Nora is Ready to Go!!

Nora in all her renewed splendor!

Well, the bearings have been repacked, there's new tires, handlebars, chain and wheels, and there's a new coat of paint!  This week Larry and I finished work on my beautiful bicycle! 

I hopped on for my first ride the other night and was amazed at how much easier she was to pedal and how comfortable the ride is with the new handlebars (those big, swooping handles keep me in an upright position).  I still need to replace the seat and plan to eventually replace the whitewalls with cream-colored Schwalbe tires,  but for now what I have on the bike will work.

I rode a couple of miles the other night (and could have gone a lot farther) after work so I think I am ready to tackle the morning commute!  Depending on weather and how well I budget my time in the morning, I may be biking to work tomorrow!!

I had so much fun working on this bike!  Working on old bikes is a hobby my husband and I are both becoming enthusiastic about and we're spending more (fun) time together as a result.  I am now eyeing a 1950s frame a friend recently gave me and considering converting it into a three speed commuter bike. 

More updates soon!

-Lanza

Nora Gets a Makeover!

May is National Bicycle Month. It's funny that I returned to my love of bicycles during a month dedicated to promoting cycling!  Who even knew there was such a month!!

It has been a little over two weeks since I bought my bicycle.  I had no idea what I was getting into or the journey this bike would take me on (aside from the little rides around the neighborhood).

Here is a photo of my bike day she came home with me:


My bicycle, Nora, the day I purchased her.
Yes, I named my bike Nora..... long story.

She was a bit rough looking. There was what appeared to be minor rust on the fenders and wheels, the paint job was clumsy and the tires looked to be original (and by some miracle still held air!).  Her frame was sound, solid American steel and the shape and profile were exactly what I was looking for. The man who sold the bike said she was a 1954 Sears bike.

After a week of riding Nora around the neighborhood I decided to shine up the chrome on her fenders and wheels.  The wheel I polished came out pretty good, but the fenders were a nightmare.  What I thought was a weird patina dulling the chrome turned out to be chrome-colored spray paint.  As I polished the fenders they turned from dull metallic to a rusty, pitted mess! 

That's when I decided to give Nora a makeover, including a new paint job, fenders, wheels, etc.  While taking stock of needed replacements, I got curious about a few features I noticed on the frame, like the little fins at the back, the funky shape of the luggage rack and the strange bracket beneath the handle bars.

So I went online and did some research and disovered that my bike is actually a 1963 Sears Spaceliner.  Here is what she looked like in her glory days, very space-agey:


1963 Sears Spaceliner.  I think the light kit inspired the design of
the Starship Enterprise.

So the makeover has begun!  A friend of mine heard I was restoring an old bike and she sent over her old mid-50s Montgomery Ward frame as a parts bike.  I liked the luggage rack on that bike better than the funky Spaceliner rack, so I switched them out. This weekend I sanded all the frame pieces, luggage rack and chain guard.  After the sanding was finished the parts were painted a shiny black.  (Black is a very forgiving color if you goof up.) 

Nora, all sanded and ready for painting.

 

Fins on the frame!


My husband inspected the bearings on the bottom bracket and headset.  He said they needed to be repacked, so he took care of that detail and I can't believe what a difference a bit of grease has made!  Very smooth!!  I had no idea how stiff the headset was until I tried it out after the bearings got the new grease!

Bracket for headlight assembly.

I've ordered most of my parts from online sources, but recently discovered a local bicycle shop that I'd like to support.  When I went over there to buy a chain breaker and a few other little items I asked about a specialty tire I'd like to buy and either they're not willing to order something that's not on the show floor or he didn't think I was a serious enough customer to be helpful.  We'll see how that relationship turns out. 

Then again, we may not need the local shop.  My husband went out in the garage the other night and welded together a bicycle stand so that we can elevate Nora to eye level when we need to work on her.

Today he built a truing stand for mounting tires and adjusting spokes.  Have I mentioned how amazing my husband is?  That man knows lots of stuff and can build and fix ANYTHING!!



