Temperature Regulation and Underlayers

From a reader's email, quoted with permission:

...not sure how to put this delicately, but when I ride my bike in the cold I inevitably end up with a sweaty bra. Even if I am not exerting myself, the bra is soaking wet by the time I get to work and The Girls are not happy spending an entire morning waiting for it to dry. I've taken to stuffing paper towels in there, but was hoping you could share a better solution. How do you deal with this? Don't tell me you only wear wool bras?

Now approaching my third winter of cycling, one of the most valuable lessons I've learned is how to dress for the cold weather. Merely piling on layers can lead to overheating, then freezing underneath the sweat-soaked clothing when stopped at red lights. This is where choice of fabric becomes important. Wool and silk not only keep me warm, but regulate my body temperature - meaning that I sweat lessunderneath all those layers of warmth than I do wearing cotton or synthetic fabrics. And compared to technical synthetics, wool and silk do not retain body odor.




When choosing temperature-regulating fabrics, the key to the whole system working for me is to start from the inside out. If I am wearing a wool sweater with a cotton long-sleeve tee underneath, that cotton is going to be drenched in sweat; it's better to wear a wool baselayer and a non-wool garment on top of that. Similarly, underwear matters a great deal, since it is the first thing to contact the skin. Cotton or polyester underwear will end up soaked in sweat, causing discomfort even if every single other article of clothing I am wearing is wool.




So yes: In response to the reader's question, I only wear bras made out of fabric that regulates my body temperature effectively, which for me means wool or silk. Wool is the more durable and somewhat more effective option. But wool bras tend to be plain and sporty looking, and not everyone likes that. Also, women with larger chests often report that these bras do not offer sufficient support. If you prefer a look and feel that is more lingiree than sportsbra, real silk bras are available with everything from decorative lace to underwire support and nylon stretch. After having tried a number of manufacturers, I have settled on Ibexfor wool underwear,and onWinter Silksfor some fairly inexpensive silk bras. I also like to wear Icebreakerleggings instead of stockings once it gets cold, and always Smartwoolsocks. There are other excellent options out there. But as long as it's wool or silk, there should be no need to stuff your bra with paper towels before cycling to work.

A Spring Walk

Last week was really nice so we drove up to Jemez Creek and went for a walk.

Florida Critters and One of My Children Are Really Great!

One thing that is neat about traveling cross country is you get to experience the locals as in the people, and you get to experience the locals as in the animals that live there too.



I know I might be biased but I still think some of the Florida critters are the coolest of all. Really, it's just not everywhere that you can go outside and see this:



When I first moved to Florida, I would be so disturbed by these interesting critters. We had one that liked to hang out in a tree behind our house. And then he'd fall to the ground randomly. With a very loud THUD! Too much drinking is the conclusion I came to. In time I went from that is one freaky dude to that is one freaky but cool dude and made peace with the fact he might fall on me and give me a heart attack. I mean, we did invade their space after all.



The main reason I wanted to talk about these divine creatures though is that yesterday I took a lazy day which is like a sick day but I do it on my day off instead of a work day. A lazy day for me means one of two things. I spend the whole day editing pictures or I spend the whole day doing digital scrapbooking. Ok, make that three things because yesterday I did both.



I spent so long editing pictures, I had time to go back and look at old pictures to edit. Really old. As in, 2004 pictures. These gems were in a folder labeled "Kids Pics" which means one of my children took these beauties. Somehow in the course of attending to five children's needs daily, I neglected to realize at least one of them has some skills in this area. So I am sharing these pictures, but have no idea which one of them I am bragging on.



To those of you that have less than five kids that are horrified by my admission, that's ok. I am used to horrifying parents of one or two or even three children on a regular basis. It's my paybacks for telling my Mother who had seven that I'd never have a lot of kids like she did!



Back to the pictures and figuring out who did in fact take these shots. (Because this is what Moms of five do when four have left home and they have a few minutes to ponder such things!) These were taken at Miami Seaquarium which means it would not have been Ashleigh or Ambir because they were teens then and far too cool to do family fun days. Auburn might have taken them because she is our animal lover. Aric and Austin might have taken them because they are guys and these are about as cool as things go when it comes to guys. That is as good as my guessing gets.



So if any of you three remember taking these pictures, please let Mom know so I can properly give you credit!



In the meantime, I am going to be glad that these particular Florida critters have never made it inside where we live. I do have some boundaries left still.

Staff wanted in Singapore

In preparation for my Asian trip, I revisited my old pictures. I saw this and had a good laugh!







This one was taken in Singapore 6 years ago. A restaurant looking for staff and brutally advertising the qualities they do not want.



