chestnuts & fire!, holly & hay!, jesus & mary!, WHAT A GREAT DAY!

thanksgiving is over and its time to think about christmas. funny how it wasnt too long go when thinking of christmas so early was crazy. tiny white lights-i despise them! garbage from wal-mart made so cheaply you have to buy new each year. i opted to dig deep in the barn for the old, dangerous, energy eating bulb ropes... that lower picture is my blue spruce out front, planted as a seedling by the previous owner of the house.



well. my early christmas spirit helped me out when i decided to order sufjan stevens' christmas box set-see above. more than happy with the collection of music, not to mention the package as a whole(all for only $20, that allowed me to get johnny a feel the illinoise t-shirt since he will be finished with school soon) how is the t-shirt johnny??. anyway, seems as though orders have far exceeded their expectations and they are delayed until after the first week of december. good for you its available streaming... go ahead, listen to it while cooking, decorating, and stringing popcorn/cranberries- click title link-you will not regret it.




















finally i have a wreath on my truck...something i wanted before i even had a truck. notice the square wreath on the door and the boxwood along the pictures(thanks SM & EK). you can find those along with much more at COTTAGE GARDENS. i can say the douglas fir is of the best quality because i personally selected each one of my cuts for its color, fullness, length, and softness.





































since this is my christmas post, i want to wish everyone out there a great holiday season, chanukah, christmas, kwanza, whatever you celebrate. family, friends, food, gifts, beer, wine, love, snow, mistletoes, fires, wool, sharing are some of what i am looking forward to and i hope the same for you.

























also.....a holiday card for all my enemies, bah humbugers, and GWB lovers

nip! nap! it's all a trap, bo! bis! and so was this

thanksgiving was great. i was whooped in the gobble wobble by both nick and paula who both had great times. the party was a success. laurens wedding was nice. the best part was catching up with the bayers. stories poured and laughs followed. more fun followed-the day i shave off my mo-fo chops, my friends no longer are afraid of my kung-fu style and i am tied to the couch with a pretzel in my pants. at least when i awoke they kindly placed a pair of scissors in fingertips reach, i didnt find the pretzel until i made it to the kitchen for a drink of water. finished the weekend with a ten mile run. although my legs are sore, the great weather made the run easy. unfortunately no mountain biking this weekend but the punk bike enduro is coming up followed by a beer taste at rachaels.

"a culture is no better than its woods"

something important:
To be nobody-but-yourself--in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else--means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.--e. e. cummings




also important:

bottles break, music plays, conversations competing for space

ok. this post finishes up all student drawings. there is one other one but it is very small and the rest of the page is devoted to the words "cave man". today i leave for a little trip. i am excited for so much of it. basically it will consist of four of my five favorite things....the bike is staying home-that leaves food, beer, music, friends.

can this year top the last visit to nyc.
last night i got to hang out with brad bell. he has been over seas for so long now and just this year he returned back to san diego. it was great to hang out with him and he hasnt changed much. it was great to catch up and share some laughs and stories. joe was deciding if he was going to go to the next bar with us and then suddenly, after thinking he was staying in, he says, "well gotch, we're going to be dead for a real long time." then he grabs his coat and we head out the door. nice quote joe. that will be the new "DO IT!"

sometimes i think this cycle never ends

last minute i drove down to catch a death cab for cutie concert w/ ted leo and the pharmacists. although the venue was poor, it was worth the drive. death cab played a lot from plans and transatlanticism which was ok with me. i will have to give ted and the pharmacists another chance. they were good but i didnt hear anything great-good drums and possibly lyrics but they were difficult to hear. oh-the concert was in an ice arena. leaving the concert was fun since we got to bog bye many stuck vehicles. it was hard to believe i got the chance to speed through the field without any people or cars in my way. a majority of cars were being pushed out or left to sit in the mud. the car looked sweet after the mud bogging.









not much riding this weekend. the weather turned bad after a great week. centro-matic is on for this friday but i dropped the ball and waited two days too long for the modest mouse tickets. somewhat disappointed but i dont think finding something else to do will be a problem-is ani difranco worth $50.

NEWS:
i just ordered new cross rims for my kelly. ultegra-open pros.
our gangs has victory hop wallop on tap...a few of them and you will be riding your bike from our gangs to dennys.
all of hopgobble is now going to be bottled.
thanksgiving party 11/24 which also happens to be two good friends birthdays.
jason harmer is heading off to colorado. good luck jason and the past few weeks have been a blast.
i just finished painting my room-im not sure if i love it or not but i think i made the right decision. took me the day but its done. had a helping hand from the paint master-thanks todd.

sing statistics

they say they dont know when but a day is gonna come

i spent the weekend in coudersport, pa with the Cottage Gardens gang. we cut approximately 450 bundles of douglas fir bowels for wreaths and christmas decorations. it was a nice experience. met some nice people and got to hang out with great friends. got a nice taste of snow and the smell of pine is still on my winter gear.




the weather here has been great. ive been riding around town and getting some running in. today i did two laps in the park in just over 35 minutes. actually that was only my third run since september. there is a lot of marathon talk going on and i am about to jump in and make the commitment. we will see how the next few months of running treat me and i will make a decision in '07.



modest mouse and centro-matic are both playing in nyc next weekend. hmm. sounds worth the drive to me. citizen cope plays in pittsburgh this friday.

also. ive been wanting to write and say CONGRATULATIONS to diurba. he has been asked to be part of Troegs Clydesdale 24hour team. this is great news. not only for jason but for anyone who likes beer and going to 24hour races. looking forward to putting in more miles jason.






the punk bike enduro is december 3rd. and their is a thanksgiving party going on the friday after thanksgiving. i will send out more details as i know them.

as for the brew. picture attached is of the two carboys. notice the two different shades. this weekend they were combined to try and create a brew with the gravity we are hoping for. some extra steps and fermenting time has been decided on so our brew is now named HOPGOBBLE instead of HOPGOBBLIN... look for these beers at APPLEJUICE!

Student Drawing #2