We meet early in the morning for a walk along the river. It is nice and sunny and temperatures are still around 24°C. But the will go up 10 more digits and anything besides swimming is too hot after that. At least for me. And you mainly agree. We meet with our ice cold drinks just when the church bells ring from above the water. There is no wind today and they are so loud. It is peaceful as we stand, listen and watch for a minute. When the fade we start walking. And talking.
If you and I had coffee…
…I first have to excitedly tell you about my cucumbers. I bought a very expensive plant just before the white party in oder to make the new planters more green. Luckily it has produced a ton off little snack cucumbers. I am almost eating them daily. Right now though I am fighting a little fungus and I am not sure it will burst out into more blooms aka cucumbers. But all in all I have easily harvested 20 cucumbers in the last weeks. So happy. They taste so fresh – specially when directly out of the fridge.
If you and I had coffee…
…I enthusiastically share that I made a quick quick decision last weekend about my new bike. I had dome some research during the week and then last Saturday I went to the stores for a test drive because I didn’t know what size and model would be right. I went to the Cube store first because two of the three bikes on my short list were from this brand. I hopped on the first one and was in love. The second one I could quickly rule out. And the third I had test drive two years ago already. After lots of questions and going back and forth with the husband through messages – he was home sick and couldn’t come along – I decided I really don’t need to go to an extra store. I had made my decision for the Cube Town One bike. In polar grey of course. I had seen the bike for 50€ less online. I asked the store if they are willing to do something with the price – they were not. And since their service was crap doing all my questions (I had to ask 5 different people because no one felt like I was worth their time) I decided screw you I order it online.
Well, it arrived yesterday. Unfortunately I had to assemble it. Not necessarily a big deal but the mounting instruction was missing. A quick search online didnt provide it. So I tried to call the store. No answer. I emailed. I received one but unfortunately a not for my bike just some random one. It started with don’t open any screws on the handlebar. But it was 90° turned so how. What? Logically I had no other chance. So I tried calling again. Nothing. I sent an email with photos telling them the instructions are not helpful. Anyways to make a long story short I ditched the instructions and just did it the way I felt like was supposed to be done. I guess a working brain does help at times. Here it is:
When the husband came home he checked all the screws and was able to tighten them a little more. And he said everything looks fine he wouldn’t have done it differently. I guess today is going to be the day I do the first right with my new bike. Yeah.
If you and I had coffee…
…I quickly ask if you have any issue with my commenting. When I met Kyria she mentioned that she never gets any info when I answered her comment. I hate it when this is not an option on blogs so I always made sure to have that option on my blog. But apparently it is not working. Could you quickly let me know in the comments if you get replays of my answers to your comments? I would like to fix it if it’s an issue – before we are diving into the next NaBloPo challenge. Also, does the “Comment Love” work. Do you see your latest post? Thanks for chiming in.
If you and I had coffee…
…I share that I found a (not quite legal) hack to get my library books onto my kindle. It’s been a struggle for years to figure something out and I just couldn’t. Then I was so annoyed again and I decided to do another research. I was frustrated when the husband came by and asked two or three right questions and within half an hour the book was on my kindle. (Did I tell you yet he is smart?) Oh this opens ups so many more opportunities. Often enough the books I wanted to read are from the library but I hate reading them on the phone. It is just inconvenient and makes for slower reading. So I mainly used the library for audio books. No I can read all the other books. So happy.
If you and I had coffee…
…I share that I have started making some more preparations for my arctic adventure. For now it is reading and listening a lot on the topic. I listened to a podcast with my guide about an expedition he did on the Denali in winter 10 years ago. That made me realize he is much more professional doing this than I ever thought since I know him as an advertising photographer. So weird. Anyways, I still haven’t had a chance to talk to him yet so I am missing information for preparations I would like to have already. I guess patience is still not a strength of mine. Anyways, I have started looking into getting some base layers and I am so overwhelmed. I understand that it should be 100% merino wool. But the differences in the numbers (the higher the colder) are hard to grasp if you have no clue. I would like to buy the stuff asap as it is a) so expensive and b) there are 50% sales right now. And then what kind of brand? I have looked into icebreaker and like their stuff. But is it any good? And is it better to have a turtleneck or a v shape? Arghhhh this is overwhelming.
Have you ever assembled a bike? Do you own a bike? What homegrown veggies/fruits did you eat lately? Any ideas about base layers? Shoot! Do you get emails when I reply to you comments?
