Yes, The Mall

I sometimes joke that I'm going to take some photos at the mall to see if I can make it look interesting. I don't know if this photo qualifies, but here it is.


But really, having moved west only 5 years ago, I'm still kind of surprised at the views from mundane spots like the grocery store.

The last part of this week was busy, so I didn't run after Wednesday and it looks like I'll be working Sunday. I can't get too upset, this is the first time in a very long time, but as usual it was the result of scope creep. A frequent villain in software development.

On the health front, the fasciitis is now limited to a spot on the inside heel about 1 inch off the ground where some tendons are rooted and then go forward down the middle of the foot.


Not that anyone needs to see my foot again, but I didn't even know I could get sore in these places.

The red area above indicates the sore part (I have to really dig to get down to it), and when I push on this, it hurts. At first, it was a burning sensation and the sort of pain that gives you a tingle of adrenaline, like your body thinks something really bad is happening to it!

It's no surprise to me that people have PF for a long time, because there's really no way to reach these tendons and muscles without significant manual intervention. Standard leg stretches would have absolutely no impact on them, and since it involves tendons the condition is slow to change.

Hence the use of things like golf balls, ice-filled bottles and massage.

Finally, A Run

I finally went for a real run after work Wednesday, and it was a standard workout, essentially picking up where I left off 3 weeks ago.

Distance 7.04 miles, moving time 1:12, elevation gain/loss 1,126 feet.

Ran to the top of Green Mountain in Lakewood, because I wanted to do something "funner" for my first run in a while, rather than just another street outing.


I felt some slight pangs of pain in the feet and ankles as the body settled into the routine again, but nothing major, it worked itself out as I warmed up. Some ache/burn in the left sole, but I'm not 100% over the fasciitis. Overall, it was painless.

In terms of fitness and fatigue, it felt like 7 miles. In terms of stiffness afterwards, it felt more like 20. No surprise there.

Tempo and technique felt fine, I just made sure to land fairly flat on my feet rather than the ball or heel.


Also no obvious pain afterwards (although what I felt when I jabbed my thumb into my foot is another matter).

The morning after, surprisingly the PF is less than yesterday, which I attribute largely to this. In 5 days I've almost eliminated it. Wish I'd started the foot massage sooner, but more on my 3-week experiment some other day.

A good start.

Tuesday Dusk Walk

Nice walk Tuesday around sunset.

The arch/instep injury seems to have migrated to the standard ache and occasional burn of plantar fasciitis. Skiing Sunday was maybe not the best thing to do, but I hadn't gone in two months, something I don't think has happened in 7-8 years of winters. It was time.

The effect of all these pink flowers is surreal when you're standing in the middle of it:


Below are a couple of shots I've taken before, but these were taken with the Canon S95 with iContrast on, which brings the blown-out highlights and dark shadows in line.

Bear in mind this photo was taken with a bright sky and dark landscape, which would typically mean you would either get really bright sky or really dark land. Pretty cool.


The shot below was taken a bit after sunset, with a variety of light sources. The lighting is pretty even, in spite of the contrast between, say, dark bushes and street lights.


Walk distance was 3.05 miles, moving time 51:43, elevation gain/loss 340 feet.

Hunt For The Pain

I've been doing a bit of this for the past few days (since Saturday). Imagine that I'm applying enough pressure to hurt, but not injure:


Question: Runners, ya ever press your thumb into various parts of your foot and see how it feels? It's a blast.

Even if you don't have plantar fasciitis, you might be surprised at how much hidden pain is in there if you press deep, and really hunt around. Same goes for other muscles and tendons, all over the body.

I confess I'm a proponent -- and self-practitioner -- of deep tissue massage. And it really works to keep tightness from causing problems. All I can tell you is that if I didn't stretch and do a certain amount of maintenance massage (usually with a roller), I'd be getting injured all the time, instead of once or twice a year. Several weeks off like this is rare.

Problem is, I wasn't really paying much attention to the feet, and got into trouble.

And don't ask me why I didn't start this weeks ago.

I started doing this Saturday and I've noticed a significant reduction in pain since then, even though I went skiing on Sunday and probably set myself back another few days. I feel like I'm getting very close to a mangageable level of standard PF, which should clear up pretty soon.

Winter Park Closing Day Images

Photos taken on April 24th.

