B is for Boy, I'm tired

Here it's Sunday night but not all that late and all I want to do is crawl under the covers for some blessed unconsciousness. But more about that later. First things first:

B is for blueberries!

Possibly the easiest accessible fruit ever. You don't even have to bend down or reach up, you just reach out and pick. No thorns, and the ripe ones are easily distinguished from the unripe.

That picture is of our little miniature blueberry, who lives in a pot and I think is lonely because it never does produce many berries. A fully-loaded blueberry bush is a sight to behold. Every other summer or so the itch gets to me and we go to the u-pick farms and go wild. YUM. We also come home with about 8 pounds of blueberries. Do you know how long it takes to consume 8 pounds of blueberries? There were also a couple pies involved, if I must admit.

And I'd really not like to forget blackberries and boysenberries and all those other variants which might not happen to start with B. Damn, now I've got boysenberry pie on the brain.

B is also for blossoms
(dogwood)

and blooms!
(calendula)

Neither of which there are much of right now. I'm just a squidge bit tired of winter. Remind me of that when I'm complaining about a heat wave this summer, will you? Although the camellias are pumping the blooms out and pansies are still going strong, even after a week of sub-freezing temps.

B, so versatile!
So tasty! (I wanted to mention butter here, but I figured a picture of a stick of butter is kind of pushing it).

And one particular B that's on my mind:
My bicycle!

Last weekend K bought me a Christmas/birthday bike (yes, and it's even a blue bike. K favored what he called the 'slick Darth Vader' black one, but I preferred the bright, garish blue. Yeah, still working on that subtlety thing). Isn't it beautiful? We went for a little ride afterwards and I. thought. my. legs. would. fall. off. That gym stuff is really working good, ain't it. Sigh. K says that I *had* gone to the gym that morning and had taken all those test rides, so not to feel too bad. Bah.

I've been trying to ride frequently this week to build up my tush calluses (I did get a woman's saddle. Now I feel much more, ahem, supported), but it's difficult when it's raining ALL THE TIME. Today there was a bit of sunshine between dramatic snow/hailstorms, so we headed off (it of course started raining as soon as we got out of the driveway). I think we did about 8 miles, based on my eyeing the map. Now all my muscles are pleasantly warm and tired, but I know that my gluteus maximii are going to express their wrath tomorrow, I can just feel it.

We're trying to get ready for the Worst Day of the Year Ride. Hopefully I will not die halfway through. K assures me it's OK to bail if it gets too bad and take public transit back home. But oh the shame! (plus I would miss the cookies)