Nora's Fork!
No wrinkles on these stockings!

The frame looks awesome in its new paint, but I am going to save those photos for the grand unveiling.  The rest of the parts we're waiting on will arrive in the next day or two.  So, until then, I will leave you with a teaser - a closeup of the newly painted fork.  I love the quirky design element on this part of the bike.  I am thinking about highlighting  the edges with a white enamel.... but am holding off on artsy accents until I see the bike put  back together with all her new components.

While this was an unexpected project and I am itching to get back on the bike and ride, there's a lot of enjoyment in the makeover.  I'm getting a lot of satisfaction in uncovering the hidden beauty in this wonderful old bike.

-Lanza 





 

A Remembered Love: The Bicycle

I work in an art center that depends a great deal on the help of volunteers.  The average age of my volunteers is 80 and I am in awe of these folks, not just because they give joyfully of their time.  A lot of these men and women are still very active and in great shape.

Recently, a 94 year old volunteer offered to unplug a lamp I was moving out of the gift shop.  The lamp was plugged in under a table and as I was objecting/worrying about this gentleman getting down on the floor to reach the plug (and not being able to get back up), he quickly squatted down on all fours, stretched under the table and unplugged the lamp.  Then he sprang back to his feet!! My jaw dropped!

At 43 my joints are stiff, I'm carrying around several pounds of excess weight and there is no way I could get up from the floor as quickly as a volunteer who is more than twice my age.  A lot of my volunteers, from age 70 and up, move with a lot more grace and agility than I do and realizing this has convicted me.  If I want to be spry and active when I get to be their age I have to get serious about my health and lifestyle. 

So I've been considering ways to get back into shape.  With the exception of my high school years when I got into doing "Jazzercise" two times a day (Yes, I said Jazzercise. Feel free to snicker. The 80s were an age of great cheese.) and starved myself into a size 6, I've never been one to exercise for the sake of excercising. Going to a gym or an excercise class has never held great appeal to me.... so what kind of excercise would keep me engaged and interested long enough to get me back in shape?

One morning as I got into my car to drive to work and it hit me:  Why am I firing up all this metal and burning expensive gas to drive 1.18 miles to work?  If I walked, it would take me about 20 minutes to get to work and if I biked the distance, I'd be there in about 10 minutes (maybe less).  The roads between home and work are fairly flat and there's only one busy road I'd have to cross.

I haven't been on a bicycle in more than 20 years. Would I even be able to ride a bike now?

When I was a kid, I spent several hours each day on a bicycle.  I got my first bike when I was about 6: A baby blue Schwinn Bantam. 

1970s Schwinn Bantam

I rode that bike all over the neighborhood: To school, around the block, to the park, etc.  When I was on my bike I was my own person: All that existed was me, my bike and the wind in my hair. I was in complete control of my destiny when I was on my bike. Riding that bike was the closest thing to flying. Oh the adventures I had while on my Schwinn!

Eventually, I outgrew the Bantam, it was converted to a boy's bike and passed down to my brothers. That bike was a part of the family for what seemed like forever and I am surprised I couldn't find a photo of my old friend anywhere.  My next bike was a 1950s 3 speed Schwinn Free Spirit (I wish I still had this bike, it was a sweet looking bike) and then in the summer of 1976, at the age of 9, I got my first "grown up" bike.  It was a bright orange 10-speed Schwinn Varsity.

The bike was too tall for me - I couldn't touch the ground when I was on the seat - but that didn't keep me from leaping on the seat from the pedals and soaring along on the pavement.  I was constantly getting my bell bottoms caught in the chain of the bike, causing my wooden-soled Dr. Scholls to go flying and toppling me over, but I loved that bike. I dreamt of one day, with my "grown up" bike going on a biking and camping trip with my dad. Dad had this really cool 12-speed travel bike with all sorts of neat accessories.  He would pack up his bike and ride off and on long "camping" trips.  I thought those trips sounded like a lot of fun.  What's better than enjoying the great outdoors while cruising on your bicycle?