I took this while driving on Berthoud Pass, without looking, just point and shoot:


Below is another one from the Pass. The mountains in both photos are the west side of the Indian Peaks (a very small section thereof):


The next photo was taken from the Riflesight Notch trail, looking down at one of the many parking lots. My car is somewhere along the road. Check out the convenience factor: just step out of your car, walk a short distance, and you're on the snow:


There's nobody else on the trail because a lot of people are partying on the lodge patios and/or parking lot. I'm all about the skiing.

From the Panoramic chair lift:


In the trees below Panoramic. Hard to believe it was spring:

Winter Park Closing Day 2011

It was a good snow day for April 24th: 8 inches fresh.

This video is from the Riflesight Notch trail under the Super Gauge chair lift. Anyone wiping out on this rather public run provides entertainment for people on the lift you can see on the left side.

I think my camera was tilted to the left. Oops.


As I descended the snow went from soft powder to sluggish mashed potatoes, because the temperatures were warmer lower on the mountain.

Even with the sparse April crowds, the untracked powder only lasted about an hour.

As typically happens on closing days, all the revelers soon migrated to the lodge patios and the parking lot, leaving the remaining pow for those of us who wanted to ski/ride.

Beaver Brook Walk/Run

I wanted to try something new out on my semi-gimpified self, so I drove up to the Chief Hosa exit on I-70 and tried the trailhead on Stapleton Drive west of Denver, thinking I'd start at the nature walk trail and see what was there. I'd fill in a gap in my Jefferson County trail portfolio, so to speak.

This would be a walk, because I'm not running yet. Or so I thought.

There's an upper lot off the dirt road, or a lower lot farther down. I parked at the top and walked down the road to the lower lot and trailhead.


At the beginning there's a nature trail with informational plaques, and a short loop of trail with Braille signs. At the midway point on that loop is the turn-off for the Beaver Brook trail, and a primitive restroom.

The trail surface is beautiful pine forest trail with rocky sections for variety. It follows the valley down towards Clear Creek canyon.


Even the short nature walk descends almost 400 feet down the valley. The Beaver Brook trail descends even farther, and just kept going down, down, down. Somehow I thought it would simply cut right across to Gudy Gaskill, which I think is mostly above I-70. Wrong!


The canyon is pretty interesting, with rocks and different types of forested terrain along the way.


At some point in my walk, I decided I was ready to turn around since I wanted to spend about an hour or a bit more. The foot felt good, and the great trail surface tempted me into running most of the uphill, about 700+ feet. I walked as necessary to stretch and catch my breath.

The foot was fine, but I definitely felt some aches from muscles and tendons that had not been pushed in a couple of weeks.

Fitness felt so-so, but I didn't give myself a chance to warm up before just hitting the uphill, so it's not really fair. I was also wearing a jacket and pants, so I was too warm.


Distance was 3.07 miles, moving time 50:42, elevation gain/loss 717 feet.

When I looked at a map later, I realized this trail descends nearly to Clear Creek before turning east! Holy cow. I was just getting started. At 8.6 miles each way, with about 900 of initial descent plus additional ridges and ravines, and no bike traffic, this would be a fantastic out-and-back trail run.

Happy Camper IPA

I see that Lucho mentioned this beer in February, so I can't claim the FKT (first known tasting) for this beer among Front Range runner/bloggers.

The beer is the Happy Camper IPA from Santa Fe Brewing. Very nice brew. In terms of body it's similar to the Ska Modus Hoperandi* with a tad less hops, or maybe a Green Flash West Coast IPA.


I like the can, too, which has the same Zia sun symbol as the New Mexico state flag.

When I was in Santa Fe I made an effort to visit every brew pub in town, but somehow missed the Santa Fe tasting room :\

I only bought a single can just to try it, but I'll definitely be buying more in the future.

*I would have linked to the Ska brewery site, but it's multimedia-heavy and I hate sites that start playing music without asking. Great beers though.

Objectivist Round Up

This week's Objectivist Round Up is hosted by Reepicheep's Coracle. The Round Up features posts by bloggers who advocate Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand.

Lots of posts this week are reviews of Atlas Shrugged: Part 1, which came out last Friday. As far as I can tell everyone on the list is knowledgeable about the novel, so if you want informed reviews, it's a good source.

My personal reaction was it was average at best. I think the producers had good intentions and wanted to do justice to the novel, but I think it fell short on execution.

