. The ride is smooth and steady, not at all twitchy or squirrelly. In fact, this is the first bike I've owned that I can ride comfortably with no hands and not feel like the front wheel is going to wobble out from under me.

In my thinking about what I wanted this bike to be, I had two things in mind: aesthetics and functionality, in balance. I'm a firm believer that a person should love to look at their bike as much as they love to ride it. I was also guided strongly by what I wanted to be able to do on a bike. My old three-speed bikes were excellent for riding as town bikes, but they weren't well suited to San Diego's steeper hills (or perhaps I wasn't). I felt geographically limited by their weight and limited gearing options. I wanted a bike that could take me anywhere I wanted to go around town and beyond, and I just didn't feel like the three-speeds were doing it for me.

As much as I love this bike, both for its aesthetics and its functionality, if I lived somewhere else, or if I had a different set of requirements, I probably would have built up a different bike. The idea that a bike is created in dialogue with both the rider and the geography (both human and non-human) in which (s)he/it functions seems to make abundant sense, but it wasn't really something I considered in any overt way until after the bike was finished.

Anyway, words, words, words. I like this bike. That is all.

A Bird on the Door Is Worth

2011-06-08T12:40:00.000-07:00

Sheds, Shacks, and Tiny Houses

2011-06-06T16:31:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late to the party with this; the advent of the tiny house and "shackitecture" fad (at least in its current form) was a few years ago, but it still seems to be around, and I'm always a little slow on the uptake.

My wife and I recently spent a night in a rather large cabin out in the woods, but it got us thinking about small, simple, retreat-style cabins, sheds, or shacks.

I've been casually scouting what's on the Interwebs, and found a few sites of interest:

I can't figure out the name of this site. It it might be We Heart Sheds, and it might be Reader Sheds. The site has a fractured and annoying interface, but skip through to the gallery of reader submissions.

Of course, there's the venerable Tiny House Blog.

And also check out Dinosaurs & Robots entries tagged shackitecture.

Walks Like A

2011-05-29T11:12:00.000-07:00

Fortune Magazine Cover, March 1933

2011-05-24T16:47:00.000-07:00

The Bicycle Is Art

2011-05-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

Perfect to browse on a Sunday morning.

Edit. It seems I already posted about this. Ha! Well, I must like it. At least I used a different image.

Edward Hopper, Approaching a City, 1946

2011-05-20T15:52:00.000-07:00

Here's an art chaser for that spam e-mail post. Info on the piece here.

Santa Ysabel Open Space Preserve

2011-05-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Info here. Highly recommended.

Booted Bantams

2011-05-18T21:15:00.000-07:00

From a recent trip to Julian.

Here's all you ever wanted to know about booted bantams (about 2/3 of the way down).

What's Your Bag?

2011-05-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

I'm loving the 11-liter Zimbale saddle bag I have on my Peugeot. I use the bag with a ViVa saddle bag support, a small rack that attaches to the seat post and is designed specifically to support a largish saddle bag. If I get around to it, I'll post a more extensive review of the Zimbale bag and the ViVa support as a system, but for now, I'll just say that I absolutely love it and very much recommend it as a means to carry small loads around town or on longer day trips.

I especially like the extendable flap on the saddle bag, which allows for larger or bulkier loads in the main compartment and/or carrying bulky objects under the flap. That's a rolled up messenger bag under the flap in this photo, which I was going to use to carry home a small bag of cat food, but it turned out my saddle bag was large enough for both the cat food and the rolled up messenger bag, which was good, because I don't like carrying loads on my back when I ride.

PS. I was not compensated to say nice things about these products, I just like them.

Cheap Bike Art Experiment

2011-05-09T12:25:00.000-07:00

This project was inspired by a vastly over-priced piece of bicycle kitsch I saw at a neighborhood shop. The piece was basically a large square board with beveled edges to which a low-quality printout of a diagram of a high-wheeled bicycle had been pasted and glazed over. "Hell, we can do that," I said to my wife. So we did, sort of.

