Abstract Thursday

Sitting outside at my favorite table at Acre Coffee I was struck by the wonderfully elaborate abstract patterns made on the plain stucco wall by the sun shining through the overhead grating and reflected from the windows. The sun, blue sky and bright orange umbrellas are all cheering, if not exactly joyful....

While I sat there who should come limping up to the front door but Levi Leipheimer, whose name probably means nothing unless you happened to be a fan of the Tour de France about ten or twelve years ago. He was Lance Armstrong's right hand man and domestique and, in the end got caught up in the whole doping scandal. He lives in Santa Rosa when he's not training and is known around here for organizing the Gran Fondo, a one day charity ride which attracts several thousand riders. I assume he's not training right now since he seems to have injured his leg....

I decided not to publish the clandestine pictures I took of him because I didn't want to intrude to get his permission his permission, and I didn't want to create another scandal around the fact that he was with a much younger woman who was not Odessa, his one time wife and trainer. For all I know they have been divorced for years, but I didn't want to get into that either.