11 miles and a seven year old....

"Are we there yet?", didn't hear that....."I'm tired!", didn't hear that either.
Over the weekend my seven year old and I went on an 11 mile bike ride in 95 degree heat. We rode down to Springs Spree, a local park festival, because I had to work for the station on Saturday. Anyway, with parking being difficult we decided to make a day of it and brave it on the bikes. Chad picked us up in the truck later and took home the bikes. It was fun, and an adventure. We stopped for water when we needed to. We stopped to have the lunch I had packed for us. We crossed carefully with traffic and she listened well. It's good to teach kids that cars haven't always been around. It was amazing to see how much you really notice when you're not stuck in an air conditioned car with the windows up. You take in smells you'd never smell. You see little details about neighborhoods, flowers, people working in their yards, broken fences, fences being fixed, dogs barking, cats in windows....you see the world. Every now and then it's not a bad thing to go back to the simple things. We're getting away from the little things, and those things can bring us joy if we seize the opportunity to let them!

Traffic and other thoughts

When did people start running late to everything? I say this as some jerk sat behind me fuming at the fact I was in the right lane AND obeying the construction zone speed limit. He was swerving back and worth, right on my bumper and jamming his fist on his steering wheel. As if this action was like a magic button that would make the old lady in front of him step on it.
With all of the convenience gadgets and devices in our world to make it easier, why it is increasingly more difficult for folks to cope? We don't iron anymore, wrinkle-free clothes are a god-send. There's five minutes you get back in the morning. You can get news text alerts delivered right to your phone, Coffee literally makes itself with new single cup coffee makers. My point is there are so many amazing things to make it easy and happy for mankind...and mankind is NOT happy. Why?
It's not only that people aren't happy, they're unusually cranky. Ok, let's see the economy could take some of the blame, the oil spill in the Gulf brings us terrible images of sick wildlife and people are losing their livelihood, a lot of folks are not happy with the leadership of the country...but does it really need to be exasperated with angry moodiness inappropriately displaced on others?
So get over yourself! Deal with it! And treat others with respect and kindness, it's not their fault you're in an unfortunate mood. Remember....what you put out there will come back to you!

Fly fishin and more...

Back from a wonderful vacation to the Ozarks, I did NOT want to leave. Our family packed the car like gypsies and headed East last week to Branson, Missouri. My aunt has a home there and invited us to come and stay. The winding hills, lush green trees and grass and cold, clear streams and waterways were unbelievable!! It was incrediably pleasant. The weather was gorgeous too. It was a little humid but I pulled the crazy curly hair back in a ponytail, put on a hat and dealt with it. If you ever get a chance to go to Branson...you must ride a Duck, an old Army vehicle that goes on land AND in the water. Our little girl loved the "duck", little giggles and squeels of joy came pouring out of her. My aunt always hosts with greatness too! She authored a cookbook so you can imagine the eats are good! Really good!!! We canoed in a small private lake, hiked and learned to fly fish. I did NOT want to leave! It was a wonderful experience. We're planning next year's trip back!