We found four small wooden tiles at a local thrift shop, printed out some photos from the 1890s and early 1900s I found online, and glazed them onto the tiles with an acrylic matte medium. I used a bit too much medium, which produced some small wrinkles, and the hues I added digitally before printing streaked a bit when I brushed on the medium, but I actually like the effect it produced.

The whole project cost maybe $3.00 ($2.00 for the tiles, maybe a dollar's worth of paper, ink, and medium).

Gustave Caillebotte, The Floor Scrapers (1875)

2011-05-05T07:54:00.000-07:00

Read more. This has been one of my favorites for a long time.

What's Up Louisville?

2011-05-04T10:41:00.000-07:00

So here's a long shot. Any readers from and/or been to Louisville, Kentucky? I'll be spending some time in "The Possibility City" probably in late summer/early fall. I'll be there for a week, and although I'll be busy with research in the archives during the day, and likely drained of all ambition or energy in the evening, I'd like to know what's worth doing, where's a good place to eat -- you know, the usual stuff. I'm always in favor of weird, artsy, unusual, historical, or bike-related stuff. Whatcha got, Louisville?

2011-05-02T15:20:00.000-07:00

Let Them Fly Autogiros

2011-04-26T14:48:00.000-07:00

Click for bigger to read the ad copy.

In the midst of the Great Depression, Fortune Magazine was advertising personal aircraft (specifically the Pitcairn Autogiro) for the rich and richer. From a stash of 1930s magazines recently bound for the dustbin, but rescued at the last minute. More to come!

More Horrors of Travel

2011-04-25T13:44:00.000-07:00

The Horrors of Travel

2011-04-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

Click for big, you'll be glad you did.

From Harper's Weekly, September 23, 1865.

Turistas

2011-04-25T10:56:00.000-07:00

My dad has been in town for a few days, and anytime we have visitors I'm reminded how nice it is to live in a city known to be a tourism destination. We don't normally live our lives within the tier of activities that most tourists are interested in seeing -- "Now, on your left is the bank we go to. On your right is a coffee shop where we had lunch once." -- so it's sometimes neat to reconnect with the kinds of activities that visitors typically do.

Here's one we actually do every year, whether we have visitors or not. The flower fields (ranunculus) in Carlsbad are a welcome harbinger of spring in a climate zone not known for its seasons. It's good to have an organic reminder that the season has clicked over to spring.

Ranunculai

This has a groovy 70s feel. I don't know why I like this photo, but I do.

Columbine

Our big touristy activity was visiting the Old Town State Park, which is essentially a San Diego history theme park. It's actually very well done in most places, not terribly cheesy or fakey (it is a little bit, but that's the nature of the beast). The gardens there are among the best features, including a lovely kitchen garden that I neglected to take any photos of. Things are nice and green and flowering, the result of a cool and relatively damp spring here in Southern California. Here's hoping we have another cool and pleasant summer like we had last year.

I've Been Right Here All Along

2011-04-12T09:47:00.000-07:00

This is one of those "sorry I haven't written for a while" posts. It has been a busy late winter and early spring 'round here.

Mostly, I've been working to launch the San Diego Bike Union. We've got some exciting projects in the works to help promote the idea of bicycling for transportation and creating a more bike-friendly culture in San Diego.

Francis Moore in later life.
Courtesy National City Public Library

I've also been working on my ongoing writing projects and getting ready for my lecture next Wednesday, April 20 at San Diego State University on the creation of Civil War memory.

The lecture is entitled "Neither Historian Nor Novelist: Captain Francis Moore and the Making of Civil War Memory" and previews my forthcoming edited version of Moore's Civil War memoir (Northern Illinois University Press, Fall 2011). The lecture will be at SDSU on April 20 @ 7:30pm in LL430 (Malcolm Love Library).

