Category Archives: Team Kaldis

Night Flight

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Night Flight

Last night was forecasted the storm of the century. Not a thunderstorm this time, but a geomagnetic storm. The northern lights were predicted. The news claimed that they would be visible all the way south down to Alabama, the land of cotton. We had clear skies, so I was pumped. Unfortunately, we also had a dinner party to attend. Getting out-of-town, out of the light well that is Saint Louis was not an option. Then I had an idea. I could fly the drone. Studying this possibility, I discovered that my drone had camera settings. Most importantly for night photography, its shutter speed could be set for long exposures. I began charging the aircraft and then headed off to the party.

The party was with some of our old Team Kaldis alum. It was great to see everyone again. Fewer and fewer of them are still biking, but it was great to recount and hear all of the old war stories from our glory days. Our stroll down memory lane was punctuated by an around the table recounting of how each couple first met and then how they started dating. It was a great time!

Returning home, I found my drone fully charged. Powering it up I took to the skies. I could not really see anything through my iPhone control panel, but I was still hopeful that a long exposure would show more. The running light on the drone made it easy to spot up in the night sky, but I could not determine its orientation. This made it difficult to fly and to keep it out of trees, but I managed. Later, checking the stills, I saw no aurora borealis, but I was rather pleased with the imagery of the ground. Some tweaking will be needed to get crisper shots in the future, but this whole new venue of night flying offers much opportunity. So, no northern lights. The heat island and its associated light well that is the city of Saint Louis not only protects us from tornadoes, but it also wards off geomagnetic storm too. But then there is always photoshop, to see the world as nature intended.

Fat Tuesday

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Mardi Gras Mask

Today, in addition to being Jane’s birthday, it is also Mardi Gras. While marking the beginning of Lent, Mardi Gras is also a last hurrah. This year it falls in the middle of February. Traditionally, before the advent of modern 24-hour shopping centers, food stocks have waned by now. The Catholic church introduced Lent to paper over this seasonal time of hunger. Offering your suffering up as penance to God.

Before we cinch that belt though, let’s party one more time. New Orleans is carnival central here in America, but Saint Louis like to chime in too. Soulard is our French quarter, where crowds convene to celebrate. Back in the day, we would bicycle downtown to watch the parade. Parking was impossible. Revelers were all about. We are more laidback now. Tonight, we will meet for dinner with some of our old bike buddies and party one more time.

  • Big Beads
  • Beads and Boobs
  • QT Beads Guys
  • Boobs and Beads
  • Wild Guy
  • Wigged Out Girls

Old Friends

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Massa’s

We met for dinner at Massa’s, an Italian restaurant and first impressions aside, what with this tarted up bit of art that first greeted us, also a family restaurant. There were six of us. One fewer than had last gathered. It was a cold night, but the company was warm. The food was good, and we went away with enough for another meal. I realized afterwards that Anne and I were the only couple who were still married. Time had taken its toll. I guess that is why we were able to command the stage and recount the story of our first date.

Anne and I were seniors in high school. Now we are just seniors. It was January. Anne and I were taking a computer programming class together. I have often referred to her since as my computer date, because of that. Our date was a rock concert at the high school that featured Bob Seger. He was a high school alumnus too who at the time was making a living playing local venues around Detroit, waiting for his big break, which came a few years later. 

Party Poopers

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Goeppertia

Well, that went about as well as you might suspect. Whether you yell fire in a crowded theater or announce Covid just before a dinner party in this winter of our discontent, the results are predictable, and they are not pretty. First one set of dinner guests begged off, offering to Door Dash their potluck dish before the party. We took their hint and informed everyone that we would not be attending after all. Still afterwards, another couple piled on and voiced their discomfort. Our hostess suggested that we need not worry about the fruit salad dish that she had assigned us. More’s the pity, it was a beauty, persimmon and pomegranate salad, leavened with Harry & David pears. Alone, we supped, and it was grand.

I know that I sound bitter, but that is because I am. In truth, no one is to blame. There was no sin committed, but from this experience I keen how illness has been equated with sin in the past and why it was shunned. Since the pandemic, modern medicine has acquired a medieval aspect. At first, unable to grasp, let alone handle the coronavirus, medicine resorted to often bizarre and ineffective remedies. Then like a miracle the vaccines arrived. Like manna from heaven, they saved us. We have availed ourselves of every vaccine opportunity and are up to date. We feel fine and tested negative. Anne and I have never had Covid.

Forest for the Trees

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Sequoia Forest for the Trees

Today is weigh-in day. Anne lost two pounds this week for a total of more than twenty pounds and I managed to not gain any weight this week, having lost 25+ pounds in total. As a percentage of total weight Anne is way ahead of me and has probably hit her weight goal, while I still have further that I’d like to go. As is our wont, we went out for a celebratory feast after weighing in. After all, we now a full week to account for any excesses on Monday. The humidity has moderated some, making it possible to pleasantly walk outside again. We did the long version of our neighborhood walk, which has Kaldi’s Coffee located on De Mun at about the halfway point.

Anne snagged a table in the shade, although there were plenty still available in the sun. They also now have some inside seating, but it was way too nice not to sit outside. She had a latte and I had a cold brew with milk. We both ordered their avocado toast, which is my favorite version of this dish, the first avocado toast that I’ve ever had and what I have always used as the model for my own avocado toast. Kaldi’s doesn’t use as much avocado as I do, but their toast is extra thick, because it is served on hand sliced bread. They accent the plate with lines of the Siracha with mayo mixed in with it, which makes it a little milder than straight Siracha sauce and gives it nice orange color that looks quite appetizing along with the green of the avocado. They also sprinkle the dish with black sesame seeds, which we joked look like mouse turds. At least I hope that they are not mouse turds. Now that I’ve refreshed my memory with how Kaldi’s makes their avocado toast, I’ll have to revisit their recipe again, because I can see now that I have strayed quite a bit from it over time. I had to bus our table as soon as we each had finished eating, because the sparrows were both fierce and voracious, with no sense of the meaning of personal space.