Author Archives: arletelouise

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Leucadendron

Just two pictures this week? It would seem I’m not doing much, but that could not be further from the truth. I went for a couple of bike rides, had delicious margaritas at Terri’s with Steve and Elaine, got my hair cut, and picked up Carson and Avery from school which always includes some hilarious discussion on the way home, and …

I began to learn what it means to be a Community Engagement Manager. Five Zoom meetings, draft/edit/send a multitude of emails, and then respond to emails received and schedule meetings when convenient. I am learning a lot and enjoying this challenge.

Meanwhile, in the back yard, a protea is changing. For its first 3 years in the back yard, this plant didn’t seem to grow or change much. Then it sprouted up, fell over, then thrived after an assistance a metal plant hanger.

Lately there have been colorful changes at the top of two stems.

I had to check with Thais to find out this particular protea is Leucadendron and it looks like it might flower. Happy Super Bowl weekend. How are you going to celebrate? Go Niners.

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Rescue Me

On Sunday, Terri and I had brunch at Cafe Bernardo,

followed by a play at B Street Theater.

In the first act, the only two surviving passengers from a plane crash are stranded and floating on the wing – this play was a comedy.

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Your bike rides this week

Sunday January 28. Brenda and Rachel:

Monday January 29. Brenda and Agueda:

Tuesday January 30. Brenda and Rachel:

Brenda and Lori:

And from BarbaraB’s ride along the American River Bike Trail:

Saturday February 3. Lori and Brenda:

Dani, Kathy and I on the Garden Highway:

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Message from Carson

Last Monday I dropped off a birthday gift for Carson at about 4:30. When I said “So now you’re 8 years old,” he responded, “Not until 5:30.” LOL. Today, after I picked the boys up from school, he showed me a finished Lego project.

“Grandma, wait!” and he ran off to get a football jersey. “You should tell all your friends …”

Do you mean all the people who read my blog?

“Yes. Tell all your friends who like the Kansas City Chiefs that the 49ers are better.”

You have been duly informed.

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Jibe videos

Jibe wanted to create a set of videos which demonstrated all the basic steps to teach an adult how to ride a bike. It’s different with kids - generally, you provide minimal instruction, run alongside for a while, and boom, they’ve got it. Adults are different. First you need to respect their concerns: past experience, health concerns, cultural norms. Then break everything down into logical comfortable steps. Anya, Deanna and I have taught several in-person rounds of Adult Learn to ride and think we’ve got a really good teaching strategy. We have a very high success rate. Anya wrote draft one of the script. We edited together for a couple of weeks. In the end, the words had to sound like they were coming from me. After delays due to my cold, then the weather, this Tuesday had to be the filming day. A series of storms would begin on Wednesday. We met at Wild Rose Park. Ellen/filmmaker and Sean/assistant. Sean is holding the teleprompter – the script was 6 pages long – I did not want to memorize it (was that even possible?).

There were unavoidable delays: many planes overhead, pedestrians on paths playing music or talking on phones, 30 minutes for a gardening crew on the other side of the canal to finish mowing and blowing, asking people who want to play basketball “Please be quiet. Thank you so much.” Here, I had to read the teleprompter for one camera then, at a specific point, turn toward Ellen to finish the sentence.

There will be 3 videos, each about 3 minutes long. It took six hours to complete the filming. We’re almost done here, using a downslope, both pedals are on the bike. Our light would soon fade.

Success! Done. Thanks so much to Anya for taking all these pictures and being so supportive. Fun experience.

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Your bike rides this week

Tuesday January 23. I rode with Cheryl and Kathy:

Thursday January 25. Brenda:

Saturday January 27. What a fun ride today. Brenda, Laurie, and Laurie rode in from the east side. I rode with Cheryl, BarbaraB, and Laura from Four Seasons Westshore where we all live. Along the way, we picked up Rod and Sue .. soon Rod’s pedal came off, he had to return home, fix the pedal with the right tool, put the bike on his vehicle and rush to meet us at the train station – he made it, barely. We all met at the bike-ped bridge over I-80. Agueda and Minerva arrived and we all took off to the train station. Jim met us at the station. Our train left at 9:55 am.

A few bikes could fit in this car but not 12 so we all moved to the bike car.

In the bike car, it’s impossible to tilt an ebike on its back wheel and secure the front wheel on a hook at a 6-foot height. Our bikes are much too heavy. Even with the non-ebikes, it took two of us to manage the lifting up/down process.

It was a 15-minute train ride to Davis. We were going to ride the 12-mile Davis Bike Loop which is mostly marked. To our benefit, Anya from Jibe met us at the train station and rode the entire loop with us. Anya and family live in Davis which means she was an excellent tour guide.

Back at the train station, we were two riders short for a very good reason. BarbaraB and Cheryl left the route at about the 3/4 point and rode back to Sacramento. Their ride was 40 miles total.

This was a great ride. 30+ miles for most of us. Several riders learned a lot about the limits of their bikes.

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High water

The past week had some bike riding and even more bike-related meetings. I’ve been hired by Love to Ride to work on May is Bike Month as a Community Engagement Manager. It’s a part-time job and ends in early June. I need to learn how to do this job from square one. Thankfully I will be mentored by someone who’s been doing it on her own for the past two years.

I also tested a route for Jibe using Ride with GPS. You can follow the route on your phone easily if you have a phone holder on your handlebars. You can also listen to verbal cues. High water for the Sacramento River along the Garden Highway:

Lots of script reading this week also to be ready for filming next week. Lunch with Kathie at Jack’s Urban Eats was a nice way to end the week.