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rebeccmeisterI was supposed to go on a long bike ride with friends this morning, but at 2 am I woke up to the sound of thunder and flashes of lightning. Monsoon! There was a large, brightly colored patch hovering over the entirety of Phoenix when I checked the radar at 4 am, the hour when I was supposed to head out. So we canceled and I tried to sleep for another hour or two.
When I got up, it was a blissful 80 degrees outside, and still overcast and raining lightly. A nice morning to meander around the yard and take Art Photos.
And float in the pool (although I definitely felt the chlorine after that).
Then I biked over to the ASU Art Museum, which unfortunately is mostly between shows right now. They did have one gallery on the theme "Spiralling, Twisting, Unravelling," that had a number of amazing and exquisite pieces, such as this sculpture made of wicker:
And these giant forms constructed of porcelain clay, which is almost unbelievable, but there they were.
Then I went over to the James Turrell Skyspace on campus. Surprisingly, I don't think I've visited it before now. I would have remembered, because this one is square, not circular.
I am seeing suggestions to visit it at dawn or dusk, which does seem like a great idea. Maybe I'll go back. This one is wide-open to the public, 24/7, unlike the others I've visited previously.
And then, to visit the Bike Saviours bike co-op to see the current shop space and how they are doing.
It's big!
And so very well-organized compared to how it has been in prior iterations.
With lots and lots of good-looking bikes ready to be refurbished and taken home.
They do need help figuring out how to keep the books balanced these days. In the past they got the vast majority of their funding as proceeds from the Tour de Fat, but New Belgium scaled back the event starting in 2022, so that's no longer an option. They're a nonprofit, but they have a couple of part time paid staff and need to make rent as well. As a nonprofit bike co-op, they aim to keep what they provide as affordable as possible for the general public. I'm not really sure what the best answer is for them, overall. The Tempe Bicycle Action Group is up against similar challenges, for the same reason. I do look at both organizations and observe that they're light-years ahead of anything happening in Albany, but by that same token I do hope to continue getting to see them thrive. Bikes build community.
A friend suggested checking in on the bathroom art in particular, because apparently when they moved to this location, they found some archival material and used it for decoration.
Lots of old friends in those photos.
And what's that over here, next to the toilet?
Oh hey look, it's me, getting into a nice aerodynamic tuck behind my picnic basket. Also, someone wrote Wizard on Wizard's photo, so I amended our photo, too.
One of the better coffeeshops in Tempe is also over on that side of town, so I did stop in for a (decaf) latte as well.
A lovely "rainy day" excursion. And there will be plenty of other bicycling this week anyway.
When I got up, it was a blissful 80 degrees outside, and still overcast and raining lightly. A nice morning to meander around the yard and take Art Photos.
And float in the pool (although I definitely felt the chlorine after that).
Then I biked over to the ASU Art Museum, which unfortunately is mostly between shows right now. They did have one gallery on the theme "Spiralling, Twisting, Unravelling," that had a number of amazing and exquisite pieces, such as this sculpture made of wicker:
And these giant forms constructed of porcelain clay, which is almost unbelievable, but there they were.
Then I went over to the James Turrell Skyspace on campus. Surprisingly, I don't think I've visited it before now. I would have remembered, because this one is square, not circular.
I am seeing suggestions to visit it at dawn or dusk, which does seem like a great idea. Maybe I'll go back. This one is wide-open to the public, 24/7, unlike the others I've visited previously.
And then, to visit the Bike Saviours bike co-op to see the current shop space and how they are doing.
It's big!
And so very well-organized compared to how it has been in prior iterations.
With lots and lots of good-looking bikes ready to be refurbished and taken home.
They do need help figuring out how to keep the books balanced these days. In the past they got the vast majority of their funding as proceeds from the Tour de Fat, but New Belgium scaled back the event starting in 2022, so that's no longer an option. They're a nonprofit, but they have a couple of part time paid staff and need to make rent as well. As a nonprofit bike co-op, they aim to keep what they provide as affordable as possible for the general public. I'm not really sure what the best answer is for them, overall. The Tempe Bicycle Action Group is up against similar challenges, for the same reason. I do look at both organizations and observe that they're light-years ahead of anything happening in Albany, but by that same token I do hope to continue getting to see them thrive. Bikes build community.
A friend suggested checking in on the bathroom art in particular, because apparently when they moved to this location, they found some archival material and used it for decoration.
Lots of old friends in those photos.
And what's that over here, next to the toilet?
Oh hey look, it's me, getting into a nice aerodynamic tuck behind my picnic basket. Also, someone wrote Wizard on Wizard's photo, so I amended our photo, too.
One of the better coffeeshops in Tempe is also over on that side of town, so I did stop in for a (decaf) latte as well.
A lovely "rainy day" excursion. And there will be plenty of other bicycling this week anyway.
