Introducing The Mixte Gallery

I've started a new appreciation blog for mixte-frame bicycles called The Mixte Gallery.

If you want your mixte featured on The Mixte Gallery, please go over to the link above. There is a link to submit your mixte on the site.

The Eagle Has Landed

40 years ago, the Apollo 11 astronauts were on their way to the first ever landing of a manned spacecraft on the moon.

Launched on July 16, 1969, it carried Mission Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin, Jr. On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the Moon, while Collins orbited above.

Quote and Apollo 11 mission insignia via Wikipedia

You can relive the historic landing by listening to the radio transmissions of the Apollo 11 astronauts here at NASA.gov. There is a good timeline here so you can know when the good stuff is being played back.


Buzz Aldrin on the lunar surface
via NASA

For additional Apollo 11 features at NASA, click here. I have to admit that when watching the video on that page, when Neil Armstrong states, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." I still get a chill up my spine. Awesome stuff.

But.... I'm only 46!

I experienced a rite of passage this evening. I got home from work, and Mrs. Doohickie was watching What Not To Wear on TV. One of their big sponsors right now is Long John Silver's and they actually had some food that didn't look half bad, so I ran over and picked some up.

So the clerk rang me up and the amount seemed a little low. I checked the receipt...



...and for the first time in my life, someone gave me a senior discount!



I'm not quite sure what to think about this. After a little checking, I found that Long John Silver's gives a senior discount to people over the age of 55. Ouch... do I look that old? Well, to some 20-year-old working at Long John's, I guess so!

When WORLDS COLLIDE!

So I went on the weekly breakfast ride with my bicycle club this morning.



There was the usual bike club crowd.



But hey! Who's this?



Why it's none other than HeidiTri's, aka Mrs. Doohickie's sister, and therefore my sister-in-law.



She traveled down from upstate New York to visit us here in Texas along with her daughter. If you read her blog, you know the "Tri's" part of her blog name is for triathlons. While she was here, she was happy to join us on the breakfast ride to get a few miles in while she's away from home. On one of my vintage bikes, of course (a 1981 Fuji mixte).

She did very well in the Texas heat (it got up over 100 degrees today). We only had to stop once to cool off... at City Cyclist, of course! Heidi was very impressed with their selection of recumbent bikes.

So it was a little strange to have someone from one of my worlds to be inserted into another of my worlds, but everyone seemed to have a good time.

July Fourth Eve

Getting a little caught up here. The last several years in our church we've had a talent/variety show that lies somewhere between A Prairie Home Companion and The Gong Show the Friday prior to Independence Day. I apologize in advance for the crappy cell phone pictures.

Mrs. Doohickie was the MC. She was there early but forgot her watch, so she asked me to bring it. I arrived on my bicycle just as the show was beginning and rode right up the center aisle of the sanctuary to take her watch to her, delivery boy style (including gratuitous ringing of the bell on my bike).

While I was putting my bike away, I missed the first act: a fifth grader playing Ode to Joy. On a penny whistle. With his nose. I could hear him out in the hall; he was actually pretty good.

The next act was one of the youth playing slap guitar, whatever that is. It sounded pretty awesome.



A little later the "house band" played. It is a four-piece combo that started at our church and actually plays some outside venues. They did a mix of original and cover songs. A very good country band.



Then... the highlight of the show for me. My son played a piece by Mozart... as Mozart.



A great-great-grandmother from the congregation did a poetry reading: She read the original 1885 poem Little Orphant Annie. It is a strange little poem, and she made it even stranger with her rendition (which was good).



The next combo could have been an act on A Prairie Home Companion. They were a quartet on violin, guitar and two recorders that played several European folk songs. Very sweet.



Next was one of the ladies from the church who played keyboards and sang. I think she was singing it straight up, but it came out very lounge-lizard style. My thought was.... Ew.



Mozart was not impressed.



But as we were leaving, several people complimented her on her performance, which, I guess, is why they call it a variety show... there's something for everyone.

July 4

So we went to Concerts in the Garden on July 4. Rather than post pictures, I decided to just put one animated image out there to give a feel for what we saw. The stage is in the first (lighter) pictures.... it didn't seem that far off in real life. The fireworks were pretty awesome. The majority of them were set off during Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever."

Vacation Teaser

This is for HeidiTri's who happens to be Mrs. Doohickie's sister and who is coming from New York State to visit us in Texas this week. I heard she was packing her bicycle helmet "just in case."



It's not too clean, but I just finished a mechanical tuneup of a 1981 Fuji Royale I picked up a couple months ago. The wheels were badly out of round, so I swapped out the wheels from my old Nishiki Olympic 12. I'll tell ya what, Hei.... I wish this bike was big enough for me to ride. With just a little TLC, it rides very nicely indeed.

The catalog weight for this bike is 27 lb., but I don't think it weighs that much.



If you're up for it, you can do the Saturday breakfast ride with me, and Mrs. Doohickie and Mack can meet us at the restaurant. It should be a nice little jaunt.

Happy Independence Day!

by the time you read this, I may be on a breakfast ride on July 4. The bike I'm riding will be festooned thus:





Have a safe & happy Fourth of July!