Just a few more nights before my Dubai layover and Asian trip...

Seminole State Park :: Georgia!

Wednesday March 16, .. - - Because of “Spring Break” I decided to leave Florida. I had looked online and tried to reserve sites at several different State Parks but it seems that just about everything was nearly fully booked. There were sites available for one night at a time in several places but I just didn't think it was worth the hassle to have to move every night!



So, I found this lovely State Park in the southwest corner of Georgia, not far from the Florida and Alabama state lines. Since I was trying to find a place for the night and the next few days through the weekend I gave them a call to make sure they had sites available. Luckily for me, they did.



The campground is on the southside of a lovely lake, which I can see from my campsite, which is quite spacious. You can see your neighbors but they aren't right on top of you as in some places. It is really a very nice place. The temperature today was “unseasonably warm” in the 80s with lots of sunshine. Wonderful after a long, cold winter up north!



A trail winds through the pine forest, follows the boardwalk over the swamp and marsh area then on through the woods for about two and a half miles. The perfect ending to a long day of driving!

Greetings from... Maine!

Okay, so here it is Friday and I still haven't posted anything about Ohio and New York and very little on Vermont. I left Charlotte, Vermont Tuesday just after noon and arrived at my first cousins place in Belfast, Maine that night. They live just an hours drive from Acadia National Park so on Wednesday I got the "grand tour" of Acadia. You'll probably get really tired of me saying that something is "awesome" or "beautiful" but 'tis true. It was. It started out as a bright, sunny day but quickly turned overcast and cloudy. But at least we didn't get any rain!

My cousin's place overlooks a tidal river with a view out into the bay. Beautiful! (Yeah, that word again!) I'll be here a few more days but will be busy having some fun and "catching up" with my cousin (at least 15 years since we've seen each other) so don't know if I'll get anything more posted anytime soon or not. But eventually, I will. Not doing a whole lot of genealogy research either right now - just enjoying myself and Mother Nature.

Till later, Becky

Scenic Highways

When I left Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park on the morning of May 12th it was downright cold. I stopped at a roadside rest area on US 89 about 40 miles north (and somewhat higher in elevation) and saw a few trees and plants with tiny icicles hanging off of them!


About 11 am I arrived at the visitor center at Bryce Canyon National Park. There were campsites available, but the temperature was a “brisk” 35º and I opted to continue on my way, knowing that I could return later. I also wanted to stop at Kodachrome Basin State Park, which was nearby, but not when it was so cold.

Utah Route 12, which is the highway that passes by Bryce Canyon and goes north towards Capitol Reef National Park, is a Scenic Byway. And it is quite beautiful. The little bit that I saw of it anyway. It started out rather nicely. But the sky was strange looking. The clouds were blue!

The canyons near Escalante, looking westward. The midway point between Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef parks.

Another view of the canyons, taken 10 minutes later, looking west.

The canyons near Escalante, looking to the north. Uh, oh.

I drove into the clouds and saw no more pretty views for the next hour. It snowed. Quite heavily in some places, but the roads were clear. It snowed all the way through the Boulder Mountains.

Near the summit (9600 feet high) of Boulder Mountain the sky started to clear. Steam was rising from the road surface. It felt quite warm when I stepped out of the van to take the picture. But alas, it was just a temporary clearing. It snowed, and sleeted, and slushed most of the way to Torrey, the turnoff to Capitol Reef.

Once again, I stopped at the visitor center. The campground was full. There was BLM land nearby where I could spend the night if I wished. But it was early afternoon, the weather was lousy and more of the same was predicted for the next day. I opted to continue on my way, knowing that I could return later. At least I glimpsed portions of the scenery as the highway meandered through the park.

A check of the map showed that Goblin Valley State Park was an hours drive to the north on Utah Route 24 so I set my sights on spending the night there, which is what I did.

Shortly after I arrived at Goblin Valley, hail fell. Then it thundered and rained. Along about sunset time I glanced out the window and saw the tail end of a rainbow! Ah, Mother Nature in all her glory!

Yes, the photo is slightly out of focus, but it was such an unexpected and glorious sight that lasted only a few moments. It was there. Then it was gone.

You may think that I “complain” a lot about the weather. It's cold. It's hot. The rain. The snow. But I also frequently mention the beautiful blue skies and sunshine. Mother Nature can be fickle and even cruel at times, but you can be assured of just one thing – she is constantly changing. When you are living “on the road” the conditions “outside” are everything, you become more aware of them. The conditions affect your mood. They affect what you do and when you do it. So, yeah, I talk a lot about the weather. It's all I can do. Can't change it, though sometimes I wish I could.