I put an envelope on the net with a twist-tie through a piece of tape that said, "For Sale $5. Please put money in envelope and put envelope on the porch." It wasn't attached well but it hadn't blown off between the morning when I put it out and when I got home. Well, while I'm off abusing myself, this person stops by, apparently reads the envelope, then takes off with the net. So that's the picture. Either society failed, the tape failed, or the twist-tie did. Oh, or they'll be back later with some money. We'll see.

As for abusing myself, I found out that my pictures of The Purrs will probably not be used in The City paper for the story on them. I was kind of bummed ... they apparently hired a portrait photographer. Hopefully they won't go the route of making a gritty up-and coming all-girl band into some bubblegum pop icon with some campy shots ... but I digress.

Basically, I came within about three inches of my life on Tuesday.

All bummed out, I decided to see if there was a way to go straight across the meanders in the Canal Path around Pittsford. I figured I could get off the path near Schoen onto Route 31, head to Ayrault, and see if I could make it the quarter mile to the Erie Canal where Ayrault turns into Aldrich. I ended up missing the turn at Schoen so I took the canal all the way to Ayrault, then to Aldrich, then tried to get to the Canal through the woods.

Well, you can't do it. Not unless you want to cross a swamp. I spent about 20 minutes following a little trail only to end up trecking through a new housing development and back out onto Aldrich about 100 feet from where I started. Doh! My other option was to try Lyndon road about a quarter mile from the end and take the bridge across the canal to the side where the trail is.

Well, you can't do that either. They've got the bridge across the canal all taken apart. So, I turned around and headed back home. Mind you this was already a 16 mile trek out so I was pretty beat, especially handling the hills on Ayrault (huff huff huff wee huff huff huff wee, etc.) Oh, and this is important: I was wearing sunglasses with plastic lenses that have gotten kind of foggy over the past couple years. I didn't think much of it although it was hard to see into the sun, wherein lies the problem ... also that I had missed the turn earlier.

See, just after I passed the canal where I had entered Ayrault earlier, I got to go down another steep hill so I figured I'd haul ass and see how fast I could go. I could see pretty well down the street with the sun in my eyes, but when I entered the shadow of a tree, my vision cleared and I realized I was going 35 miles per hour straight at a pile of branches.

Ten feet in front of me.

Fortunately, I managed to swerve in time and just miss by 3 inches. That was a rush. Anyway, I crawled my way back home, exhausted after a 29 mile ride. Whew. I'll be ready for that Corporate Challenge yet. (You can ride bikes, right?)

Oh yeah, and the second picture -- it's what Highland Park looked like on Mother's Day. Basically, it looked the same as the Lilac Festival except without it being the Lilac Festival and without any form of traffic control.

• Angel Eyes - A cop must reconcile her tragic past before trying to proceeed in a relationship with a guy with a similarly tragic past. I swear, if one of them is back from the dead and doesn't realize it ...
• Shrek - An evil ruler banishes all the fairy tale characters and an ornery orgre, a smart-ass ass, and a princess must deal with the realities of this world.