I'm still in my Food Obsession Mode, and going with that theme, I'm recommending this book today.

What to Eat by Marion Nestle

I'm reading it right now, and while it's not helping a ton so far in knowing what to eat, it sure has a lot of good info on what NOT to eat. Let me just say that I'm very glad I've never been a consumer of margarine.

Also, a visit to her website today reveals this bit o' insight into the American diet:

According to a group that tracks this sort of thing, the leading generators of food sales are (more or less in order): soft drinks, refrigerated milk, ready-to-eat cereal, fresh bread, bottled water, cookies, chocolate candy, and potato chips. Soft drinks are #1. A sufficient explanation for America’s weight problem?

Time for a new post. Thanksgiving vacation was lovely. One of the highlights was the first ski of the season at ABR. The only bad thing is that I don't know how long I will have to wait to ski again. I pray for cold weather so the local places can make snow. Real live nature made snow may be too much to hope for this early in the season. But it was great to get out on the trails again!

20th annual Halloween Party

The theme was "old time hocus pocus" and I think everyone did a great job interpreting the theme. Take a look at the fun costumes! I was a Salem witch this year, in a costume I can re-use at Thanksgiving minus the flames.

Grand Marais, MN

Another lovely annual fall trip to the north shore. Nothing like hearing the waves crashing into the shore all night long while tucked into a cozy cabin across the road from Lake Superior.






The only thing that may come close is this view from about 25 miles north, a little ways off the Gunflint Trail. Couldn't you just LIVE there? Ahhhhh...

Crex Meadows
This morning I had the pleasure of waking up to this view.
The lake is full of coots and Canada Geese, along with some flying overhead. The birds were quiet last night due to heavy wind that blew all night long until the thunderstorm in the wee hours. In the morning, I got a couple pictures before I had to head back home. When I was driving out, about 30-40 sandhill cranes flew overhead. Good thing the roads are rarely traveled out there, because I found out that I am not good at driving and birdwatching. We saw a lake full of trumpeter swans on Saturday. More than I've ever seen before in one place. And mom spied a snake in the parking lot of the sand blow, and some unidentified reptile eggshells. The scrub oaks were red red red , and the other trees were starting to turn. Just a beautiful time of year to visit .

Wild River State Park

We camped at this MN state park this weekend. The weather was beautiful, as you can see from the pictures. 70's, no humidity. We put ourselves to work, gathering wildflower seeds (our job was to gather Penstemon seed pods) so the park can spread the prairie plants to reclaim the areas that are being converted back from farm fields. We also saw an astronomy presentation, got to look through a 10-inch telescope at the binary stars in the handle of the big dipper, and went to a presentation on snakes. It was a very educational 24 hours.

The trees are starting to turn and the park is just beautiful in the fall.

YIKES!

I just had the best/fastest bike ride ever. I was going to head out for an hour or so and do some intervals since I haven't been riding as much as I'd like, and could use to get in better shape. So I start down West River Road and I feel good, so I start to cruise. I figured I had a tailwind, because I was going a couple mph. faster than normal. I think I see a flash and I look up, the sky is dark to the north and it's getting windy. I ride faster, harder, determined to make it at least to the Ford bridge and back before I get drenched. I'm going faster, I go across the bridge, look to the north and east and see dark, dark sky. The kind of sky that will make you completely soaked in seconds. I ride faster across the bridge, now it's definitely a race against time. I see my friend Linsey from NOW bike club, who is running across the bridge in the other direction, say hi and keep going, faster, faster. I didn't know I could go this fast for this long. Where was this adrenaline during my time trials? I'm riding up East River Road now, heading back home, and I hear the tornado sirens going off. Haven't heard those in awhile, so it must be pretty serious, and the sky is now dark above me. I'm going fast, hard, in the big ring, but feeling very little effort, as if my legs are just going by themselves. I get to the little uphill by Summit Av. and finally feel some exertion and have to go back to the easy gear, but only because my lungs are burning, legs still feel fine. I go a few more blocks, now big droplets are falling and it's pretty dark and I don't have a light and I'm wearing my Bella kit, not exactly high visibility. A car turns left in front of me, I slow down to let him go, and the car behind him goes next and almost turns into me. I swerve, and the guy driving yells something out the window. I assume it was "I'm sorry." But I'm in too much of a hurry, and need to get home now, so I keep going. I get to the Lake St. bridge, and the rain starts coming harder. A runner goes by, looking unhappy. I'm really going all out now, around the corner, under the bridge, and the last half mile home. I look down, I'm going 20 mph. Still, seemingly no effort, just a strong desire to get home. I start to feel something pelting like hail, but not a lot. I worry about my car that's in the driveway. I go, go, go to beat the big rain, to beat the hail, to save my car. I pull into the alley and it really starts to rain just as I get into the garage. I look at my computer. avg. speed: 21.1

My best time trial speed ever.

Adrenaline is an amazing thing.

The winds that came right after I got home, as I was standing in the garage, actually scared me. I ran into the house, right to the basement. Luckily it passed quickly with a lot of rain but no damage. I did have rain coming down my chimney, though. That's a hard rain.