In memory of our fallen who gave the ultimate sacrifice for us.

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We had a fairly low key weekend here. There were Memorial Day observances and parades.

At our old house, we lived on the main street so all parades went by our house and we could watch them from the front porch. Kind of miss that.  This parade was maybe a mile from the house? So not far and easy enough to bike to.

The weather here in the northeast has been hot. Sizzling hot! We were in the 40s a couple  weeks ago with chilling winds and temps hit 90 this weekend and humid, breaking records for late May.  We are definitely not acclimated to those kinds of temperatures. Not that I like it that hot anyway, but I melt terribly in the heat.

For Saturday’s ride, that meant leaving early in the morning so we wouldn’t be out in the hot part of the day. I was slathered up with sunscreen and wearing my Road ID!

The plan was for Saratoga. The ride down was pleasant, although getting a bit warm and I was sweating like crazy from the start.

We took a break at one of our usual spots and instead of seeing forest, we see this:

There was a for sale sign out at the road side. Someone decided to clear this lot and put it for sale. Ugh. Trees used to be up to where that green is in the front of the photo and looked more like the other side of the road:

Boo.

This was a dried pineapple snack stop.

You can see my glowing pink shirt reflected in my handle bars 😀

We rolled into Saratoga at around 10:30 a.m.  We normally ride after lunch and have an afternoon cupcake, so this early ride sort of threw that schedule out the window. We picked up drinks at Uncommon Grounds and then went to Putnam’s Market, which is a neat store with all kinds of foodie stuff in it.

There is a deli section, a cheese room and a wonderful bakery section.  John decided he wanted a cupcake anyway, so that’s what he got. I picked up a treat to take home and eat later, but I brought along a Zone bar for energy to eat then.  This is paired with my 24 ounce latte – gotta replenish those fluids, right?

We didn’t dilly dally much because of the heat.  John handles the heat way better than I do. For as much time as I spend outdoors, I don’t actually like being in the direct sunlight.  I am certainly not a person that will lay on the beach soaking up rays. My skin is too sensitive.

Anyway, we had a mishap on the way home. We were on a straight away section of road about 10 miles from home, which is pretty easy riding. Just above our heads in front of us, a vulture was floating on an air current. It was so, so cool to see that, only John got distracted a little bit too much. I heard his tire crunch gravel, which I thought was him stopping, and I looked in my mirror just in time to see John toppling over into the ditch!  I flew back around just as he was moving around, so that was a relief.  A motorist stopped to make sure he was okay, since they saw him fall. At least the ditch was grass covered, so that prevented serious injury. He had some scrapes and bumps, but otherwise okay. Thank goodness.  We carry a mini first aid kit with us (always be prepared) and he got taped up as best as possible and we continued home.  Guess that vulture had plans for a meal when he saw us.

That incident kept us out in the sun a little longer than we would have liked and the last 6-7 miles I was really hot and kind of tired. Heat and humidity saps so much energy, at least for me.

We were home by a bit past 12:30.  It was pretty darned hot! John showered and we got him bandaged more appropriately. It was strange to be done with our ride so early in the day, but I had my treat to have later!

This was a ginger cookie with lemon buttercream. Can you believe my cookie made it home fine in the heat?  I thought I was going to have a cookie swimming in a pool of butter when I got home, but it was fine and didn’t even get smooshed in my bag. I did try to pack it carefully on its plate in a bag.

This cookie was delicious! It was a soft cookie with bits of crystalized ginger in it. Yummers. I gave John a bite and I think he was a little sorry that he didn’t save his treat for later 🙂

We got tons of rain last night and combined with the heat, flowers are a poppin’!

Here is my rhododendron:

Pretty, isn’t it?

At least Monday was a light work day, so I got more time outdoors and a good weekend over all.