I may post a review at some point, but frankly right now feel somewhat deflated by the entire experience. Which is amazing, considering I've been a fan of the novel since college. Or rather, probably because of it.

On The Upswing

Great day out today and the foot is feeling noticeably better this week.

Today marks day 17 without a workout other than walking and one stationary bike session (I'll be getting a "real" bike but I'm waiting on cash flow). I still feel some swelling on the ball of the foot, but for large parts of the day I'm starting to feel somewhat normal. Tendon injuries -- ugh.

Walked in Belmar Park in Lakewood after work, with 60-ish degrees and sun.


Saw the Mexican cowboys riding on the equestrian trails again. Makes it seem like I'm on a ranch, yet it's in the middle of suburbia. Does it seem as strange to them as it does to me?

Tons of birds out, and they were noisy.

This Great Blue Heron was fishing in one of the ponds:


The pond contained some decent-sized fish, which must have made it through the winter even though the pond is not very big and was probably mostly frozen. Amazing.

Although I've missed out on running, frankly I'm kind of enjoying the rest.

I also had a pretty good fitness base established, and I don't think it will take long to get back to where I was. The main limiter is I don't want to rush into it and get re-injured.

Storm Season Is Coming

It's been raining here lately, and although it wasn't super warm today, the evening storm cycle that holds sway during warmer months is definitely gearing up. Here's a storm front blowing in this evening from the foothills, which brought winds and rain later:


I was on yet another walk, and sat on a little stone seating area at Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood, which overlooks the neighborhood up to Green Mountain.


The foot feels better this week, and although I still have the daily tightness and soreness of tendonitis, it's showing signs of abating. I did some short bouts of jogging during the walk and it still felt risky, like I was going to pull something at any minute, but it's getting close to the point where I'll be over the hump.

The grass is starting to green up, the mowers are out, and as I was walking through grass I was dying to get some Vibram Five Fingers and run in it. I'd do it barefoot but I worry about what might be hidden underneath. Don't need a cut foot.

Freedom Of The Beer?

OK, I'm fired up.

Bad news for beer-drinking Coloradans: a bill proposing to open up sales of regular-strength beer (as opposed to the abomination known as "3.2 beer") in convenience stores was tabled by its author CO Senator Betty Boyd from Lakewood due to lack of political momentum. It was CO Senate bill SB11-194. Thanks for the effort, anyway.

(Those details are from the Denver Post but I refuse to link to them, because they are owned by the obnoxious News Media Group, which has hired Righthaven LLC to sue bloggers who quote their text)

Let me summarize my beer argument:

1. Stores want to sell me beer.
2. I want to buy beer.
3. We should be able to engage in a peaceful transaction to exchange beer for money.

End of story.

The ridiculousness of our current situation can be illustrated by an extreme hypothetical: if liquor stores had slaves in underground dungeons making craft beer, and someone wanted to emancipate them, would we object simply because it would "hurt" "the little guy" to have to pay wages? Of course not. I claim that while there is a difference in degree between that and the current beer laws, there is no difference in principle between forcibly containing a human being and forcibly preventing a human being from engaging in a peaceful transaction.

And I don't buy the alleged economic justifications of maintaining the liquor stores' racket. Protectionism is wrong and hurts consumers whenever it is used, whether it's international or local. A government-backed monopoly is the same whether it's national or local. Legally preventing sales because of "the little guy" amounts to punishing success. Have we sunk so low that we hate success?

I've heard it said that it will hurt consumers and craft brewers to pass such a bill. Think about that: it would hurt consumers to let them buy what they want. Think about this: it would hurt craft brewers to open up markets for their beer.

Huh? Are you people listening to what you are saying?

Yeah, yeah, big distributors, yadda yadda yadda. Listen, if there's a problem with beer distribution, it's a given that there's another set of crazy laws behind that too, so write another bill to fix it. If there are no bad laws, then stop complaining.

I can understand if liquor stores need some time to adjust. But how many years has the writing been on the wall? How many years persisting in this racket is enough?

Come on, people. Free the beer.

Update - I forgot to mention the complaint of one Senator Lois Tochtrop, D-Thornton, who complained that such bills were attempted over and over "when there is no political will". Gee, Senator, I'm sorry our attempts to secure our rights are wasting so much of your busy day.

Cherry Creek Evening Walk

I drove down after work to pick up another North Face Impulse 1/4 Zip top (awesome) at REI, so I took a walk along the Cherry Creek Path through downtown Denver. I walked from REI to just past the King Soopers that you can see from the path: just over 4 miles total.


