A burst of summer and an early morning ride

Whew... it was a scorcher yesterday! Temps topped the thirties and suddenly we'd gone from a mild spring to midsummer in 24 hours. The cats demanded to go out into the garden and hunt flies and other insects, and laze about in the sun. The garden burst into flower and then gasped and wilted, and we debated turning the aircon on in the house but held back. A bit silly of us as it was so muggy by bedtime we had trouble cooling down to sleep. Our house is brick veneer and cheaply built so you feel the heat and cold very quickly when the seasons change.

Thankfully we got a cool change overnight and now it's cloudy and set for the early twenties again. It's a long weekend this weekend - Labor Day - and of course rain is forecast for all three days. Well, we need it. Just WHY couldn't it hold off until next week? :-)

We both woke early this morning and decided to get the bikes out before breakfast. Inspired by how fit I felt a few days ago I took Petunia for our usual 8km ride - and absolutely flew along sooooo easily. I don't have a huge amount of stamina, I never have, so on the long 1km stretch where we usually pedal flat out by the creek I was coasting a little by the end, but was able to overtake Greg easily going up hills - which was nice :-). The little mixte felt so light :-))!! Can't wait until my Brooks saddle comes into stock though - I really notice the bumps now I've got used to the smooth ride on the Pashley.

What's funny is that when I ride Penelope I move between the first three gears. I've never got into fifth gear yet (must try it downhill sometime). On Petunia, I usually use a good range of the gears on any ride. Today, I found myself essentially using two rear gears and shifting between high and low range, and this seemed to cover most eventualities, even hills. Pleasing.

If it's not raining later this afternoon I'll take Penelope for a ride too, just to get whatever exercise I can in before the storms and showers set in. Since it's unlikely we'll get our usual long weekend ride in this week I want to make the most of my bikes.

Red sky in morning, er....dust storm!

We had our storm last night, thunder, lightning and rain. And wind. There have been strong winds all over NSW, blowing dust from the red centre to the coast. I woke at 5.30 this morning to run a breakfast meeting and the light outside was apocalyptic - a curious, otherworldly orange. The sun was rising but you couldn't see it, the dust was so thick. After my shower I took this first pic at 6am. The second photo was taken at the golf course where my breakfast was being held. This was around 7am and there was still a strange dusty tint to the air.

It's worrying for anyone with asthma or other breathing difficulties. Even inside our house with the windows shut you can still taste dust. It's 11.15am now and the wind is still blowing steadily, swirling the red dust around our city skies. The sun is a faint white disc trying bravely to shine though the amazing haze.

My car, which is usually white with a dusting of leaves and a cobweb on the left hand wing mirror, has been restyled in orange.

One of my friends just rang me to tell me a guy down her street was hosing his car off. In the middle of the dust storm. I ask you -!!! What kind of idiots are there out there? Firstly we have water restrictions here that don't allow you to wash your car with a hose between the hours of 10 am and 4pm, secondly it's only going to get filthy again - even filthier in fact as the dust will stick to the wet car. And she said another guy was hosing the dust from the tiles on his roof. Some people have no sense of the environment. Some people have no sense!

This week in Spring...

We had a super little storm last night - pounding rain for about ten minutes, then lighter rain on and off for the next hour. It freshened up the garden and this morning everything looks freshly washed and happily hydrated. Some of this week's treats are:

Above, my Tomgirl ivy-leafed pelargonium. I have two of these in hanging baskets and they are loving the early spring sunshine; they're covered in buds.

Arab's Eye/Black Eyed Susan. I put these bulbs in three years ago. The first year I was rewarded with dozens of flowers and the last couple of years they haven't given me a single one but simply drooped to the ground. This might be the only flower I get this year so I recorded it for posterity.

Sweet peas, just coming into bloom. Behind them the red flowers are pineapple sage/salvia, with a bank of white daisies to the left.

Dutch iris.

Viburnum Anne Russell. Heavenly scent. Unfortunately only one lot of flowers this year on this young plant. My helpful cats, always keen to lend a paw or tooth, chewed off any other buds. Little horrors!

