Feathers and seed pods

nature finds

Sometimes life is just too busy happening to have much time left for blogging. Besides, when the sun is out and summer is shining (in this hemisphere at least), we all probably have better things to do than noodle about on the internet. For the moment, here is a picture of some assorted pretty things I've picked up on various walks and expeditions.


Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

A Monster at Breakfast

"breakfast"

He had a monstrous appetite in the morning.


Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Have Faith in a Bold Move

"At night, the fragrance wafted in through the windows."

I haven't been posting much recently, but there have been some significant changes at this blog nonetheless. I decided it was time to revise my website and web presence. Aside from a couple features, my website was outdated (partly because I focus on putting new things here on my blog). It just made sense to combine the relevant bits from my website into my blog layout. You'll notice some new things in the sidebar and some tabs at the top.

Notably, my restaurant review pages are now part of my blog. I included my fun little programs that auto-generate random magic, since I find them highly entertaining. For example, the title of this post is the "Fortune of the Moment" I saw just now when loading up my blog. I also switched the whole thing over to be published at allison.gryski.com, though you should still be able to find it through redirection if you go to the blogspot address. Have fun!


Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Whence came the monsters

Friendly kitchen monsters

Sitting on my desk is a cute monster gocco print and a business-card version of another monster print, both by Carrie Wagner. They inspired me to draw some monsters of my own. Originally I was envisioning a sort of monster totem-pole, but part way through, I recalled this cute painting, which I saw when reading some artsy blogs recently. It suddenly seemed just right that the reason for this tower of creatures was cookies! My family will recognize the cookie jar. My Mom had supersonic hearing when it came to detecting the slightest scrape of that lid. Accordingly, my older sister taught me the way of removing it silently. To this day, I suspect we are the only two people with the knack.


Friendly kitchen monsters before painting

I had a lot of fun dreaming up different monsters, so don't be surprised if more cute and creepy creatures show up soon. The careful observer will also note a reference to my purple-suited aliens.



Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

I cycle in a skirt

me with my bicycle
One thing Amsterdam is famous for is bicycles everywhere. And it's with good reason. The bicycles are comfortable, the bike paths are plentiful, it's safe and quick, and it's ever so flat. I'm sure I've been spoiled for cycling anywhere else for one thing.

The Dutch-style city bicycle is soooo comfortable. I don't think I've raved about them on my blog as much as I have elsewhere, but I can't resist. The basic shape hasn't changed since the 1920s, and the result is a bicycle that allows proper posture. You're not bent over with arms stretched out, like on a mountain bike. The handlebars come back to meet your hands, just shoulder-width apart and the frame is quite tall. This means, amongst other things, that it's easier to gracefully wear skirts while cycling. Even with my foot on the pedal at its highest point, the height of the frame and my seat still means that my leg slants downward.


"vintage"

My philosophy for biking in a skirt or dress is largely to just not worry about it; certainly no one else seems to here. I basically get dressed to my own whim, and then just get on my bicycle regardless of what I'm wearing. Two tips to those new to cycling in a skirt: 1) angle your knees inwards, and 2) (this is the biggie) just relax and don't worry about the slight chance that someone might fleetingly see a bit more thigh if the wind is particularly naughty. There seems to be lot of palaver on the internet of people advising wearing shorts underneath or complicated systems of pinning or tying dresses. Now, I can understand some of the discussion of tucking or pinning if you have a full skirt and your bike doesn't have a coat guard, but my impression was mostly that people seem overly worried about someone catching a glimpse of their underwear. To quote Dress A Day, "C'mon, people, are we all six years old? ... Most people wear underwear that is, at minimum, the same coverage as a relatively modest bathing suit."