This part of the path is thoroughly urban: car exhaust, street sounds, and sirens, but at the same time Mallard duck couples were cruising along the creek, feeding along the shore. Honestly, who knows what went into this water upstream from here, or how clean/dirty it really is, but along this stretch the water is clear and runs over sand and gravel, so it actually looks a bit beach-like.

The foot felt OK, about the same as yesterday. The legs are tight from being asked to perform slightly unfamiliar motions, and occasionally I can hear ligaments pop as they move around. I need to stretch out.

My arch still sometimes exhibits the typical ache of plantar fasciitis. Then I sit with the foot flat for a few minutes and it can disappear. Very squirrely.

I'm just waiting to reach that tipping point where running is not going to make it worse. Then BAM! I'm gone to hit the trails.

Saturday 10:30 PM

Saturday night I was restless, I like night outings, and I didn't need to get up early Sunday, so I went for a walk in the evening.


There were a couple of police cars in a parking lot up the street, where there was broken glass behind a Comcast van. Looks like maybe someone needed cable parts.

At the same time, an idiot drove a sporty car full-speed over parking lot speed bumps and out into the street without stopping, and would have run me over if I'd crossed the driveway. Hmmm, you don't think a vandal would risk driving right by two police cruisers at speed like that, do you?

Maybe night walks on Saturday aren't such a good idea after all. I'd rather encounter the usual weekday coyotes than thoughtless humans.

The walk was another 2.5 miles, for a total of 12.4 miles for the day.

Saturday Street Walk

While GZ and Tim were doing laps on Green Mountain, I ended up walking around 10 miles, which was part healing test, part walking lesson.

I passed.

I had shopping to do and instead of driving, walked everywhere. The walk involved liberal amounts of doing nothing and enjoying the great sunny weather, since sometimes it's nice to simply stop and enjoy.

North Table from Highway 93
As I mentioned I want to train my left leg to be more assertive (it's shy).

To my surprise, I didn't really have to think about what I was doing; all I had to do was put weight on the left side (or rather put less weight on my right leg), and the bad form started to go away. Amazing how that works. So I guess I just need to even things out in terms of how much time each foot spends supporting my weight.

More important, at the end of the day nothing was really sore.

I mean, there's a bit of residual tenderness from my existing injury, but the walk itself does not seem to have caused any problems.

A couple of things I noticed:

• I think a long walk using good form was actually better for me than a rest day walking with bad form.
• In a strange reversal, occasionally my right arch was hurting. Yep, when I started walking with my left leg the way I usually do with my right, I was hurting my opposite arch. I think I diagnosed this problem correctly!

Note to self: use both sides equally. Duh.

Friday Walk With A Slacker

My left leg is a total slacker.

That's the conclusion I came to as I was walking Friday evening, testing the waters of my strained -- and slowly healing -- left arch.

Incidentally if you don't care about the foot mechanics of running, or about listening to me ramble about the minutiae of my gait, you're excused from class.

Personally, I like problem-solving when it leads to practical results (I don't like puzzles or games). I was walking up through the 'hood on a combo of dirt trails and streets to the local hill, and was focusing on what my left foot was doing differently, because I'm convinced that bad mechanics is what caused the arch strain.


What I found was that my left leg is absolutely unfamiliar with leading and being the dominant leg. It's like it's been drafting in the shadow of my right leg all these years.

Bear in mind, I'm not talking about things you're likely to see if I'm walking down the street; I've managed to keep a fairly even gait in spite of it. I'm talking about a degree of difference that only becomes impactful after maybe 15-25 miles, when a small imbalance can add up to strain. I don't lurch sideways or anything like that.

When walking, my dominant right foot lands on the heel, rolls along the outside and then all five toes fold at the ball as the foot trails behind. It seems to have more control of my motion and be the resting base for my weight.


The left foot, on the other hand, lands on the heel, rolls along the outside, and then awkwardly moves over onto the ball, sort of skipping the outside toes. I don't feel a solid connection to the ground in the forefoot, or any sort of balanced weight-bearing, and I don't feel all five toes hinge as the leg trails behind. It's strangely uncoordinated in feel, like it's used to taking a shortcut because it doesn't have to do much.

Going forward, I have to be careful with this, because I don't want to make things worse by imposing new motions on body parts used to old habits.

