astridv

Today I finally took a bath from my paddleboard. Well, I've taken baths in the river before but usually they're more voluntary.
Things I learned:
Don't stuff your shirt inside your dry pants or they won't seal 100%.
Bring a spare pair of pants anyway, just in case.
Actually bring a second set of spares so you can keep paddling and don't have to cut the trip short.

Other than the lack of extra spare clothes and my pants being, while not sopping wet, uncomfortably moist during the trip home, it was fine. I did get wet but I didn't get cold at any point, so the clothes did their job. I still consider investing in a dry jacket so I can stay completely dry when I fall in. I mean, half the year the water is uncomfortably cold, so I think it would be a good investment.

I actually took a picture of the spot right before (which I can't post as my poor Nokia is currently taken apart and drying out, fingers crossed yo.) It's that damned fallen tree that's been blocking the way for years. The risen water level made is impossible to get out and drag the board around like I did in the summer.

Next time, buddy. You, me, and a chainsaw. (kidding. Where would I get a chainsaw.)

Next time I'll have to get out well before and walk around that part. I hope to go again next week, I really hated to cut my trip short and miss the last mile. It was particularly gorgeous today; I hope the photos at least can be salvaged.

So yeah, that was my day. They say you should try a new thing every day, right? lol

eta: super glad I wore my vest. No matter how unnecessary it seems, always wear that vest.

Here's a pic from today, taken further upstream before the dam. Had uploaded it before my swim.


Really hope the Nokia will recover, I love that phone... it takes the BEST pictures!

It's amazing how you can have a whole big futon full of furs and cushions and blankets, and the cat will pick the one spot you planned to sit on. How does she even know?

Wow, apparently ffn is aiming to become completey useless and obsolete with their new anti-copy protection. It seems like they're actively blocking FLAG, I can't create kindle docs right now. According to the FLAG website: "FLAG is currently unable to connect to ffnet / fictionpress, and it now appears that they are deliberately blocking FLAG's infrastructure, including the new infrastructure which was provisioned this week to work around the issue until it could be sorted on their end."

Way to inconvenience your readers. It's almost as good as Disney producing DVDs that don't run on a computer.
Grmph.
Well, here's something nicer: photo of our latest baby hedgehog.

He's still tiny (that plate is cappuccino saucer size) and he was almost dead when we found him, but it looks like he's recovering nicely and you can practically watch him grow. Still way too light for hibernation but winter is still far away (hopefully).

I was visiting my parents in the Rhein Ruhr area for a few days. It was good to get out of town for a little while. We did a few tourist things, and there was even time for a spot of buildering. My dad (who rocks rather a lot) drove me to this spot on the river Ruhr I heard about, and took a couple pictures with his iphone while I checked it out. They turned out quite nice, too.

My stepmom suggested I should edit out the ground at the bottom so they look real daring but hey, I'm trying to show people that this sport is *not* dangerous. lol
(The aim here is to traverse the wall, not go up high.)
( Read more... )

18 Homes That Belong In A Fairytale

I could lose myself in those pictures. I believe at least some of these are actual homes people live in.

This is the time of year where people are posting amazing pumpkin pics. I'm almost getting pumpkin envy.

I was in the mood to do a pic spam. No pumpkins, though... ours are nice but not that spectacular. I took my camera on our walk today, I was hoping for some golden October photos. Alas, a lot of the trees are still green. Is it me or is fall coming rather late to Northern Germany this year?
( Anyway, so here are some photos of Münster. )

I'm calling this one... Lonely Bicycle in the Wintery Woods. ;)
( Read more... )

Hopefully it'll start freezing in a few days so I can get a few proper winter photos! (I don't even dare hope for enough snow or ice to have some fun with.)

We were camped only a few miles away from Arches National Park. One of the most beautiful parks I've seen - the view changes around every corner you take; the variety of the geological formations seems to be infinite. The photos can't really show the sheer scale so, you know, imagine all of this is BIG.

( Under the cut: many many photos. I trimmed them down a lot so each is less than 100K and they should load quickly )

( Atlanta, Georgia )

preview:

( a long and kind of rambling post about snow, mostly. With pics. )

Anyway, bouldering was fun. I was a bit dismayed when I found that a fave route I'd been working on has been taken down - they periodically change the holds so it won't get boring for the regulars. But at least I'd already managed that baby once. And in exchange I got two new routes now that are difficult but probably doable at my level with a bit of practice, so I'm looking forward to sinking my teeth into those problems.