29
Oct 24
Oct 24
It’s a grading day, so here’s a brief story
Yesterday, before the week’s grading began in earnest, I surprisingly went for a bike ride. I spent a few minutes noodling around town, waiting to meet the owner of the local bike shop. On my way, I passed this cornfield, which looked like something that van Gogh might have noticed.
The bike shop guy, Mike, rode with me over to a road planning meeting. He took me on a few roads I’ve not been on before, waving and nodding at everyone between here and there. He might be one of those guys who knows everyone. He also taught me a thing or two about riding bikes along the way.
The meeting was for a county-wide project. They had four posters and a few slides. The idea is that this group is going out looking for grants. They’ve identified, over a five-year period, a series of priorities for intersections and roads around the county.
A few of the county commissioners were there, and they want to know more, and would have preferred to be a part of this planning earlier. They’ll apparently hear about it next month. The plan seems sensible, at least to a lay person like me, but it was concerned more with motorists than cyclists. But that makes sense, too, considering the data in their basic five-year study. This was the last poster.
I hope I didn’t volunteer myself for work on this, but I might have volunteered myself for this. If you talk about awareness and perspectives and all of those things to planners and commissioners, they might think you’re interested.
Using the late hour as an excuse, we ducked out of there, Mike the bike shop owner and I, and pedaled away, talking about what we’d heard, and what we’re doing and how we have to work to make moments like this one more widely available.
This moment in particular. I took this shot right after he said that, because it was beautiful, and he was right. And this was where I realized something else.
You should find someone who knows more about a thing you love, a person who has done it for longer than you have, and do that thing with them. No matter how much you enjoy it, or for how long you’ve been passionate about it. You’ll be energized by an enthusiasm that equals or bests your own.
And then, when you part ways in the semi-darkness, you’ll have something to think about as you make your way home.
There might be something more than a metaphor to that.
28
Oct 24
Oct 24
Across the cold, watery expanse
We were supposed to go over the river three times this weekend. But I only went two times. And it was still a lovely weekend, despite my coming up short.
On Friday we went over to watch a field hockey game. The team we were cheering on won, 1-0 or 2-0, it was difficult to see the tabletop scoreboard from across the field. They are on the verge of going undefeated for the season, and I finally got to see them ply their trade across a bumpy, lumpy field on a beautifully warm and sunny fall afternoon.
Our favorite player was a defender and that is most certainly a big part of why they pitched a shutout today.
On the way back over, I managed to get this shot on the bridge.
And in the driveway, I could hear the geese before I could see them. I’m not sure if I really saw them, even as I was trying to take a photo. They can make for a beautiful photo, in better light.
There’s a slew from the river back that way. Maybe that’s where they were headed.
I’d been fighting a sore throat and woke up feeling like I was losing the battle on Saturday morning, so I did not make the second trip over the river. There was a 5K that my lovely bride ran, and she was kind enough to tell me to stay in bed. I still got my t-shirt, though.
I went outside that morning to do outside chore and was rewarded with a few minutes of beautiful light.
You could probably write a poem or two about scenes like that. They might come off maudlin, or Irish, or both. That would not make them bad.
Some of the bushes are still doing some amazing work, here at the end of October. They have to be confused. Cool yesterday, outrageously warm tomorrow.
I found this tree on a Sunday afternoon walk at just the right time. What a lovely tie dye moment. If you’re going to go maple, go maple with flair.
Another shot from that walk.
And then we went back across the river again, meaning we went over the bridge, which gave me this shot.
We went to the Flyers game. Hockey! People sliding on frozen stuff. And, at times, the ice was a part of the display. Makes for a nice canvas, really.
The Flyers have an impressive graphics package. The LED ribbons are everywhere in the venue, and they make an impression. Then they shoot pyrotechnics out of the screens that are raised and lowered around the central scoring display. There’s a lot to see, and it’s not all on the ice.
On the ice, the good guys got off to a bad start, and then it got worse. Starting the third period it was 4-1. The home team battled back, putting two pucks in the net in the last two minutes, but the clock ran out, and so they have started the season 2-6-1. They’ll get it figured out soon. I’m sure we’ll be back to see it happen.