However, I do want to try to even them out a bit. One thing I can do is to deny my right leg its role as the dominant leg in walking and running (by pretending I can't put as much weight on it), to see if I can develop more dominance and a normal footfall on the left side.


I tried and it's surprisingly difficult. I ran for a few stretches of 100-200 feet or so, and I think I can just concentrate on a flatter foot landing and it will sort itself out.

Oddly enough, walking seems to be the harder part. I have to concentrate to lead with my left leg. Nothing is automatic, I have to focus on everything and it seems totally foreign. Handling my weight and forward motion the way my right leg does is just not happening! It feels only slightly less pathetic than trying to write with my other hand.

An interesting part of all this is I've actually made walking into something new, decades after learning to walk. It's odd to feel like some part of walking is new after so many years.

But I'm going to keep at it, because I don't want to end up like Zoolander, who can't turn left.

Thursday Walks

I ate lunch outside today at Van Bibber Park in Arvada. Although it was overcast with a couple of inches of snow this morning when I woke up, you'd have never known it by 1 PM.


It was still chilly but the sun was warm, birds were chirping, and for the first time this season I could hear grasshoppers clicking in the long grass. My young nephew calls them "hoppers" and chases after them, ensuring at least one of them a grisly death at the hands of a giant.

It's either that, or a short life in a glass jar concentration camp, with a few leaves or grass of a variety it probably doesn't like to eat.

Either way, if the kid gets you, it's over.


This evening I went for a walk, the longest outing I've done since my run on April 6th. I felt a few complaints from the heel and arch, in the form of two brief sensations of burning under the foot. Not ready to run yet, but I'm definitely feeling better. If I had to put a percentage on it, I'd say 60% or more healed.


It was great to get out, though. It was 50 degrees, but I barely minded the cold wind that kept me chilled the whole time. Ha ha!

I'd cool down when I stopped to text my brother, who was asking me for beer advice from a pub in Chicago, as he's apt to do ("Emergency beer help needed"). I guess they have a lot of Colorado beers on draft, in particular from Longmont's Left Hand brewery and from New Belgium in Fort Collins. Go figure. Unfortunately, I never seem to have tried the ones he asks me about. Ju Ju? No idea, man.

I seem to be fascinated by the rings of light formed by these lawn lamps:


However, there is a point: you can see signs of spring in the two dandelions and the sprouts of green grass sticking up. Warm weather is on the way.

Walk distance was 3.09 miles, moving time 53:32, elevation gain/loss 283 feet.

Water From The Sky?

As I walked into the grocery store this evening, my skin felt wet. At first, I thought my skin was leaking or something, and I almost called 911, and finally it dawned on me: water from the sky! I think they used to call it... "rain".

I don't think I've walked in the rain for months. Snow, yes, but not rain. It's been a veritable desert here lately.

Which is why everything is catching on fire.

Tonight I braved the stationary bike for 1/2 hour because I had to do something, I'm going stir crazy. I didn't want to ride more than that, because I never ride and my quads would be sore tomorrow, and that's all I need is something else to recover from.

I'm no aficionado of stationary bikes, but the one in the rec room at my complex does not seem ideal. My feet kept slipping, so I had to shuffle them backwards every so often while I was riding. If I stop for even a moment, it wipes my data and I have to punch everything in again. I keep sliding down the seat. And the seat pin kept popping out, dropping me 2 inches at a time, theoretically until I'm sitting and lookup up at the handlebars. Needs some work. Time to put in a maintenance request.

Virtual mileage was ~3.5 miles, non-moving time 30 minutes, 6 inches of elevation gain/loss from the pin coming out.

Coal Bank/Engineer Run

This is yet another run from my vacation last summer that I never posted, but the San Juans are post-worthy, so here it is.

I started at the Coal Bank Pass parking lot on Highway 500 north of Durango, and ran almost to the Colorado Trail junction to the west.