Lanza on her "grown up" bike with a look of determination!

The next bike I had was the travel bike my dad left behind when he moved out. I admired that bike when my dad had it for all of it's cool accessories and ability to handle rugged terrain. That bike was also too big for me when I started riding it, but I was never one to shy away from a bicicular challenge. I literally rode the tires off that bike. One day, as I was riding, bolts started flying off and the thing crumbled into a heap of tangled metal and teenager.
 I eventually comandeered my mom's fancy Japanese racing bike.  I took that bike on roads all over the Texas Hill Country when I was a teenager.  On weekends my favorite ride was Highway 27 between Ingram and Mountain Home. My 43 year old self marvels that I ever was able to accomplish such a thing!  Back then, I had youth, an exceptional physique created by Jazzercise and cycling, and a cute guy working at the Mohair Warehouse along the route to motivate me.  After I left for college I gradually gave up my bike rides for other endeavors.

Lanza and her dad's travel bike.
A 12 year old conquers a bike purchased for a 6'4" man!



Through all of those years of riding bikes, even after getting a driver's license and purchasing a car, bike riding never lost its magic.  I always had that light-hearted sense of flying when I was on a bike.  So when I started thinking seriously about getting some exercise and saving gallons of gas, it seemed natural to revisit my old love of cycling.

I've been thinking it over for some time and decided to go low-tech.  An old, sturdy single-speed bicycle would give me a better work out for the 1.18 mile journey to work, would be easy to maintain and is a small investment should this idea turn out to be a bad one.  Besides, the history geek in me loves the look of classic bicycles.  Last night I purchased (for a lot less than a brand-new bike) this beauty:

The bike is a 1950s model made by Sears.  The lines of the bike remind me a lot of the Bantam that I had when I was little (the basket is identical) and I fell in love with it at first sight.  It needs a lot of cosmetic work, but the bike itself is sound.

Immediately after unloading it at home, I hopped on for a ride.  It's true what they say: You never forget how to ride a bike.  After a few initial wobbles I was on my way!  I took this bike around the block and as I progressed with each pedal, there it was:  The sense of flying!

I'm not going to lie, I was winded from a spin around the block and my legs felt like Jello, but the joy of riding is still there!  I was back on the bike this morning and took a slightly longer route than I did yesterday.  It will take me some time to get to the point where I can ride to work, but I have no doubt that I will be riding like a pro (and not winded so quickly) in the very near future!

So Kerrville commuters beware:  There's a new cyclist in town!

Practice, practice, practice!!

A local organization approached me about making a piece of jewelry for their silent auction fundraiser later this month.  I was flattered and honored to be asked to make a contribution.  This is the first time since I started working in glass that someone actually requested my work!

This piece was a struggle and it took me a lot longer than it should have to make it.  First, I had these really cool green pearls and turquoise-like stones I wanted to use but every glass I tried didn't seem to be a good match.  I finally settled on an Italian pale green glass that I had bought to make cabinet knobs (I have a ton of the stuff).

The next problem was shock.....  glass shock.  I've been away from the torch too long and lost my rhythm so when I'd go to shaping handles, the lower part of the vessel would crack from thermal shock.  (Working with glass is a balancing act - you have to keep the heat uniform throughout your work, especially on bigger pieces.  When a section of glass cools too quickly you end up with a nasty crack through your beautiful work.)  After several attempts and a lot of wasted glass I finally had a complete, stress-free vessel.

The final problem is something I've been working to solve since I decided to make my own glass stoppers instead of using corks.  The little glass stoppers have been falling out too easily.  I've tried etching the part of the stopper that goes into the vessel, and that worked a little bit, but it was not a great solution.  On the last vessel I made I put rubber cement around the stopper where it comes in contact with the vessel because a lot of glass artists had suggested that solution.  This is not an attractive solution and the cement will eventually wear off so I wasn't happy with that solution, either.

