A visual vignette from yesterday's ride ...
I was heading in on Fowler Road. Just beyond the open fields was a house with three old, run-down cars parked in the driveway. They were all red. As I pedaled past the house, a balding, older man walked down the driveway. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt which were ... red. It just struck me as funny. Then, the next two cars that passed me were ... wait for it ... both red. There is no particular significance in this little vignette, except that the rest of the ride, I started seeing more red cars.
When you notice something and begin to look for it, quite often you see more of it than you realized was there. Like lovely virtues in people you encounter.
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I am back home today. Coty and I did what has become a fairly regular 20 mile ride. Along Hickory Ridge, past the second bend in the road, the cows that are normally scattered out in the pasture were huddled together in the woods, mostly lying down. I've heard that when the cows are lying down, it's a sign that rain is coming. When they are lying down in the woods under the trees, is it a sign the rain will be heavy?
Your mind goes funny places on a bike ride - I should clarify - my mind goes funny places. When I saw those cows huddled together in the woods, I thought of the movie Gettysburg. That was a leap, I know. The cows reminded me of scenes where men are bivouacked in the woods, Chamberlain's men awaiting the Rebel troops at Little Round Top, Pickett's men preparing to head across the open ground in their ill-fated charge. I heard a war whoop (in my head) and imagined cows, leaping to their feet, crashing through the underbrush, and racing across the open pasture toward what enemy, I have no idea. These thoughts flitted through my brain in an instant. You are probably thinking I've lost it completely, but consider this ... it is way more entertaining and distracting to imagine charging cows than it is to think about how your legs feel and how hard you're still breathing after that long hill you just pedaled up. Permit me my distractions, please. And thank you.
And, in case you are wondering, it is indeed raining right now. It is coming down pretty hard. Those cows were meteorologically on the mark today.
I was heading in on Fowler Road. Just beyond the open fields was a house with three old, run-down cars parked in the driveway. They were all red. As I pedaled past the house, a balding, older man walked down the driveway. He was wearing shorts and a t-shirt which were ... red. It just struck me as funny. Then, the next two cars that passed me were ... wait for it ... both red. There is no particular significance in this little vignette, except that the rest of the ride, I started seeing more red cars.
When you notice something and begin to look for it, quite often you see more of it than you realized was there. Like lovely virtues in people you encounter.
**********************
I am back home today. Coty and I did what has become a fairly regular 20 mile ride. Along Hickory Ridge, past the second bend in the road, the cows that are normally scattered out in the pasture were huddled together in the woods, mostly lying down. I've heard that when the cows are lying down, it's a sign that rain is coming. When they are lying down in the woods under the trees, is it a sign the rain will be heavy?
Your mind goes funny places on a bike ride - I should clarify - my mind goes funny places. When I saw those cows huddled together in the woods, I thought of the movie Gettysburg. That was a leap, I know. The cows reminded me of scenes where men are bivouacked in the woods, Chamberlain's men awaiting the Rebel troops at Little Round Top, Pickett's men preparing to head across the open ground in their ill-fated charge. I heard a war whoop (in my head) and imagined cows, leaping to their feet, crashing through the underbrush, and racing across the open pasture toward what enemy, I have no idea. These thoughts flitted through my brain in an instant. You are probably thinking I've lost it completely, but consider this ... it is way more entertaining and distracting to imagine charging cows than it is to think about how your legs feel and how hard you're still breathing after that long hill you just pedaled up. Permit me my distractions, please. And thank you.
And, in case you are wondering, it is indeed raining right now. It is coming down pretty hard. Those cows were meteorologically on the mark today.
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