Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

The weekend weather, sunny and 70's, spoiled me. I need more of those days. Today, however, is not to be one of those days. No. Today is 40's and misting. Today is an inside day. Thankfully I did get the lawn mowed yesterday. I love seeing how pretty it looks right after being mowed. That being said, I'm already thinking about turning as much of the lawn as possible into garden. While I enjoy mowing, I enjoy flowers and trees more. My goal is to turn my lawn into a beautiful, whimsical garden. This can't happen in one summer, I know. It'll be the rest-of-my-life kind of hobby. This summer, I'm mostly going to see what's already here. All the way around the house there are daylilies. I like daylilies, but I might relocate a lot of them to another area of the yard. Maybe on the other side of the garage where they'll get a lot of sun in the afternoons and evenings. I also have a few irises that are nearing their bloom time. And I've found some m...

Though my sabbatical doesn't officially begin until August, I've already been jotting down notes when an idea occurs to me, and writing poems and short essays--very rough first drafts of both--to not lose the germ when it strikes. For the first time in my life, I'm taking the desire to be a writer seriously. I'm being protective of my writing time. I write. This is the most recent poem. It came about after an intense, overpowering need to sketch what was swirling in my head. That sketch has been right in front of me on my desk for weeks, helping me get to this: I dreamed of you during the night, again, the fourth night in a row,   and you were walking, again, as if you’d never not walked. I remember awakening in the darkness, smiling at the notion of you showing me where you are now, your legs working fine, no MS keeping you prisoner on the burgundy leather love seat, where you sat through your days then through your nights, as if roots had somehow spr...

The pawn shop bike was a great buy. I made a clock out of the back wheel, a picture holder out of the front wheel, and key rings out of the chain. Not bad for a $25 investment. Since finishing the key rings, what remained of the frame and the rest of the components hung in the garage. Until this week. Now I'm onto another project. Rather, I should say projects. In the process, I've begun learning about cranksets, cogs, wheelsets, and tire sizes. I've begun learning how to tighten spokes as well as remove them. I've found myself sitting in the garage for hours at a time, fiddling with one bike item or another. I've been to the bike shops, asking the bike shop dudes all kinds of questions. Ideas, plans, and dreams spring forth in the garage as I get my hands dirty. My first project which will take some time to complete is to build a fixie. I initially thought I would use the frame from the pawn shop bike, but after examining the old wheels as well as the wheels from...

During break I worked on the letters to be sent out asking for donations for Bike the US for MS. I tailored each one to the specific person I was sending it to, and after much tinkering and rewording, was satisfied enough to print them off, seal them in the envelopes, and slip them in the mailbox yesterday. Now I have to wait and see what happens. I'm trying not to constantly check my fundraising total, and have declared I will only check it once a day. I have nearly five months to raise the rest of the money, so I have time, but part of me is worried I'm not going to make my goal. Because of this worry, I've started brainstorming other ways to raise the funds. One idea struck me Saturday as I rode out to the lake. Alongside the rural roads I observed energy drink cans, pop cans, and of course beer cans (which is very scary--the only way a beer can can get into the grassy ditch is to be thrown out after it's emptied by the drinker, meaning someone is drinking and driv...