13 comments
Those little cucumbers look so refreshing! And wow, good job assembling your new bike! I hope you have many wonderful adventures together.
I know when I comment I get an email saying I am subscribed. Not sure whether I get an email saying you replied…reply to this one and I will report back. CommentLuv does not work, gives me an error: Error. Parsing JSON Request failed.
Thank you for the feedback. Let me know if an email is dropped in you inbox.
The cucumbers are sooo good.
I am excited for my new bike. Haven’t made any longer rides yet but I will.
I do not get notified of your comment replies. I usually go back to the previous post after commenting to view it. CommentLuv also doesn’t work for me – I get the same error as Julie.
That’s amazing that you put together your bike yourself! Amazing! How was your first ride? I have put together a spin bike and couldn’t get one part to go in correctly, so my stepdad had to come and help me.
Hooray for library books on your Kindle. GAME CHANGER!
Argh.. that it’s not working. I was so sure it’s all set up. Guess I need a deep dive.
Yeah I was proud to figure it out. But it was easy compared to the bike i assembled 13 years ago – that took me 3 days. I guess I had some knowledge to draw on.
I am just reading on of the library books while snuggling in bed with my kindle.
I don’t know if the notification works because I never click it – I’m surprised by how many people WANT notifications clogging up their email, but to each her own, but the comment love has not worked in months for me. I don’t know if it’s because I have blogger or what, but I just unclick it or CommentLuv searches forever and then my comment doesn’t get posted.
There is nothing better than eating things you’ve harvested yourself, is there?! Yay for homegrown cucumbers.
Cookies does not work either, and I have to fill in my info every time I comment, check the box that’s ok for your site to store my info every time plus CommentLuv has never worked, not since I wrote about it to you during NaBloPoMo! :(
Enjoy your new bike and well done on assembling it yourself! Your homegrown cucumbers sound great – I haven’t grown vegetables before but would like to try sometime.
I’ve ticked the ‘notify me of follow up comments via e-mail’ option and will let you know if I receive a notification.
Yay cucumbers! I got a bit of “mold” on my zucchini but it just made the leaves look bad, but did not affect the fruit. So I just ignored it. Haha. If we were having coffee I would tell you that your cucumbers are great! I was also give you a huge high five for getting a new bike; I am a bit envious to be honest and feel like going shopping.
Re merino, I like Icebreakers, and Smartwool has a good guarantee (I have returned one that I used a lot but was falling apart and they replaced it!) You can get 100% merino or some of them have a bit of synthetic mixed in and that can make them more durable and it will probably last longer. Something like this: like this
I don’t think my link worked, so here it is in long form: https://www.icebreaker.com/en-us/womens-baselayers/merino-260-tech-high-rise-thermal-leggings/0A5726U2.html?dwvar_0A5726U2_color=0GP&dwvar_0A5726U2_US=in_line
Hi Tobia! Thanks for this coffee date!
I used to own a bike, and it was given to me as a gift by my husband Tony. It was a foldable bike since we used to live in an apartment. Sadly, a few years back it was stolen- just disappeared from our garage. Granted I was not using it so I guess the universe gave it to someone who is probably using it more than me.
Layers. I’ve read a book on winter and how instead of going into a hole as I tend to do, instead, I should try to be outside more. That means that I will need layers. I see the link that Kyria recommended maybe I’ll explore that.
Yes go out during winter. The air is so crisp and the light magical. And warming up with sauna is double the fun.
Bummer your bike was stolen. I am always afraid of that but you can’t stop doing things just because something might happen.
Oh, I love your new bike! I am excited you made a decision. I own a bike and I’ve been riding it a work quite a bit this summer.
And so cool you’re growing your own cucumbers. I tried that once and they all grew and then shriveled. I am not sure what I was doing wrong.
I also don’t get notified when you reply to comments. I now wonder if it’s the same for my blog? I have it set so people should get notified, but I also don’t know if WordPress does that. What a bummer.
Cucumbers are great but after that picture they started to stop growing and turning a bit yellowish. Not sure if it is end of harvesting season, too wet, to cold… I can still eat them and I will but there won’t be many more.
My bike is great. I haven’t used it all of last week but I hope to take a few rides this week.
That blog stuff is annoying. Come to think of it I used to get your replied to comment mail but it might have stopped. I’ll observe and let you know.