Last night I got to playing on the torch and made a really long stopper, one that reaches almost to the bottom of the vessel.  When the vessel and stopper came out of the kiln I realized I had solved my problem.... with simple gravity.  The weight of the longer stopper is enough to keep it from falling out of the vessel!  I should have figured that out before!!

Lessons learned: 

1. Don't sweat the small stuff.  You can drive yourself crazy looking for minutia, like the EXACT color match and you're probably the only person who notices the slight imperfections.
2. If you really want to be good at what you do: Practice, practice, practice.  It doesn't matter how may vessels (or balloon animals) you make over a life time, you loose ground when you spend a substantial amout of time away from the torch.  Skills do get rusty!
3. Have fun and play with your art!  If it becomes a chore or a quest for perfection it ceases to be fun.  Besides, when you take time to goof off and try something new and different, you might accidentally stumble onto the solution to a problem that's really been bugging you!

God bless,
Lanza

A Lesson Comes Home to Roost!

I've been doing a lot of "deep, spiritual reading."  You know, the kind of stuff that challenges you to look at life and yourself differently.  The book I am currently reading includes this parable by Coelho:


Once upon a time there was an inn called The Silver Star. The innkeeper was unable to make both ends meet even though he did his very best to draw customers by making the inn comfortable, the service cordial and the prices reasonable. So in despair he consulted a Sage.

After listening to his tale of woe the Sage said, “It is very simple. You must change the name of your inn.”
 “Impossible!” said the innkeeper. “It has been The Silver Star for generations and is well known all over the country.”
 “No,” said the Sage firmly, “You must now call it The Five Bells and have a row of six bells hanging at the entrance.”


“Six bells? But that’s absurd. What good would that do?”


“Give it a try and see,” said the Sage with a smile.


Well, the innkeeper gave it a try. And this is what he saw. Every traveler who passed by the inn walked in to point out the mistake, each one believing that no one else had noticed it. Once inside, they were impressed by the cordiality of the service and stayed on to refresh themselves, thereby providing the innkeeper with the fortune that he had been seeking in vain for so long.

The parable really hit home for me.  One of the gripes I've had about my job is that I seem to have an abundance of well-meaning volunteers and visitors who seem to enjoy pointing out mistakes made around the center - real and imagined.  I know these folks are not being malicious and think they're a help to me, but I haven't always been gracious in receiving the criticism.

Today, I had a volunteer who went through every copy of a particular publication in our gift shop to make sure they had all been corrected. (She had pointed out a mistake when the publication was unveiled last month.)  Sure enough, she found a handful of copies that hadn't been fixed....  and I didn't handle the situation as well as I should have.  Now, an hour after the volunteer has left, I am not too proud of myself. I have been reminded of the parable I had read earlier in the week.

As the parable above illustrates, people LOVE to point out the mistakes of others.  It's human nature.  I should be seeing the "mistake finders" in my life as blessings in disguise instead of letting my hard-headed ego see them as a pain in the rear end. These folks keep me humble and in their own way are helping me to do better in my job.

Who knows?  At some point I may even find a way to use these experiences to the advantage of the center, just as the inn keeper in the fable did!

My vow to myself from here on out is to be patient and loving with the mistake finders, and to show appreciation when they take the time to help me out.

-Lanza

My Latest Creation

I made this necklace this weekend as a donation for a silent auction to benefit the Main Street Program here in Kerrville. 

The beads are faceted and etched agate.  I made the blown vessel out of topaz Italian glass.  This was my first attempt at making a glass stopper for my vessels and I am happy with the results.  I just need to find a good way to make the stopper secure in the vessel.   

It seems like ages since I've been on the torch and it felt good to finally have a couple of hours to create this weekend. 

-Lanza

The End of a Quest

When a dream is realized or a long-lost treasure is found it dazzles you and you're left feeling in awe.  Tonight a quest I started 27 years ago came to an end, with a surprising outcome.

