Once again it’s the height of summer, that time when we crank up the A/C and spend much of every day inside, watching “Le Tour.”   It’s one of the highlights of my year, and for the second time I’m also taking part in Ravelry’s Tour de France Knit-along.  In 2008, I was assigned to Team Columbia-High Road; for 2009 it’s Team Liquigas.

Okay, so the Italian Liquigas team has no big GC men, no Lance Armstrong or Cadel Evans.  Their most familiar name, Ivan Basso, was forced to sit out the race for health reasons.  That’s okay — since they are not perceived as a threat to the podium contenders, we’re very likely to see our boys in the daily breakaways, riding far ahead of the peloton for many kilometers at a time.

And Czech rider Roman Kreuziger put in a courageous performance in the Stage 1 time trial in Monaco, coming in with the seventh best time, just behind Californian Levi Leipheimer, and earning the White Jersey as the Best Young Rider!  Not bad at all.

The “Let’s Go Shopping” Bag — knit in 100% cotton.  No more paper or plastic!

As for me, I’m aiming at a Green Jersey this year in the KAL.  I’m working on a number of projects including some cotton shopping bags for my trips to the supermarket and a few hats — specifically berets.  I’ve also got two pairs of socks in progress which I actually started in June.  I’d like to be able to wear them when I ride my own bike.

Work in progress:  A beret made of a cotton/acrylic blend from Romania

I haven’t done all that well at riding regularly.  In fact, I finally got back on the bike in early June after almost a year of neglecting it.  Since then I’ve tried to ride at least once a week (although I skipped the last week of June when we had temps in the 100-degree range), and on my second outing I surprised myself by riding to Beals Point and back  — nearly 12 miles, with the first half of the ride mostly uphill.  On that ride I finally got a look at the brand spanking new Folsom Crossing bridge.   And it never ceases to amaze me that I can climb into the bike saddle in my driveway and ride to Folsom Lake.  Even on a somewhat warm day, sitting at a picnic table in the shade and watching kids playing in the water at Beals Point feels awesome.  Especially when you know that you got there completely on your own power.

On the Fourth of July the Big Guy dragged our tandem out of the garage and we went for a 9-mile spin.  It got me thinking about the upcoming Ride For A Reason in August and hoping we can take part again this year.  The tandem is fun, and I enjoy being the Stoker on the back.  I get a workout for my legs, but I don’t have to work quite as hard as when I ride alone.

And for me there’s just something about getting out there alone on my bike; I’m free to go wherever I want at the pace I choose.  No compromising, and I’m in complete control.  The tandem is all about cooperation, but sometimes independence feels great.

Now, on a completely different “note”:

Do you ever get a song stuck in your head and go nuts trying to figure out what it is and where it came from?   It happens to me a lot; in fact, this morning I woke up with an old song in my head.  I could swear I’d seen it in some classic movie −− and I’ve been watching a lot of them in the past month −− but of course I couldn’t remember which one.  Thank goodness for the internet!!

One of my favorite web sites is the Internet Movie Database (IMDB).  It’s an incredible source of info for TV shows as well as feature films.  I used this site along with Google and began searching for a song called “To Know You Is To Love You.”  Well, I found a couple, but they weren’t the song I had in my mind.   Hmm — where did I hear this darned song?

Let’s see, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) had a Hitchcock marathon during June as part of their salute to great directors, and one of the films was Rear Window (which I’ve watched about 50 times now).  I don’t know, maybe the song was in that movie although I don’t really think so, I just might as well try it, nothing to lose.

Yep, that’s the song!