I've also been adding bits and pieces to the Peugeot, which I'll write about later. Some time back we added a mid-1980s Univega mixte to the group, which replaces my wife's late 1970s Schwinn Suburban; more on that later.

I'll try to get back to blogging all of this busy-ness more often.

Random San Diego History: Waldo D. Waterman

2011-03-18T16:36:00.000-07:00

San Diego Air & Space Museum @ Flickr

Running an errand in the Banker's Hill neighborhood today, I chanced upon a monument to Waldo D. Waterman, apparently an early San Diego aviator who took some sort of flight from the top of a canyon in 1909. I was mostly interested to learn what manner of flight was accomplished from such a relatively low bluff (also, I like the owl graphic on the plaque). Turns out it was a glider flight. The photo above is of a young Waldo, presumably is a more sophisticated aircraft than the one he jumped into the canyon with in 1909. In case you're interested, here's more about Waldo.

Found Mystery Photos

2011-03-05T23:20:00.000-08:00

One of the perks of being a historian married to a librarian is that we have both accumulated all manner of ephemera over the years, and sometimes we forget what we have. This weekend while looking for something else, we found a stash of old photos whose origins are only dimly remembered. We have no idea who the people in them are, or where they were taken (thanks to reader Mark, I now know that the bottom photo is of the Volcan de Agua, Antigua, Guatemala -- another photo from a somewhat similar perspective can be found here).

Stylin' Cop Steals Spotlight from Killer

2011-03-02T12:30:00.000-08:00

Okay, that's not what the headline really says, but check out the sheriff's deputy (?) escorting convicted Chicago family-killer Patricia Columbo into court back in 1976. That man has got some serious style. Damn!

via Chicago Tribune

Are These 19th c. Roller Blades?

2011-03-02T08:41:00.000-08:00

Certainly looks like it. These were big in the 1860s based on the number of ads I saw for them. Every issue of Harper's Weekly and Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper that I looked at between 1860 and 1865 had ads featuring this illustration.

Imaginary Airships of the 19th c.

2011-03-01T08:53:00.000-08:00

"Different Systems of Sailing in the Air"

[click for larger to read the original caption]

Image from Harper's Weekly, January 2, 1864

Let's Try This Again

2011-02-26T15:57:00.000-08:00

My last post was about how I was going to start using DRFN to write more. And I followed that up with a week of nothing. So, let's try this again. It's beginning to dawn on me that I don't care much for the short essay format of much blog writing. I'm an academic, so I'm used to writing a lot about a little, not a little about a lot. But I'm going to try to work through it. Brevity and forthrightness are virtues that more academics need to embrace, myself included. As a friend of mine says, "it would have been shorter if I'd had more time."

That being said, I don't have anything in particular to write about today. I'm finishing Ted Conover, The Routes of Man: How Roads are Changing the World and How We Live Today, and I'm starting Peter Norton, Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City. I've been thinking a lot about streets and vehicles for two projects I'm working on.

I've also been combing Harper's Weekly and Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper from the 1860s for cover art options for my book out this fall. I'll have some fun random tidbits to post from them pretty soon. I've also been reviewing and working on addressing issues from the copyeditor's draft of the book, which is making me neurotic.

Plus, a bunch of other stuff, including bike advocacy, which I'll probably write about soon.

I've been listening to Sun Kil Moon for a couple of weeks now, and my wife and I have been going on more bike rides since we bought her a nice light(er) 1980s Univega mixte to replace her 400-pound 1970s Schwinn Suburban.

So anyway, that's it. Good times!

The Daily Grind

2011-02-18T09:48:00.000-08:00

For whatever reason, all of my writing projects are currently in non-writing stages. I'm finding that the old artist's maxim "a line a day" is getting hard to do in any sort of productive way on my work projects, so I'm going to start using DRFN as a writing space in order to keep my knives sharp. How's that for a mixed metaphor?

