Saturday, I got up early, to beat the heat. I was out on the bike by seven. I got 25 miles in the Park. Later, I did some shopping and chores. I also fixed Big Red’s front derailleur’s grip shifter. In order to get the grip shifter off the handlebar, I first had to get the outboard rubber grip off first. I squirted rubbing alcohol under the rubber to loosen its grip on the handlebars. It worked like a champ. Alcohol works better than water, although water would lubricate just as well. The alcohol will evaporate quickly; water would take days to do that, leaving you with a slippery handlebar grip for a while. Sunday, was pretty much a repeat of Saturday, except that I rode Big Red. Its plush saddle made my butt sore and I only got 15 miles. Afterwards, I swapped saddles with my old Trek, the queen of the hanger, and rummaging around I found an old bike computer to replace the broken one. All this care for Anne’s tank is so I’ll have something to ride while I’m overhauling my bike.

Saturday night, I went to go see the new Harry Potter movie. It was enjoyable, if a bit long. I watched the 3D version, which was sometimes neat, but sometimes it was also annoying. The Esquire Theater was showing both the 3D and 2D versions of the movie. Of course they were charging more for the 3D version, so they didn’t want any of the 2D movie goers sneaking in to the 3D show. Their solution was to make the 2D movie viewers wait outside in the heat, until the 3D show had started. This seemed rather mean-spirited to me. I was enchanted with the scene where Hermione disguises herself as Bellatrix Lestrange. Helena Bonham Carter, the actress that normally plays Bellatrix, proceeds to play her character as if she was Hermione playing Bellatrix. It was hilarious and damn fine acting too.

I’ve not read any of the books, but I have seen all of the movies, meanwhile, Anne and both of our sons have read all of the books. I missed seeing this movie with Dave, our youngest son. He would always sit front row center and I felt obliged to sit next to him. Because he had read the books and I had not, whenever there was something in the movie that I didn’t understand, I would turn to him and whisper, “What does that mean?” His answer was always, “Read the book.” Even so, this never stopped me from asking. I came to enjoy his indingent shushing more than any answer he might dispense. I guess that we are all muggles in one way or another. On the other hand we each have our magical talents too. Bicycling is one of my enchanted pursuits. Yours might be knitting, baseball, or what have you. The real joy of the Potter movies was seeing the young actors grow up right in front of us. That our children were also growing up at this time and reading Potter, was pure magic.