Steve West

To start, this is some crazy fly that was sitting on the wall of the porch. It was there long enough for me to go in an get the camera, put on a lens and come out and shoot a number of pictures of it. I kind of thought, one picture would suffice.

Holly got back from her trip to the desert with her sister about 5:30 am. She drove them staight through, about 1100 miles only stopping for a nap in the middle of the night for about an hour and a half. She went to bed when she got home and got up about 10:30. So after futzing around the yard and telling us all about her trip, we set up the hammocks to enjoy the warm but breezy afternoon. She passed right out and slept for about 2 hours.

Then about 830 we loaded up the bikes and rode to downtown for the fireworks at Centennial Park. We ended up walking around and getting a spot to sit on the lawn between the Georgia Aquarium and Coke World. It was a pretty good show and where we were wasn’t too crowded. After show though was a pretty good sized mess of people rushing to their cars to wait in traffic for who knows how long. We got on our bikes but ended up walking them most of way across downtown before hopping on them and riding the rest of the way home.

We got home about 1045 and called Chin Chin 2 for some Chinese delivery and all of us were in bed by 1230. I woke up about 8 to the little dog crying and decided to post the pictures, have coffee and work on clipping out images for Mary Jane Bags.

We were going to get up and roll over to the Piedmont Park Farmers Market but about 8 it started raining, then it started pouring for a while. Naturally I did what anyone would do, rolled over and mumbled something to the effect, “Fucking sucks.” So we eventually rolled out of bed, well, Hollay followed me once I was finished brushing my teeth and the coffee maker beeped the completion of the pot.

Her folks came by with her grandmothers to show them the front yard in all its blooming glory. Then we loaded up and rolled over to a BBQ joint Harold’s that was listed in Grant Park, our neighborhood. Turns out they we out past the federal pen in the Lakewood area. It was quite good though, will say that.

While we were sitting on the porch getting ready to go, this guy came by on the farm find. It’s some old school tandem that he painted flat black and his wife stenciled the chain guard. She was on another bike, she wasn’t about to ride on the back staring at his head. This is the kind of bike I’m trolling craigslist to get for Holly and me. Of course she’ll captain and I’ll be stoking. His big comment was a need for gears. So when I do find one, and I will find one, I’ll have an 8 speed internal hub laced on.

Lastly, I’ve discovered how Twitter works and have become quite fascinated with the goings on with my friends in Chattanooga. They’re the only ones who seem to post with any regularity. I’m looking forward to Icon Factory’s release of Twitterific for the iPhone so that I can take this to a new level of crack obsession.

So Saturday had our little clan heading up to Chattanooga to our bike shop, Suck Creek Cycle, to get the girl a new bike. The kids mountain bike we bought her a couple of years ago has gotten too small. Now she’s grown so much we had to get her a small adult bike. She’s moved up from 7 speed, twist shifter to 27 speed STI shifters Jamis Cross Country. It also has a cool shock fork on it. She doesn’t even have to put the seat all the way down to fit on it. As much as I would like for it to last a few years, she’s gonna be too big for it in a couple of years. Her only complaint with the bike is the saddle’s too uncomfortable, so Holly’s going to order her a Terry saddle.

On another note, the Salsa single speed that I’ve had sitting in the shop up there just isn’t going to sell, so we brought it home. I changed the stem and lowered the seat to find that it fits Holly pretty good. So she’s going to give single speed mountain biking a try. So I’m going to put some cyclo-cross tires on my commuter bike and take her riding. Also, the girl has decided that she’s willing to take her new mountain bike out on the trails too. So hopefully in a couple of weeks we’re going to venture out to Yellow River and give it a try.

When we got back from Chattanooga with the bikes, we hopped on them and headed over to Lenny’s Bar for the family day at Mondo Homo. What a blast!! They had a big bouncy tent that would hold adults, some great bands, Skate Like A Girl skateboard team and an all around good vibe. It’s always fun to go to things like that so the girl sees that there are other people out there who march to the beat of their own drum. Take that middle America!

Well it’s another last Saturday in Atlanta with the afternoon spent at the Silver Screen Spook Show. The Spook Show kids show a classic horror film at the Plaza Theater on Ponce with a pre-show skit put on by Blast Off Burlesque. This month’s movie was Earth vs. The Fly Saucers. Next month will be the 3D showing of the Vincent Price classic, House of Wax.

Afterward we went over to Bob & Kelly’s house, parents of kids at the Girl’s school. We hung around for a while with Bob and me talking bikes while he put together the fixings for some homebrew. Then we walked up to Fox Bros. bbq for some good eats. Then when we got back the kids played a new game, Kidnap Victim. You tie them up and they wiggle around trying to get up.

For the past couple of years we drove up to see my family in Greensboro, NC and this year we stayed in Atlanta. Westside Jane put the mohawk up for the grandparents’ joy.

We made orange stuff, squash and cranberry sauce. Holly’s sister Hilary brought homemade pies and her boyfriend, Alec, brought soup. The parents made turkey, squash, green bean casserole, squash, stuffing, deviled eggs and lots of other Thanksgiving fare.