When I was younger, I loved to hear the stories my Aunt Anna Belle would tell about life  in Kerrville in the "old days."  My favorite stories involved my grandfather, William Lanza Council (now y'all know where my funny name came from).  In my young mind, the man I was named after gained legendary status. He was a builder, owned a lumber yard and furniture store and dabbled in real estate in Kerrville. The stories my Aunt Anna Belle (his oldest child) told about him made me wish I had known him personally.  He died in 1950 at the age of 75 when my mom was 8 years old.  He was gone a long time before I was born.

My grandfather, W.L. Council
About 1940

One day when I was a teenager, my mom and Anna Belle started talking about buildings my grandfather built in and around Kerrville.  Mom told me about standing outside the Tivy High School building during a fire drill and being surprised that her father's name was on the corner stone of the building.  She had no idea her dad had anything to do with the building where she had been attending classes!  When I asked about the location of the building, Anna Belle told me it had been torn down in 1983 (right before mom brought my family back to Kerrville).

This is how most of these conversations ended. So many old buildings around Kerrville have buckled under the wrecking ball in the name of progress.  This story, however had a twist.  Anna Belle told me that the corner stone from the old High School building was salvaged and that someone had it.  That day, I promised myself I would find that corner stone.

Years passed. I never forgot that stone.  Whenever I'd get to talking with people about old Kerrville buildings, I'd bring up the corner stone, but nobody ever knew what happened to it.  One day I mentioned the stone to Mike Bowlin, a man with an encyclopedic knowledge of Kerrville's history.  He told me that Clarabelle Snodgrass, the president of the Kerr County Historical Commission at the time of the building's demolition, received the items that were inside the corner stone but he didn't know about the stone itself.

Two years ago I joined the Historical Commission and had a chance to ask Clarabelle about the stone and she said that yes, she had the documents from inside the corner stone, but had no idea where the stone was.  She told me that Dr. Speck had salvaged several stones from the building and I should ask him.  I e-mailed Dr. Speck who said I was welcome to look at the rocks from the building but that he didn't have the corner stone.  A dead end!

A year ago, as I was putting together an exhibit for the Historical Commission, I was going through John and Sandy Wolfmueller's post card collection and saw a photo of the old High School Building.  I told Sandy that I had been looking for the corner stone and she said she knew where it was!!!

A photo of the old Tivy High School Building, built in 1912
I've circled the corner stone in the photo.

The previous year John and Sandy found the corner stone in a flea market in Comfort.  Apparently it had been stolen from a storage building on the Tivy High School grounds.  The Wolfmuellers called the school administration and they reclaimed the stone, and as far as Sandy knew, the school still had it.

I approached the Kerrville ISD administration and asked if they still had the stone and if they did, would they allow me to take a rubbing of the stone or even sell it to me.  Nobody knew where it was but they said they would look for it and let me know what they found.  A week later they called me back and said the stone was in a corner of their equipment storage barn and I could go over any time to take a rubbing but that they would not sell it to me.

Unfortunately, I was never able to get over to the maintenance department when someone was there to show me the stone.  During a Historical Commission meeting I mentioned the corner stone to Francelle Collins and she in turn mentioned it to another commission member, Dr. William Rector.  What happened next is amazing.

Dr. Rector went to the Kerrville School Board and told them he knew of this corner stone hiding under a tarp in the equipment shed at the school and thought it was a shame that this piece of history was hiding in storage.  The school board then decided to have the stone restored and made into a monument on the school administration campus.

I didn't know all this was happening until a couple of weeks ago. I mentioned the stone to my friend and fellow history geek, Joe Herring, Jr.  He told me about the monument dedication planned for this month and got me in touch with someone at the school who could give me more details.

Tonight I sat in front of the corner stone as it was uncovered and seeing the thing for the first time brought tears to my eyes.  I couldn't believe that something I had spent so many years looking for was RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF ME!!!  It still hasn't sunk in.

My grandfather's name is one of many names on that stone and I am so happy that a quest that I started as a teen has brought this piece of history out into the sunlight where others can see and enjoy it. 

The funny thing about quests: You never know how they're going to end.  This one exceeded all expectations.

Corner Stone as Monument - My Grandfather's last name is
listed on the right side with the contractors.