{"id":573897182,"date":"2024-07-29T20:30:13","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T00:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/?p=573897182"},"modified":"2024-08-01T05:05:33","modified_gmt":"2024-08-01T09:05:33","slug":"silently-whirring-on-roads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/blog\/2024\/07\/29\/silently-whirring-on-roads\/","title":{"rendered":"Silently whirring on roads"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am trying, trying<\/em>, to get back in the swing of things. A few inches at a time, one step at a time, whatever it is. The word lethargy comes to mind. So does the word apathy. I wanted to say it’s a combination, an intersection of the two, except they are the same. <\/p>\n

I turned down a party invite and a day trip because it just didn’t feel like I would be the best company this weekend. Pretending takes energy, and there’s lethargy. It seemed a rare moment of self awareness, a moment that make no sense. <\/p>\n

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I took an easy little bike ride on Saturday evening. It seems like I’m always taking these breaks from the bike and there’s always a reset. Maybe it isn’t really necessary. Maybe the point is just being on a road somewhere. <\/p>\n

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This requires no pretending. This I have energy for. The mental sort, anyway. Still takes fuel and rest to pedal yourself around, even if only a little bit. Even if you can coast by a winery and try to line up a sunset. <\/p>\n

Sometime later, though it doesn’t like it should be, I decided to show off my new glasses. In the evening you don’t need shades, but it’s good to protect the eyes. <\/p>\n

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I’m wearing actual safety glasses. Hardware store specials. The cheapest thing possible. And they’re also incredibly lightweight. So lightweight that the arms are basically all a very flimsy rubber. This is fine, except for when you need to take the glasses off and then put them back on.<\/p>\n

Also, I thought that maybe I could catch the sun behind me. Took a few tries, but good east-west roads are worthy of the effort.<\/p>\n

One last sun photo …<\/p>\n

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And then immediately opposite, my favorite, nicely lit, hay shed.<\/p>\n

I’ve been waiting a while to take that shot.<\/p>\n

I have no recollection of the next five or six miles. I was deep into imagining a speech I’ll never give. (It happens, but usually in the car.) I got back to the house and wasn’t even sure if I’d taken the route I wanted. (I did.) It was a good speech, though. <\/p>\n

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Last night I took a a 30-mile ride. New roads! <\/p>\n

I love new roads. There’s something romantic about being lost on a bike. Lost is a relative term here, I’d mapped this route on an app beforehand, but a good portion of my plan was all new. <\/p>\n

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And then, of course, I missed a turn on my route. For a time, I was actually lost, which is also great. I wasn’t that far from home, just two towns away, and there was still plenty of light, and before you long I ran across a road I knew. That took me to another road, which allowed me to double back, because there was light, and get back on my original course. Along the way I ran across a farm I remember from a ride last November<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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And then I breezed by what is, I think, a new-to-me barn.<\/p>\n

It can be awfully pretty out here. And, at that time in the evening, when everyone is already where they needed to be, it can be wonderfully peaceful, too.<\/p>\n

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Here are some more sunset photos, this one through the cornfields on the way back to our neighborhood. <\/p>\n

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And after those cornfields, you go through a few more cornfields. <\/p>\n

There is a great deal of corn just now. <\/p>\n

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And close to home, and just in time for a nice glimpse of the sun retiring into the distance. <\/p>\n

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After that I made myself a giant peach smoothie dinner. But that’s an uninteresting topic I’ll share with you later this week — when I have time to make it more interesting. Now, we have to head out for another pastime. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am trying, trying, to get back in the swing of things. A few inches at a time, one step at a time, whatever it is. The word lethargy comes to mind. So does the word apathy. I wanted to say it’s a combination, an intersection of the two, except they are the same. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,3,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-573897182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cycling","category-monday","category-photo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573897182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573897182"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573897182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":573897187,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573897182\/revisions\/573897187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573897182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573897182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573897182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}