My afternoon bike ride with Chris was wonderful once again.
The weather was great and riding even better. Spring has sprung… and I was happy
to be able to get out of the studio and go play outside. It’s always more fun to play!

With an early start to our biking season, it’s been fun watching the woods surrounding
the bike path evolve from dead, brown Winter woods to the vibrant, Spring green forest
it is quickly becoming. It’s like seeing the seasons change right before your eyes!
With flowers & textures everywhere you look!

We also continued our weekly, favorite riding game of “deer hunting.”
As we pedal the 35-mile route, we keep an eye out for deer along the way.
And today was our highest count ever… 53 deer!

While my bisque kiln was cooling today, I decided to head off… into the woods.
So I drove out of the city, with my friend Nancy, and up to Rock Cut State Park in
Rockford, Illinois. As a kid, I spent many a summer weekend camping there with my family.
Now it’s just a great escape from the hectic city – and today was wonderful opportunity to get
away and enjoy the adventure. It felt like a mini-vacation as we hiked around the lake… twice!
The weather was great and spring was popping out everywhere you looked. I love the colors,
the textures and the small surprises throughout the forest. The tiniest of wildflowers.
The vividness of the duckweed. The sprouts of the mosses. The smallest of nature’s details.

And my personal favorite… and old, grown-over sign & fence. Keep off what?… the lake?!!!

So I’ve “added” another ride to my schedule. My friend Chris and I have decided to ride
the Chicago River North Branch Trail every Monday & Wednesday after work…
as weather & time allow. Today was our third trip this season… another 32 mile ride!

It’s a nice ride that weaves through the forest preserve, around lagoons, across prairies,
and other nature areas taking you from the hectic city street corner of Devon & Milwaukee
where we park our cars… up to the Chicago Botanic Garden where we rest, stretch, chat,
refill water bottles then turn around and start pedaling back. A beautiful ride even this
early in the season where everything is brown & bare… with hints of green. We’re looking
forward to watching the seasons change as we continue to pedal.

BONUS: Along the way, as we’re cruising through the Forest Preserves, Chris and I
are always “deer hunting” and keeping a running tally of all the deer we see along the way.
It’s always a treat to see deer right there along the bike trail. And it always amazes us
how many people just go by without even noticing these precious wonders of nature!

Encouraging… that this morning’s sunrise was beautiful & pink.
Encouraging… that the snow fences were coming down along the beaches this morning.
Encouraging… that I crossed the 300-mile marker on this morning’s ride.
Encouraging… that all of my windows at home are wide open.
Encouraging… that I’ve already moved some of my plants out to the back porch.
Encouraging… that today is the official start of the city’s street cleaning in my neighborhood.
Encouraging… that it’s supposed to get over 80-degrees today!!!

Encouraging… that Winter may actually be over?!

With some surprisingly warm weather here in Chicago, the morning bike rides have been
a little easier to “get motivated” for. With the warmer mornings, I can wear fewer layers…
and get out a little sooner! Although it is Chicago… who are we kidding… it might still snow?!

I woke up this morning to the “First Day of Spring” here in Chicago!!!

And to think that yesterday I got outside for a nice long bike ride along the lakefront
wearing biking shorts and a sleeveless jersey… enjoying the sun & warm weather!
Hopefully this will be the LAST of the winter “fun” before Spring really shows up.
Only in Chicago…

This morning was the “official” kick-off of my sunrise morning bike rides!
The weather was nice yesterday – and supposed to be even nicer today. It was
great to get out there and see the sun rising over the lake again. It’s been a very
long winter… and it was wonderful to get my “summer ritual” started up again!

As the weather is getting warmer in Chicago, today was a wonderful day
to get out and go for a ride. The lakefront was beautiful, the wind a bit gusty,
but the ride was great! I ended up hanging out down at Promontory Point
for a bit enjoying the day. It was nice to see signs of Spring all around me.
Especially some wonderful moss making its first appearance of the year!

Seems like Spring has sprung.
The sun is shining… and one of my orchids bloomed today!

The sun is shining… I’m anxiously awaiting Spring… and getting a head start on the plants.
I’ve never actually done it before, but this morning I planted seeds with the hopes of
having a bounty of “cheap” plants to play with when it warms up enough to start playing
in the garden outside! It’s a test… let’s hope it works!

So what am I hoping for?… I planted two “batches” of gourds (my favorite),
cardinal climber vine, poppies, hollyhocks, paper lanterns and black-eyed susan vines.
Plus… since-my-huge-spider-plant-that-enjoys-the-summer-outside-but-comes-inside-
for-the-Winter-got-little-knocked-down-by-the-freezing-cold-air-coming-in-from-the-
window-that-my-neighbor-left-open… I’m also propagating some sprouts of spider plant.
Coming soon… I’m anticipating a LOT of spiders everywhere! And since they’re one step
away from “weeds”… I may be bequeathing a few of them to friends when they start
to take over?!

Actually, this spider plant originally came from a couple old art fair friends of mine.
Way back in the day when I was first starting out, I did a few “craft” fairs. One of them
was out at the Huntley Outlet Mall. Classy, huh? Anyway, one of my booth-neighbors
was a gardener that made rustic planters & containers filled with plants. At the end
of the show, they were packing up and quickly running out of space in their truck. They
asked if I would want to take any of the plants off their hands to make room in their truck.
Of course I said yes… not knowing that they would give me a full flat of spider plants
and more! They’ve been growing strong ever since… until the freezing air incident!