Inevitably, since I don't find myself having profound, well-ordered thoughts that lend themselves easily to short essays every day, this will inevitably involve writing about some of the mundane tasks and thoughts that occupy me on a daily basis. I don't anticipate using this as a "confessional" space -- I don't think anybody wants that -- and I will also make an effort not to let my posts devolve into just stream-of-consciousness writing. Of course, the golden rule of putting stuff on the Internet will also be followed: don't post anything you wouldn't be comfortable standing up and shouting in a public square.

If this doesn't sound appealing to you, that's fine, just don't read the posts that look boring or dumb. You have the power!

Anyway, that's that.

Oh, also, I'm going to be changing the look of the page again. I'm going even more minimalist (even more less -- ha!). I just started a photo blog called bikes in the house, which is going to be kind of what I'm going for with DRFN, style-wise, if you want a preview. Also, it's the source for pictures of bikes in the house, FYI.

Milagro

2011-02-10T11:25:00.000-08:00

As The Frenchman settles in to being my daily rider, I decided I wanted to add some unique bits to personalize the bike. I remembered that a while ago we had purchased some small charms from a bead shop, and when I dug them out and did a little research, found out that they are Latin American milagros (miracles), little charms that evoke various protections or prayers, depending on the shape of the charm. The one I chose to hang on my bike is the leg, which represents (according to the websites I could find that explain the symbolism): one's strength, and the concept of travel, such as walking, a journey, or even the prayer involved in daily travel. Perfect right?

Here's the weird part. On my first ride to the grocery store with the milagro hanging from the bracket that attaches my bell to the stem, the leg would occasionally swing over and ding the bell. Probably 40%-50% of the time, this happened at a moment when it would have been a good idea to ring the bell, mostly in situations where I wanted to make sure people knew I was there. The rest of the time, it just dinged randomly, but the fortuitous coincidences were frequent enough that it did seem as though the charm was giving me some protection. Am I going to rely on the little guy to keep me safe? Definitely not, but it's nice to have a little backup.

Green Scene

2011-02-10T11:17:00.000-08:00

@ Mission Trails Regional Park.

JJJJound

2011-02-04T14:55:00.000-08:00

The excellent image blog JJJJound has recently posted another huge batch of images. The site is an homage to aesthetics, emphasizing design, architecture, fashion, and the small or grand beauties we see around us every day. I look forward to browsing each new batch, as there is always something inspiring or interesting. Be fairly warned, though, some of the images on the site are not safe for work or mixed company. But if you have a mature sense of beauty and can handle the occasional nekkid lady or dude, you'll be fine. The only frustrating thing is that the images are unattributed and carry no explanations. For instance, I would love to know where the photo above was taken and what's going on there.

Onguent for the Hair & Whiskers

2011-01-28T08:22:00.000-08:00

From a mid-1860s advert in Harper's Weekly.

From Horses to Cars: Chicago in 1894 and 1923

2011-01-18T10:57:00.000-08:00

One Chicago block in 1893. Yellow designates stables for horses.

In the process of cleaning up and organizing things during our move, I came across some material from a grad school paper I wrote for a historical geography class examining the physical transformation of a micro-neighborhood in Chicago as automobiles replaced horses as the dominant mode of urban transportation. I used Sanborn fire insurance maps to locate buildings designated as stables in 1894 and automobile garages in 1923.

Zooming in to just one block of the micro-neighborhood reveals the extent of the transformation (note that May Street became Mildred Avenue by 1923). There were only 7 horse stables in the block in 1894, but there were 22 automobile garages in 1923. Click for a larger version of each map to make out the highlighted portions.

The same Chicago block in 1923. Yellow designates automobile garages.

If I had the paper to do over again, I would add a comparative census analysis to determine whether the neighborhood had gentrified during this period. In other words, were the people with comparatively few horses in 1894 the same people who had so many cars in 1923? My guess is no.

