Night time photos

Our Street

Our neigbors are not giving up on Christmas. Full light up EVERY night. no joke.  

A deserted main drag our town. This would have thousands of cars on a Friday night. Thousands. 

Our gravel alleys 

I love the shadows the tree makes on this house. 

Our local mechanic that saved my 2002 Nissan van from the junker. Thank you Mark

Burlington ave on a friday night. This is impossible and mindblowing. 

Wifey and Miku on a night walk. 

Since our doggie likes to bark at every dog she sees out there we have been going out late at night. To be honest I have always said night time is the best. We saw only one other person out there. I have observed the trails and forests being kinda "crowded" if we are supposed to be adhering to the social distancing thing. People don't even spread out in the parking lot, taking the spots closest to the trail as to not have to walk to far to get to walk on the trail?? 
So last night we had a good long walk. I took my new camera with me and was amazed of how it can take photos in the dark. MY old iphone and point and shooters have nothing on this thing. One can up the ISO and pretty much capture anything you want. 
We had a long week at work pumping out product for the emergency vehicles that are in much need now. It was tense at work with gloves and masks and earprotection. Talk about feeling confined. We were all glad friday rolled around and that we have the weekend to recover and hide. I have a lot of projects due at home and I cannot wait to start working on some bike stuff. I think I will finally be getting back on the bike soon. 
It has been a long break that I needed for a looong time. I pretty much have cycled non stop since I was 18 years old. So after 40 years of pretty much uninterrupted riding my body said to stop for a while. I literally walked in circles as if pedalling! Always hunched over in the "drop" position. You know what I mean. 
I am pretty sure my re-introduction to riding will probably be on the fixed gear or single speed bike. That seems to always bring me back to some kinda shape. I do 1,000 miles on said bike and then move over to the geared bikes. Everyone have a good weekend. I guess we are moving into wearing a mask or some kind of covering when we go out. Buffs, I think are a good alternative if out riding. They come in different weights for different temperatures. The warmer ones are merino wool, the lighter summer ones are polyester. Ride safe, don't take chances and beware to not crash and have to go to an ER. They don't want you in there taking up valuable real estate. 
thank you for reading and be safe, 
Ari 

March 29th, A long blustery Sunday

St. Nikola Orthodox Church

Our longtime Cactus's

Trader Joe's flowers 

Tivoli Theater in Downers Grove, IL. 

Today is Sunday and since I was working all week I have just sitting and laying around most of the day. It is cold, windy and rainy outside so unless it changes in the next few hours I will just be walking around the inside of the house. I don't mind being inside since I have a ton of projects to do. 
As examples I have been calling my friends and family with the landline. My friend in Vermont also has a landline and it was a good uninterrupted conversation. I don't really like talking on cell phones. The quality is so poor. Maybe Cellphones are not being designed for people to talk to eachother. Wait, I thought that was the main reason??? 
I have also been reading the brick manual that came with my new Camera and it has been fun figuring out stuff. 
I wish I could get some sunshine and get some photos to share. I am sure that day will come. I am also in the process of clearing out bills, ripping up old receipts and just getting those little things done that burn a little hole in the back of my head. My whole photograph organization will be a monumental task with prints, thumbdrives, hard drives, negatives, slides and old files on several computers. God help me. 
I also have some bike stuff to get done. If my garage warms up a bit I will be in there as well. Tomorrow starts another week. I don't know what will happen at work. Day by day I guess. I don't worry about it since it is out of my control. Trying to stay peaceful, reaching out to people, thinking, writing, remembering old stories, digging in the back side of my head. 
I hope this is a good time for you as well to take time and find positives. My FB time is down to 2 minutes and that feels good. I hope to see you out there soon and that we can share some miles together in some nice weather. Take care and thanks for reading. 
Ari 

Some pictures with new cameraA

A very dark and gloomy afternoon. 

Even Salt Creek was not moving. 

The little hill on the left is 14% Believe it or not.

Spent a good time reading the manual and trying to learn all the settings. Man these things are complicated but I can tell they do take better images. At 18 megapixels it's a lot more than what I have had before. A friend from Oregon suggested a 24mm Flat lens for on the bike use. The zoom it has is bulky and it would  be a pain to carry on bike. We will see how that progresses 

On another front I made it thru another tense week at work. Everyone is on high alert. We are wearing masks, cleaning everything and keeping far away from eachother. Some of us eat lunch in our cars. 

It's a weird time for sure. Today I went to drop off and pick up product in Chicago. I have never, never seen it so dead. The major highways were empty, like I was in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming. I truly feel I am on another planet. Wanted to get lunch, didn't. Wanted to get coffee at Dark Matter, Didn't. I am only allowed to go one place and come back. 

So tomorrow and Sunday will be great to be home and catch up with some projects that have been waiting for me for the past.....10 years. I am actually excited to get some stuff done. I will probably go for a walk too. 

Let me know what you guys are up to. What are you doing with all the "extra" time that you didn't have before. I hope we all work towards getting thru this. I will also be making a lot of phone call with my beloved landline since I STILL don't have a working Cell phone. Oh Well! 

Thanks for reading. More colorful pictures as the sun comes out.

Ari