Kvale Cheesecake Pictures

I was at the cottage over a long weekend mowing lawn and continuing my seemingly Sisyphean task of sanding and painting. (I do not believe in 70 years I have ever used that word before.) The weather was cool but sunny and really quite nice so I rolled down the hill for lunch with J.T. then rode out to Frank's Oz rhubarb garden just to check things out. When I returned I parked the Kvale in the dining room (note the neatly painted wood trim) and later dug out a real camera rather than a toy for a proper photo op.                         Obviously I am not not rational about this bicycle. 

Almost perfect fender lines - a surprisingly difficult task to pull off.

Older Brooks Pro perched on a Paul post.

Campagnolo Corsa Record RD

Campagnolo track crank - White pedals with Nitto cages

Curtis Odom hubs.

Leather laced over fabric wraps. And an assort of very beautiful handmade parts.

Take care, be well,
Gunnar

The Cottage Crab

Long live the queen. Commanding the back yard of the cottage there is a flowering crab. Most "modern" trees are compact, dwarf. They are practical, yet somehow lacking .... lacking grace. This one is forty or fifty feet tall. In Spring it is covered with flowers, in late Summer a herd of deer come every evening to clean up the dropped fruit, even stretch-standing on their rear legs to glean apples off the lower branches, before curling up in the wet moonlight grass to sleep it off until morning. 

Unfortunately we all get old. Like many of us this tree looks fine from the window side but the other side is hollow to the point of non-existence. The trunk is a half shell of rotting wood. It is time ... I have delayed the inevitable for three years. It is scheduled for removal as soon as Dave Norby can fell it with his chainsaw. 

Our neighbor, Marv sent me these pictures yesterday. A good tree, it really knew how to flower - it gave it everything it had - feeding the bees for decades. I will miss its show. 

Coming Up For Air

Cousin Fritz told Lorna that Aunt Dorothy was worried that I might be ailing because I hadn't posted anything for a month or so. For the record, Dor, I am fine, just busy.

Climbing back up onto the blog train I checked the 1410 stats to see if anyone actually monitored a half-dead blog. Apparently some do. I am not certain what happened on April 28th. Someone with a bunch of followers must have posted a link or something because I got 1,761 pageviews that day. ??? I have no idea what that was all about.

Meanwhile, I have been spending about four days a week alone solo at the cottage doing some interior painting and transplanting - just doing general maintenance and putzing about. Solo? Lorna has been busy with other things. but the Lanesboro neighbors and friends have kept me company and Grady Linehan came down one weekend to look at the McLean bicycle. The bike is still at the cottage, but it now it belongs to Grady.

If anyone is garden inclined, I also posted a handful of Spring garden photos here.