Anyway, interesting stuff, thought it was worth sharing.

Lovely Vintage Miele Bike

2011-01-16T22:23:00.000-08:00

Spotted on our local Craigslist. The ad says mid-1940s, and I wouldn't be surprised. Just gorgeous. Outside of my budget, though.

Afternoon Light

2011-01-12T20:42:00.000-08:00

{click to embiggen}

I had my bike sitting in the living room this afternoon while I was working and happened to look up and see the late afternoon sunlight falling on it. It looked nice, so I took a photo. The black thing looped through my saddle rails is a length of chain wrapped in an old inner tube, which runs under the seat stays and secures the saddle to the frame. Makes it a little harder to steal the saddle off the bike.

Still in the Wrapper

2011-01-09T18:21:00.000-08:00

Took a ride down to Chula Vista today on a portion of the Bayshore Bikeway. On the near side of the bay it mostly goes through an industrial area. I always see something here that creeps me out. The first time was a marching band standing on a deserted sidewalk playing for nobody. This time it was these new cars (Audis maybe?) all wrapped up in these covers. There were hundreds probably, both on and off of trucks. I don't know why, but they seemed really sinister.

USS Midway Museum Photo Essay

2011-01-02T19:50:00.000-08:00

For OldFool:

March of the Fungi

2011-01-01T11:59:00.000-08:00

Moss Knot

2010-12-31T10:17:00.001-08:00

Sheep Muzzle

2010-12-29T22:13:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-17T11:53:00.000-08:00

Whichever one(s) you celebrate, from Bikesgiving to Bikesmas, Bikezaa to New Bikes Eve.

More from the Tweed Ride

2010-12-14T17:14:00.000-08:00

Velo Cult Bike Shop has an amazing photographer (and jack-of-all-trades) on their staff who shoots the tweed rides. His photos benefit not only the shop, but the entire San Diego cycling community. They have posted the official photos from the ride at their shop blog, including this great one of me. That's my wife in the foreground, so it's actually kind of a sweet photo, since I'm pretty sure that I'm heading over to her.

Photo: Anthony Bareno for Velo Cult.

Getting Closer All The Time

2010-12-13T21:35:00.000-08:00

The Frenchman with fenders (Velo-Orange 700c/37mm hammered fenders). Ideally, the next bits will be front and rear racks, but it may be some time before that happens. Fenders were really the final step in what I consider Phase I for this project. The bike just seemed naked without them. I've had these on for about a week now and I think I've finally got all the little rattles eliminated. I'll take some glamour shots of the whole bike one of these days.

Oh, and that's our new dining room it's hanging out in. I'll take some glamour shots of the new house one of these days, too.

San Diego Tweed Ride 2010

2010-12-13T08:46:00.000-08:00

A few choice photos from this year's Tweed Ride. We had over 120 participants this year! More photos are being posted here.

{this photo of me cropped from one taken by SD_yoshi on Flickr}

On Movement as Grace

2010-12-09T16:53:00.000-08:00

This post is not as grandiose as its title, but it begins to engage some larger ideas I've been thinking about.

Our recent move from one San Diego neighborhood to another was accomplished in increments over about two weeks. We were fortunate enough to have a large window in which to move, so instead of throwing all of our stuff into a rented truck on one day, we were able to take all of the boxes and small things in a number of car trips, saving the actual Moving Day for the large stuff that wouldn't fit in the car.

We also took a number of donation items to the San Diego Rescue Mission thrift store and made several trips to the hardware store and to other stores. Most all of the stuff we either picked up or dropped off was too large or oddly-sized to take on a bike. With a bit of ingenuity and a little extra time, we probably could have made more of it happen by bike, but we were short on both, so the car was easier.

The car worked better for the kind of stuff we were hauling and the kinds of errands were were running. It could carry more stuff more efficiently than we could on our bikes. I'm always impressed by moves accomplished by bike, and in some situations they seem to work quite well. In our case, however, I'm quite certain that a bike move would have been more trouble and stress than it was worth.

