 We began, most of us, as strangers, but somehow the act of getting a few words onto a postcard and sending it off into the world serves to remind us of our similarities instead of focusing on our differences, as it would seem some of our politicians, both sides of the border, would prefer.
You give me hope. And that's no small thing.
AUGUST IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER AND IT'S POSTCARD POEM TIME AGAIN— YEAR 13!
It's PoPo time again, and I'm doing it a little differently this year. Friends and family will be visiting, Ted has cataract surgery to look forward to that requires some attention from me and right now I'm house-/pet-sitting for my son and his family. In past years (I've been doing this since 2007 when it began) I've chosen the card, written the poem, and THEN addressed it and THEN affixed the stamps. This often proved challenging, especially if I was using multiple stamps to make up the total required. Where on earth to put the darned things!
Just choosing the card could take forever; over the years I have acquired quite a few.
Lots and lots of cards...
What to do, what to do...and then I had this brainwave! I picked out 31 cards, a mix of movie stars, singers, Magic Eye ones (the kind you hold close to your face and move back and eventually, if you're lucky, you'll see a 3-D image), cat artists, and some with funny sayings on them.
Then (why oh why didn't I think of this before?) I put the stamps on, and the Air Mail sticker, and now I can write a poem that fits around all of the above!
I haven't decided yet if I'll write to a theme this year or simply go with whatever I think of when I'm ready to send. It'll be interesting to see how it goes. Of course, I'll probably end up sending out a few "bonus cards" to some of the long-distance friends I've made thanks to August poeming, but if you're on my list—Group 2—you'll be getting one of these.
If you're interested in trying this, the deadline to register for this summer's poemfest is July 17th. Sign up here. It's $10 (USD) as the fest is a major fundraiser for co-founder Paul Nelson's SPLAB.
I was interested to note that in 2013 it cost 63 cents to mail a card within Canada and $1.10 to send one to the States. This year the rates are up again—90 cents within Canada and $1.27 to send cards to the States. This is, I'm sure, the reason Canadian participation is down. In past years I've always had at least one or two other Canucks on my list, but this year all mine will be crossing the border. This means that everyone on my list has to remember to put the correct postage on mine or they won't get to me. So heads-up, Group Two! I look forward to receiving your poems and cards.
Light bikes, pro bikes, kids’ bikes and fixies
Lightweight has been showing us its 5.8kg (that’s well under 13lb) disc braked Urgestalt build. The frame, fork and headset alone will set you back £3900. And don’t ask the price of its Meilenstein wheels and other kit.
This is what 5.8kg of German carbon engineering looks like
If you’re a bit taken aback with the price of Lightweight’s machine, we’ve got some cheaper alternatives. All seven of our weight saving tips come at zero cost.
And we’ve had a look at André Greipel’s Ridley Noah SL and asked Chris Froome why he uses Osymetric’s non-round chainrings.
Light weight is important for kids of all ages. We’ve a comprehensive guide to how to buy a children’s bike and what to look out for from their first balance bike right up to scaled down dropped bar machines. If you’re looking for a bargain kid’s bike, we’ve also had a look at Tesco’s range, currently discounted by 50%.
Look’s alloy fixie is ready for the Red Hook Crit series
For fixie fans, we’ve had news of Look’s customised AL464 bike for the Red Hook Crit series with its neat paint job, as well as the altogether older Carlton Flyer and how it was built to stand out in the days when bikes and riders were not allowed even to carry makers’ names in competition.
New power and heart rate measurement options
Stages power meters have been available for Shimano cranks for a number of years and used by Team Sky since 2014. But it’s taken up until now for a Campagnolo version to be brought to market. Stages says that’s due to the tricky engineering required to deal with the Italians’ carbon cranks.
You can now get a Stages power meter for your Campag left crank arm
Meanwhile Apple has filed a patent on a method of calculating factors such as wind resistance and rolling resistance for a cyclist. We speculate that it might be looking to enter the cycling power measurement market.
Wahoo says its Elemnt Bolt is the first aero bike computer
With power meters taking over the world and becoming ever more affordable, we’ve also asked if heart rate based training is still relevant. And recording your power and other data comes at a cost: Wahoo says that a computer adds significant drag, which it’s reduced by 50% with its new Elemnt Bolt. It claims that its aero design will save you 12.6 seconds over 40km at 21mph.
And don’t forget our buyer’s guides: this week we’ve covered energy bars, folding bikes and bike locks. We’ve also looked out some bargains on spring kit now it’s started to warm up a bit.Sound Harmonics has over 30 years combined experience in the audio industry and is the exclusive distributor for Next-Proaudio in South Africa.
We introduced line array technology in the late 90's via L-Acoustics and gained vast experience and knowledge, by not only selling the brands we imported, but also using the brands we imported on our own live shows. With this invaluable knowledge & experience, we will guide you through your design and decision making for your NEXT project.
NEXT–proaudio is part of CVA Electronica Group, a European based company, located in Porto, north of Portugal, with a long history of professional audio design and manufacturing. CVA Electronica was founded in 1986 and is a proud, family run company.
NEXT-PROAUDIO – Where sound meets perfection!
Please contact us for a full quotation and see the saving you can make on your NEXT system.M M F i n c k
There are standing giveaways:
YA Books Central - young adult and kids
Epic Reads - young adult
Most giveaways are hosted by the publisher, the author, or a collection of authors to promote a new or upcoming release and are open to entry for a limited time. THESE ARE THE KINDS OF RAFFLES THAT I HOST!!
Publishers and authors give me books to give away. I would love to give them to you!! I post the GIVEAWAYS on my Facebook page. All you have to do is click the raffle link. GOOD LUCK!
WHEN YOU WIN -
Congratulations, you've won a free book! Happy dance! :) If you like it, please consider lending it to a friend and always review it on Amazon/B&N/goodreads. Author's careers are made on word-of-mouth recommendations. In today's world, that word-of-mouth is Amazon.
GIVEAWAYS -
Who doesn't love a free book?! Writers love them too. They give us the chance to win a reader over and turn her into a fan. In other cases, we want to show our appreciation to our treasured, pre-existing fans.We loved the style, fabric and quality but it hardly covered my daughters chest and she’s 10. It needed to be wider and sadly didn’t give as much coverage as the photo.
These are just gorgeous. I know my granddaughter will just love them and feel a bit grown up. Beautiful colours on both sides.The Briscoe Group’s first quarter results have revealed Rebel Sport is the company’s star player, growing almost 11 percent from last year. This continues a profitable streak for the company, which posted an after tax profit of $39.3 million in January.
Sales for its sporting goods hit $46.7 million, while homeware sales at Briscoes increased 0.5 percent to $73.1 million.
Profitability was tracking 4.3 percent higher than last year in the quarter ended 26 April 2015.
Sales were $119.8 million, versus $114.8 million in 2014.
Same store sales were 3.4 percent above last year.
The adjustment accounts for two new Rebel Sport stores opened in Coastlands, Paraparaumu and Hornby, Christchurch in the last year.
Group managing director Rod Duke says the stellar sales are a result of inventory management, new stock receipting technology, effective marketing and refining its product range.
“This quarter has delivered a double digit sales growth performance from Rebel Sport and a satisfactory performance from homeware in markets that remain highly competitive with relentless promotional activity,” Duke says.
He says the company has also benefited from