Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

… and with it, a full recharging of the “all is right with the world” batteries. This was the sixth annual AngelRide CT (and the 4th one I’ve done), in which 250 or so bicyclists rode from Norfolk CT to Mystic CT over two days. As charity rides go, it was pretty easy — just an 80 mile day and a 60 mile day), but there are some nifty hills in there to keep them cyclists honest.

I was on the motorcycle safety crew again, and it was a real pleasure to spend three days on the best bike in the world (the 1998 Honda VFR, of course). And it was great to see some old friends and make some new. We brought in a great handful of new moto recruits, who I’m sure will be back in 2010. They did an awesome job wrangling the wayward bicyclists and keeping them self (though we had one of our motos go down in some gravel — he’s okay though).

This ride raises money for the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a legacy of Paul Newman. The Camp allows kids with cancer and other terminal or just-plain-tough diseases to be regular kids for a week or two, and play like regular kids — without sacrificing medical care. So we all helped some kids be kids, kids who normally had to worry about WBC counts, rad therapy, or being to weak to swim in a lake. It’s a very good cause, and I’m thrilled I got to help out again.

So, as always, pics are up on Flickr, here … enjoy!

First, I finally got around to uploading pictures from last month’s party-slash-concert for Angela … Michela and I joined Niki, Angie and a host of others in welcoming Angela into *ahem*th birthday. We went to Hill Country BBQ, which is one of Angela’s faves, where the meat is plentiful and sold by the pound. We were very happy to catch a performance by Yarn, the country/bluegrass/Dead-y jam band that Niki’s husband plays in. Check out the pics on the new photo page, from the menu link above!

And next up … last night, Michela took me and Sherri to see Rachael Sage and a few other bands at the Bowery Poetry Club. This was a benefit for FREED (For Recovery and Elimination of Eating Disorders), and while some of the acts were more polished than the others, they were all a lot of fun and definitely on the spirited side. This was the first time I’d seen Rachael live, and she does not disappoint! Check her out, grab some of her tunes, and check out the pictures. One of the surprises of the night was the last band, Changing Modes … they had a sharp zydeco/trippy/punky sound which bit into the audience hard, I had to pick up some CDs.

Just one word, five wee letters, but they’ve filled America with hope and joy. I was at Zohn & Eve’s last night for an election party (Eve made pizzas!), and we didn’t dare to hope that what happened would happen. Once CNN called it (per Comedy Central) for Barack Obama, we just sat there, grinning madly. Wild cheers erupted in the streets of the East Village, we could hear them through the window. So we went out on the fire escape to watch … strangers were hugging on 13th Street, someone was burning a McCain/Palin placard, people were spilling out of bars to hoot and holler and celebrate. Someone set off actual fireworks. And there was impromptu honk-a-thons in the vehicular traffic. New York was ebullient.

Now, let’s hope B.O. can deliver on all of those promises … his speech last night was the best thing I’ve heard in years. And McCain’s concession was gracious, and intelligent, and very well received. Maybe we can actually get past partisanship?

There’s some naughty language in there, but if you have headphones it’s SFW.

So … lots of rain. Lots of miles on the moto (always a good thing). Millions of smiles and hugs and kisses. Too many tears. Great food, great inspiration, great company. That about sums it up for the ride …

There’s some wonderful “official” photos up here … but I went ahead and posted my several hundred photos in the usual place. Enjoy!

They rode from Gettysburg to PA on their bicycles, and we MotoSafety folk rode in front of them to get to and block the next intersection. We rode behind them when it got dark so our headlights could show the way. We rode next to them and cheered them on (or scolded them for not riding single-file). And I, personally, got sick and couldn’t sleep all that well at night. Sigh. Still, the fatigue and up-before-dawnity and the long hours were worth all of the smiles, and the tears, and the wonder. I can’t wait for next year.

If you’ve got some time, come check out the 118 or so pictures I took along the way. They don’t capture the personal element as well as being there, or the fisty pride, but if you want to see that in person then you’ll have to register for next year!