In our multiple car trips we saw a lot of very bad driving (and a bit of bad cycling as well). But more than anything I noticed the large number of people riding bikes. What struck me most about almost all of the cyclists we saw is that they looked like they were having a great time. While I was getting stressed behind the wheel, I couldn't help but notice the free and easy movements of the cyclists.

So the car was the right mode choice for our move on a purely practical basis, but I couldn't help feeling like a chump for not getting to ride my bike. Driving made me feel dependent, slow, clumsy, stressed, and vulnerable. Moving in a car is not graceful, I can't think of any way that it could possibly be described that way. But the cyclists were gliding independently, quickly, nimbly, freely, and yes, gracefully. Perhaps it's a bit romantic of me -- since the bicycle is obviously my preferred mode of personal transportation -- but from the car, I saw the cyclists moving in what might be called a transcendent state, traveling on the same roads, but traveling differently (indeed, transcending) the limitations I found myself subject to (I do not mean legal limitations, but more intangible physical limitations imposed by the machine in which I was immersed).

Now that the move is finished, I've been doing more errands by bike again, and I'm certainly more aware of how I'm moving through my environment. When I've been riding a lot, I tend to forget (or if not forget, then at least take for granted) how special it is to travel by bicycle. Nothing like a few extra car trips to really drive (harr-harr) that lesson home.

Balboa Park by Night

2010-12-06T13:11:00.000-08:00

My wife took this amazing photo last night while we showed some friends around Balboa Park. I did a little editing in iPhoto to bring out the clouds, but that's it. To me, this looks just like an early 20th c. postcard.

A Moving Experience

2010-12-05T21:23:00.000-08:00

Things have been very busy of late, so the blog slowed down a bit. Not least of the items on my long list was moving house. We are now mostly settled in our new place, where we intend to stay for a very long time, god-willing-and-the-creek-don't-rise. I'll have more to say about the space (and perhaps some photos) as we really get settled.

I've also been working on the final draft of my book and preparing an exhibit for the library at San Diego State University for the sesquicentennial of the Civil War, both of which have also kept me quite busy. The manuscript was finished last week, and the exhibit will be mostly prepped before I leave for my holiday vacation in a couple of weeks.

In the short term, I'm excited about the 2nd Annual San Diego Tweed Ride, which we will be attending with gusto next Saturday. I will definitely take and post photos.

Drool-Worthy Vintage French Bikes

2010-11-24T13:53:00.000-08:00

Early Christmas present from the Velo-Orange blog today: four splendid sites featuring vintage French bikes, with a special focus on porteurs. I'm passing along all four links without comment because really what else can I say but waaaaant!

Velo-Porteur-Ancien (image credit on this post)

Velogibe

Tonton Velo

Collection de velos anciens Gilbert Fautrier

I'll Show You

2010-11-17T09:02:00.000-08:00

Hilariously snarky counterpoint to this more positive early 20th c. postcard. For those times when you want to send a nasty note, but can't be bothered to compose a whole letter.

The Bicycle is Art

2010-11-16T11:29:00.000-08:00

Image: Bicycle Paintings via The Bicycle is Art via EcoVelo

Spotted in the Wild

2010-11-14T08:05:00.000-08:00

Evidence that I do actually ride a bike in San Diego. Me on the left riding The Frenchman and conversing with Momentum Magazine co-publisher Tania Lo. I think we had just crossed El Cajon Boulevard heading north on Park. We had a nice group ride with Tania and her colleague Mia Kohout last Thursday night to give them a glimpse of cycling in San Diego. Describing the bicycling community here really helped remind me how exciting it is to be involved in advocacy in this city. There is so much potential and we're right on the brink of some really exciting things.

Photo via Turbo Bob @ the Urban Bike and Social Club Meetup page.