Phone pic catchup

Friday night was the awesome Polkaholics doing a "musical" of the life of Li'l Wally Jagiello, but they did a whole regular set first, and we were tired, so
...B (above, in bad no-light pic) and I had to leave early. We'd been out to delicious dinner beforehand, and got to visit a little more at the bar during the break, too, so that was the main thing anyway. We definitely thought their set time choices were lame - wouldn't you want the people less ridiculously drunk for the thing you've worked on for a year, and have them plastered for your regular stuff?
Saturday morning I was up with the birds to get down to Ohio St. beach for an open water swim. I was a little late, though, and couldn't find my training group among the spandex-and-neoprene crowd that was there. It's amazing how many people are up and out that early as it gets closer to the event!
This is my favorite photo. It doesn't quite capture how high (and super frightening) the waves were. I swam a crazy half-mile in it. I have never had such a treacherous swim in my life! Luckily the triathlon will be in a harbor, and the waves won't be as bad. You can see how few people actually swam once they saw the 4-foot waves. Grueling.
Even more ridiculous than the wetsuit crowd are these incredible herds of runners who are out at 5, 6, 7am on Saturdays on the lakefront in August. I know they are part of running/training groups, but it's sorta scary when you see them coming. Like, there are hundreds and hundreds of them, stampeding along the trail out of nowhere. Hard to bike around, too.
I have to say though, that the triathlon people are all very friendly and super cool. I feel like I've discovered a whole new world I never knew existed! Plus, it is really great to be up and already all worked out before 8am on a gorgeous summer Saturday!
After a coffee and walk with Lois, it was off to my friend S's (with A, above) yard sale, where a bunch of us hung out and kept her and her landlady company while they peddled their wares.
It was a fun group of people. D, A and J (seated on left) brought sausages, hot dogs and buns and D grilled them for us for a lunchtime treat.
But the best part was the amazing lemonade J sold for 50¢ a glass, and the delicious ghirardelli brownies that were 50¢ each, too. His mom made it and he and his brother were splitting the profits with charity. Cute, huh? The kicker was that he poured you your yummy lemonade and then if you wanted, you could add a "splash" of vodka from the cooler. We were all very relaxed that afternoon.
Then I rode home for a bit, and rode back, and S and I rode to A's lovely house for a LOVELY dinner! She made penne with vodka sauce and caesar salad and R grilled sausages and J brought fresh bread from Red Hen Bakery and we all brought wine and a fantastic group of 7 was there and the great conversation, out in the beautifully lit backyard at night, was funny and mellow and fabulous. S and two friends joined us later, after they were out to eat. No one wanted to leave. I didn't get any pictures (besides the spread, above) because really, it was too perfect to spoil. I found out J and I went to the same grade school and middle school! He's 6 years older but still, it was fun to know that. We talked religion, and libido, and future planning, and art - it was a perfect dinner party.
SO, then on the ride home at 2am, a rear spoke on my bike broke as I rode through Logan Square from A's place in Humboldt. I rode on it anyway because it was so late - to the bike shop - and locked and left it there over night. Then I walked home, stopping at about 3 at the Burrito House, above, for horchata and guacamole. I have never seen so many people in line there! (But I've also never been there at Saturday bar closing time.)
And though I've spent like 150 dollars in transport already this month, I rented an iGo on Sunday afternoon (after sleeping until 1pm and the hour-long walk back to the bike shop to bring it in) so I could take Lois to the dog beach for the first time in a long, long time. She had a blast - but there were so many people there (lots of unattended kids that didn't even seem to have dogs with them, annoying), she really didn't play with other dogs and focused on playing ball.
Lois loves swimming, but she's really slow going in and getting to the ball. If another dog goes for her ball, she just lets the dog take it. It's funny.
It was a great weekend. Then I worked yesterday and subbed a couple of art classes and went to the dermatologist and then to awesome bike class where I replaced my brake cables and housing and learned about tire trueing (sp?), which was too late for my spoke problem, but still cool to learn. There was a massive storm while we were in there - we heard that a tornado hit. But we kept going. I love my bike class. Then it stormed again, all night almost, and poor Lois freaked out. Seems calm this morning, but I saw some serious downed trees and pieces of building on our late between-storms walk last night. Also three birds that were hurt badly by the storm on the sidewalk - I didn't realize until Lois sorta chased one that that's what was going on. Sad!

Today I'm up early for no good reason. I have a "big" tri practice tonight - our group is meeting at the race site to go over transitions and get the lay of the land for the event. Maybe I'll take pics. I hope my good bike is finished being fixed and I can pick it up!