Total distance was 10.51 mi, moving time 2:13, elevation gain/loss 1,849 ft. GPS track

After you emerge from a couple of miles of fantastic running up through the forest, you see Engineer Mountain, by far the most recognizable landmark along this stretch of 550:

Engineer Mountain
This is from the trail right below Engineer, but looking east towards the Weminuche Wilderness:


This is pretty typical of the trails up here; they are rolling singletrack above tree line, punctuated with stretches of pine woods. Being mid-day, you can see the foreshadowing of afternoon showers in the darkening sky:


East towards the Needles:


Looking back south towards Engineer after running for a bit:



Southwest towards Cascade Creek:


Jura Knob on the right:


I passed a group on horseback on the way out and coming back:


On the way back the sky was getting pretty dark and I was staying ahead of the rain as I passed them the second time (I spend every summer trying to outwit the rain and lightning, so I'd better be able to do it by now). They, however were headed right into the maw and must have gotten totally drenched.


Looking up at Jura Knob:


The Colorado Trail is about 1 mile up from here, although I'm sure it's longer with switchbacks.

Looking southwest towards Cascade Creek:

Objectivist Round Up

Last week's Objectivist Round Up was hosted by The Playful Spirit. The Round Up features posts by bloggers who advocate Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand. Topics include:

• We're Now Taking Orders for the April 2011 Edition!
• Twead #10: The Truth About Obamacare
• Atlas Shrugged Movie: Ten Million Dollar Questions
• Bridge Renaming Ceremony Attracts Hundreds - Long Beach, NY Patch
• A Separation of Economy & State
• 101 Reasons to Go to ATLOSCon
• Exposition vs. Drama
• Tattling and the Virtues
• Ashes for Allah: New Calls for Censorship
• Fast, Cheap, Healthy Eating
• Hype Vs. Reality
• salmon with creamy roasted poblano sauce
• Update to Explore Atlas Shrugged
• OTI post #4 - The Law of Identity
• Why I Love to Cook
• Tea Party Leader Calls for Compromise?!?
• Renting Vs. Owning: A Twist | Twin Tier Financial
• Why do we blog?

Grocery Store Flowers

No run Sunday but I think the arch felt better by the end of the day.

Possibly because I did absolutely squat all day other than sort papers, install software, buy food and try spend my 20% off coupon at REI.

Still, I'm not going to go and pound out a marathon quite yet. I want to be good and healed before I hit the ground again.

With my coupon I got another one of these tops. Love it. I decided at some point that if I really liked a product I should buy at least one extra before they quit making it. Too many times I go back to buy another and it's gone. Not this time.

Saturday I was at the King Soopers on Table Mesa in Boulder (one of several grocery stores I shop at regularly simply because I run or do other things nearby) and I took this photo. I see these flowers all the time, but this batch was just a riot of color:


All for the purpose of attracting some pollinators.

My camera didn't know what to do with all the colors in this one. I shifted the color to the cool side to keep the reds and pinks from getting blown out.

These bouquets are really not that different from the subject matter of countless still-life paintings from the past, such as this one by Jan van Huysum from the LA County Museum of Art:

Photo from Wikimedia Commons
Although Dutch painting contains plenty of subtle iconography, on one level it can be regarded as simply wanting some beautiful flowers to look at. Some things never go out of style.

PS - I hope I heal quickly, so I don't have to resort to taking photos of cereal boxes before I'm done.

Saturday Farmer's Market

Pictures from the Saturday Boulder Farmer's Market. No running due to a strained arch.

This is more surroundings than market, but being used to landscapes, I can't figure out how to shoot the market without it just looking like a crowd that could be anywhere. I'll have to try some different things in the future, because I know there's some great subject matter potential there.

This is the food vendor area next to Dushanbe Teahouse:


The spring rolls from Savory Saigon are really good, and they're not too spicy so I can eat them before a trail run. They have fueled a few trips along Mesa.


In the picture below you can barely see the mountains west of town, which are about one mile away as the crow flies. It's one of the things that make the town great; not many good-sized cities have mountains rising up literally from the last street in town.


I didn't think the ubiquitous early-season spinach (it seemed very vegetable stand had it) would last the afternoon in my cooler, so I got some Bali Blue Moon coffee from Silver Canyon, and some Windsor Dairy Glendevey.

My favorite coffees are grown off the Java and Banda Seas in Indonesia; it must be the volcanic soil (?). They vary slightly within the region; my favorite is Sumatra on the far west end of the islands, followed by Bali in the middle and Papua New Guinea at the far east end. But not every volcanic region is the same; I find Hawaiian coffee -- which is just "a bit" north -- to be slightly harsh and thinner by comparison.

The Windsor cheese is really good, like a mild, nutty Swiss with the packed breakable texture of Manchego or Pecorino. I'll be back for more.