Primrose. This is called Sundance I think. Sweet little flowers... you can see how small they are by comparing them to the flat leafed parsley leaf top left in the pic.

Native jobby.... not sure of its name. Beautiful French Lavender behind it.

New Season's Asparagus

Oh joy! Oh bliss! The first of this season's asparagus was in the grocer's today. Realistically asparagus, along with all other fruits and veggies, is available all year round these days at the cost to your palate and the vegetable's own carbon footprint.(Peruvian asparagus has been on the shelves for ages.) But I like to eat and cook with local seasonal produce whenever practicable. So on the menu tonight is the first bunch of this year's asparagus. Some of the spears are a bit thin and will I think be a little stringy and tough - but as I haven't had asparagus in months I don't care.

Accompanying it will be butterfly pork steaks, done on the griddle and served with a little Char Siu sauce, and a French dish which includes aubergine, eschallots, mushroom, parsley and pan-fried breadcrumbs. Mmm.

A journey back home

What a gorgeous spring day! Temps in the early to mid 20s, sunshine, the incredible scents of everything floral bursting into the air. We loaded our bikes onto the car and drove to my childhood home, where my mother still lives. This is such a gorgeous, graceful part of town. Old stone houses, tons of trees both native and European. In particular, the azaleas and wisterias which dot just about every old, established garden were in full swing, heaven to look at and heaven to smell.

This was the first time I'd ridden around here in about ten years. Back then I was riding a 21 speed mountain bike and able to negotiate all the hills in this hilly bit of town really easily once I'd got fit, standing up and pedalling like fury. Taking Penelope there for a ride was a different matter. She's much heavier and her lowest gear doesn't match the range on an MTB or hybrid. On the flat bits she was just brilliant, so easy to get her up and speeding along, and down the hills she flew like a bird, giving my other half on his road bike a serious run for his money. But I'm ashamed to say that I got off and pushed on the biggest hill (just as I did the first ever time I tried that particular hill on my MTB). My legs were aching like mad and I was gasping. Even low gear wasn't enough, so I think I'll have to get the bottom gear lowered, aside from working on my personal fitness. More disturbing was the realisation that it's really, really awkward if not unsettling to try and stand up on the pedals to get up hills. The geometry of the bike doesn't really allow it.

That being said, she really is lovely to ride and it means adapting to her geometry and gearing as well as making such mods as I can afford. Sydney is a hilly ci

ty, more suited to bikes with more gears and in particular more low range gears if you're an unfit lass like me.

Next time I take her to Mum's I'll be fitter and more used to her. She's worth all the perseverance, all the aching legs and gasping breath, as she is a diamond on two wheels.

Ahh, spring!

Spring started here officially yesterday. Australia is practical like that - start your seasons on the first of the month regardless of the solstice. Spring really does seem to start at the end of August, particularly where I live. Over the last week green shoots have started to appear on just about everything, the daffodils are out, the jonquils have almost finished, the sweet peas are in full bloom. Golden wattle (a blessing if you love the look and scent, a curse if you get hay fever) is brightening up the local parks. And best of all anyone who grows jasmine is delightfully responsible for filling the air with perfume. Here's ours out the front, looking towards our front door.

And a few more around the front... jonquils, and our new and sparkling hanging baskets with the pelargonium Tomgirl. I love this deep red, it's crimson gone to the dark side.

I've enjoyed my rides the last few days even more than usual with the heady scents of early spring emanating from peoples' gardens. One guy up the road has his entire front fence covered in jasmine, and you can smell it several doors away.

The ponies in the little field a few blocks away are starting to shed their shaggy winter coats, and are enjoying the lush new green growth.

Hibernating winter gardeners (not that we have a particularly cold winter here) have been busy with the compost and fertiliser, and the less attractive scent of chicken shit mingles with the florals.

This is the perfect time of year to do stuff outdoors. In summer the heat and humidity is punishing, but right now it's a pleasure getting out and pedalling after lunch. The warm sun on our backs, the air still cool enough to stop us overheating.

Life just doesn't get any better than early spring.