It's a generalization, but it seemed to be mainly American sites that treated biking in a skirt as a big deal. Maybe it's partly cultural, and maybe it's also that biking as a normal, daily thing just to get somewhere (as opposed to a sporty activity) is not so common in North America. I do wish I could find it again, but there was a site where someone commented that biking in a skirt was maybe not the day to wear your cupcake panties. And my thought was, that's backwards! It's EXACTLY the day to wear your cupcake panties (even though the chances of someone seeing them due to you cycling is actually miniscule). The European attitude largely seems to be confused by the question "how do you bike in a skirt?". Uhhh, you put on a skirt, then you get on a bicycle. And this is the attitude I first adopted when Bixi was launched in Montreal last year. Afterall, if you might just randomly jump on a bike anywhere, you can't really plan what you're wearing.

For reference, I've worn at least 7 different skirts and dresses on my bicycle, of varying lengths and fullness, none with any particular problem. The knee-length, fuller skirted ones are probably the easiest in terms of freedom of movement. But if you're dithering about what to wear on a bicycle, just don't worry. Put on a cute outfit, hop on your bike, and go see the world.

Photographs by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Salutations from a purple-suited alien

"satellite"

This week's IF theme is "satellite", so perhaps it's no surprise that the purple-suited aliens have made another appearance. The story for this one: "The scientists assumed the strange satellite pictures were some kind of elaborate prank."

Photographs by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Bicycling to the Beach

path through the grasses

Yesterday we went on an adventure. A 60 km long adventure. We biked from Amsterdam to Bloemendaal aan Zee for the day. We left at 10 in the morning, arrived at the beach around noon, enjoyed the sun, sand, and sea until 5, then biked home, arriving at around 7:30. We spent pretty much exactly the same amount of time cycling as at the beach. Overall, it was a really lovely outing, though the ride back was ... painful. My legs were soooo sore by the time we got home that I just lay on the sofa the rest of the evening. I thought for sure they'd still hurt today, but it turns out not really. I have a funny squiggly sunburn on one arm where I missed applying sunscreen properly, but we otherwise slathered ourselves sufficiently and kept our sunhats on.


the beach!

I have never been particularly sporty, so a 30km cycling trip each way was definitely ambitious. But I wanted to visit the ocean and the weather was forecast to be absolutely glorious, so with a bike route mapped on Damian's android phone, we ventured forth. We marvelled at the lovely bike paths which are kept well away from the roads. Once we were out of the city, it felt like we were just biking through the countryside, with wildflowers, trees, birdsong, and pretty views. While scenic, the route is not uselessly twiddly; it largely followed along the route of the N200. There are also lots of little signposts along the bike route, at each intersection, making it relatively easy to follow (and clear that there are many other routes to follow for future adventures).


pony by the bike path

We packed ourselves 2 bottles of water and some frozen apple juice boxes and a picnic. The fruit salad (strawberries, mango, and cucumber) was perfect to eat when we first arrived at the beach, tired and thirsty! We had some other classic picnic food like peanut-butter-honey-cinnamon sandwiches, chocolate chip cookies, and bananas.


me biking under the trees

The beach was very busy and quite different from the kind of beach I grew up with. I am used to beaches with more rocks and driftwood, and little crabs and things. This was sand, with bits of shells of course, as far as you could see. The North Sea was chilly, though pleasant to paddle our feet in and let the waves splash our legs. We took advantage of the tractor-pulled food carts on the beach and tried a shrimp sandwich, some deep-fried calamari, and some ice cream bars.


little bridge

When we arrived a noon, there were already lots of people on towels and loungers, but by mid-afternoon, there was a whole new row of towels in front of ours and tons of people playing on the sand. A paddle ball kind of game seemed extremely popular, as was kicking a soccerball, though surprisingly we only saw a couple frisbees. By 5:00, the tide was coming in, and we were ready to head home. I'm not sure if I'd go to this particular beach again as I prefer more rocky bits for exploring and fewer people, but it was a fun adventure, and we only got a little lost on the way back to Amsterdam. (We actually think it made one stretch of the route shorter, though less scenic).


D biking by farmland


Photographs by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.