BIKE TOUR

The LuLu Chronicles

Happy Post July of Fourth, Ya'll!

Look to your right and you'll see me and Cian Maccrae Cleveland hanging out right before eating our Independence Day bratwurst. It was a great day of thanksgiving.

Okay, so then this morning, LuLu and I are back at it. I decided I'd like to share with you one of my bike routes and give you a tour of what I see every morning. I feel so privileged to live in out in the country. While raising our three boys, Gary and I tried selling our house in town several times to no avail. So, we raised 'city kids'. Which was okay. Our house butted up against a soccer field (eventually all our boys got soccer scholarships that helped pay for their college tuition) and the boys could all walk to school. Cedar Street was our holy ground for twenty-three years. Then, when then the last chick flew the coop, we finally sold our house and moved to the country.

As LuLu and I pedal along, we greet all kinds of mailboxes. Nothing too fancy out here cause, well, they get bashed in by naughty teenagers on a regular basis. It seems it's a right-of-passage out here. Mailboxes give me comfort. They speak 'home' and 'place' to me. Someday, with all of our technology, they'll probably become obsolete; But out in the country, we'll just incorporate them into a flower garden of some kind along with our tractor tires and old bathtubs.

Now keep in mind, I'm pedaling and steering and trying to take pictures all at the same time. Hence, you will see a lovely shot of LuLu's basket-- oh, and the Fake Knee, and a blurred landscape (almost fell over on that one).

We pass several fields of corn. And yep, it was "knee-high by the Fourth of July." I had my doubts this year with planting being so late because of such a wet and cold spring. Have you ever heard corn grow? You can. If you get a chance, go out late at night and sit in the dark by a corn field. You'll be amazed... if not slightly creeped out.

I'm so excited to be able to show you a picture of our neighborhood donkey. He/she hee-haws at me every morning when I pass by. Today, I snapped his/her picture. This is where the peacock lives as well. The Plumed Prince has hiding in a large, round corn crib behind the donkey. However, I thought it best to move on. After all I was trespassing.

On the road where our house sits just down a bit, is were the Wascally Wooster lives. Didn't see him this morning, but his barn-mate, Trigger, the horse, was out grazing. I've never seen this horse being ridden, but my grandchildren and I sure love feeding him apples.

You'll also see a pic of a bit of road and a 'no passing zone' sign. That my friends, is the Danger Zone. Where no kitten is safe and no bike rider is free from low flying ducks.

The last photo on the tour is of a stop sign. A very important stop sign. I've almost gotten flattened here a few times. I try my best not to stop at it, because if I do, it's a bugger to try and get back on my bike and begin pedaling again. So when I come to it, if a car is coming, I circle. You know, do a one-eighty in a circle until the car has past. This corner annoys me because I've been known to run the stop sign, and my city-slicker upbringing haunts me when I do. I don't give hand signals out here either. You know the ones, we teach our children to use when biking in the city when turning left or right or slowing down? Do we still teach our children those hand signals? I wouldn't know, but I feel guilty when I don't use them. It's one of the dilemmas of country living.
















However, there are way more joys than dilemmas to the country life. I think LuLu is settling in nicely. I'm sure she had her hopes of being owned by some classy lady in the city who bikes her to the farmer's market on Saturdays and fills her basket with cut flowers and scones. But alas, she got me-- just a broad trying to lose a bit of weight, keep her knee from freezing up and who tries to smell the roses along the way...when she's not trespassing on other's property, being chased by a rooster or running stop signs.

Hope you enjoyed my little bike tour. Think of LuLu and me in the mornings and we'll think of you and hope you're having as much fun as we are.

blessings,
deb