Nothing to See Here, Folks. Move Along....

It has been snowy, like, really snowy.

It has been icy. Icy like this....

We have hardly been on our bikes. And it is depressing. Last winter there were only two weeks where we could not ride at all. We commuted by bike to school throughout much of the winter, with happily protected ears thanks to our Bern winter helmets, and happily protected eyes thanks to the addition of cool orange-hued ski googles.

But this winter has been a different story. We have gotten hammered by wintery weather. There have been an unprecedented EIGHT snow days. New Haven has had nowhere to put the snow so there are crazy, high snow banks and very, very narrow roads. And we just have not been riding. And it has not been good for my mood.

Twice. That's it. In the month of January, we were only out on our bikes two times. I was insistent that we ride on New Year's Day. It was a cold, blustery day but for almost purely symbolic reasons, I felt it most important that we HAD to get on our bikes on the first day of 2011. We had to set the tone for the rest of the year. We took a loop up around near our friend's house. It felt good to pump the legs, to breathe in the cold air. It was a positive sign when a family out walking watched us ride by and shouted out, "Hey, an Xtracycle!" We gave them a wave, feeling good, feeling free.

Last Sunday, the sun was out. The snow was still piled high. The roads were still narrow. But the ice had not yet come so I took advantage of less car commuting traffic and took my youngest fellow to his friend's house by bike. It felt good.

But there has been too little riding. So there has been no blogging going on. I feel like saying, "Nothing to see here, folks. Just move along."

Hoping the weather turns. Hoping the ice melts and the snow lessens. Hoping to get back to everyday biking. And when we do, we'll surely have adventures. And then, we'll have something to blog about.

Personalized Bike Art

I am not into tchotkes. While life with three boys and my own overly-relaxed attitude about cleaning cause us to live with a certain degree of clutter, I tend not drawn to little things that sit on shelves. I am, however, pretty addicted to Etsy. I love the idea of all these artisans working away at home, knitting and painting and sewing and silk-screening and baking. There are times I get on Etsy, not because I want to shop, but I simply want to see what people out there are making. And I find all sorts of cool stuff.

Some weeks ago, I was drawn to an Etsy shop. It wasn't because these artisans were making things that I was particularly searching for. No, I went to their shop because I learned that the artists behind indigotwin are identical twin sisters from Maine. And I have identical twin boys. And we had lived in Maine. So as I was perusing indigotwin's very cool folk art, I got an idea. How about a family Christmas gift? And wouldn't it be cool to have those personalized portrait statues? And while it was really personalized, maybe we could include something really personal, like one of our bikes?

So I emailed indigotwin, and they were totally up for the idea of creating our family portrait complete with bakfiets. I filled out the questionaire and mailed them a few photos. They emailed me a sketch of their design and we had a nice back-and-forth about a few changes. And then, a package arrived on our porch. And no, I couldn't wait until Christmas to share it with my family.

So now on one of our shelves, sits this very cool portrait statue of my family and our Dutch bike and I love it:


Cortney and Kristen totally got it right. They even included the polka dots on the bakfiets, the first set of removable wall stickers we used to decorate the box of our bike:

And here are a couple of close-ups so you can really admire indigotwins' work:

Yup, that's me. Complete with purple eyeglasses, blue hair streak, essential coffee mug,
and orange hoodie with bike graphic.

The Ethicist takes on Family Biking

Randy Cohen, a.k.a The Ethicist, is an avid bike commuter. Look at his response when a parent asks about the ethics of transporting his kids by bike.

Could you ever imagine a parent asking about the morality of transporting a child by car?

The Path Less Pedaled Visit to New Haven... On their blog

So I last posted on The Path Less Pedaled Laura and Russ's visit to New Haven. Here is their posting on their time in New Haven with some amazing photos, including a shot of the Full Hands family in its entirety (a very rare sighting given that I normally like to be the one taking the pictures).

Image copyright: Russ Roca of PathLessPedaled.com

You can find more photos by Russ at his photography website.

The Path Less Pedaled Visit

I'm not sure how I discovered Laura and Russ's blog, The Path Less Pedaled, but I found it early on when they were selling off most of the stuff they owned and started packing for their across-the-country bike tour. While I have yet to bike tour, I was immediately drawn to their unfolding story. Travel and bikes are two things of which I am incredibly fond and Laura and Russ are both creative people, a jewelry maker and photographer respectively. Their blog is more than an awesome adventure story, it is also filled with stunning photographs of people, places, and food. Reading their posts, brought me back to my travel adventure days and make me yearn for the time when I am back out there.

Therefore, it was exciting to see that, now 14 months into their journey, Russ and Laura were going to ride through New Haven. P and I happily offered them a bed in our home, thinking of all the times kind strangers helped us out along the way during our years living and traveling abroad. The boys were really excited to have them as guests and each night before they went to sleep asked, "Will Russ and Laura be here when we wake up in the morning?" S and C quizzed them on all the States they had ridden in and loved checking out all the electronic gear that the duo had with them.

Here Russ is going over a blank map of the United States so C can draw the route
Russ and Laura pedaled this past year.

I like knowing the guys saw one more example --up close-- of people making different life choices than the mainstream. Who knows? One day they may decide that they, too, want to take off on a year-long bicycle adventure and they can tell the tale of when "The Path Less Pedaled" (as C referred to them, often instead of their names) came and stayed at their home.

Russ, a Southern Cali native, braved some chilly temps to join me at Elm City Cycling's
monthly Bike to Work Breakfast

The boys are excited to meet Mona, Laura's 'pet' skunk who has traveled this journey as well.

Laura checks out the map before departing on their next leg. They'll make it up to Boston, then take a train back to Oregon, where they'll work, save money, and strategize where they'll bike to next.

You can imagine how much this pedal powered phone charger really intrigued the fellas.

The boys walk Russ and Laura out as they head off after three days in New Haven.
Yes, we have a lot of firewood that needs stacking!

Off they go!

Check out Russ and Laura's Facebook page. You can see some photos of their time in New Haven, including a great portrait of the FullHands family.

Our Turn-- Beer Bike!

We found the perfect keg holder for our backyard bash a couple of weeks ago...

Awesome or Ridiculous?

On Thursday, both C & S had school fields trips to go bird watching down near the Long Island Sound. For school trips that the kids can't travel by city bus, parents volunteer to drive so we needed to bring the boys' car booster seats with us that morning.

Packing the bike for the commute to school, I couldn't decide if we were just so awesome for pulling this off (two booster seats, two backpacks, my lunch bag, my laptop) or just plain ridiculous....

Picture two sets of legs hanging over these sides....