Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

Since last Thursday, I've cycled every day: commuting to work, going to the grocery store, to the nursery to get pumpkins, to the coffeehouse to write, even to my hair appointment. I'm beginning to figure out this bicycle transportation only thing. Monday, on my way home from work, I was cycling along the trail and was stunned with the number of squirrels out. The mother earth part of my psyche thinks the cold is on the way judging from all the activity. I got to laughing after almost running over a squirrel carrying a black walnut in its mouth, that all the sudden decided it didn't want to run alongside me and tried to cross in front. The little varmint came within a whisker of getting squished. It realized it's predicament, dropped its nut, and turned away to scurry off into the grass. When I rode around a curve just a few feet beyond, I met a man walking a dog. The dog was carrying a frisbee in its mouth and seemed very content with how silly it looked. Today, th...

Yesterday was my first cycling commute to work for the year. I've been waiting very impatiently for the weather to warm up enough to ride, and while I know I could have been riding when it was sub-30 degrees, one terribly important reason not to stood in the way: my hair. Helmet hair is one thing. Helmet hair with headband hair (gotta cover the ears when it's that cold) is a totally different matter. Sure I could pull my flowing , long locks back into a ponytail once I get to work, but I wear my hair up so often as it is that I like having it down every now and again. Actually, the real reason I like it down is you can't see the all the gray right above the ears and at the temples. Those darn gray hairs have a mind of their own, all course and curly, so when my hair is down, they get covered up. But yesterday was warm enough not to have to wear the headband, and when I got to work, a colleague struck up a conversation about the blinking light I now have on the back of my ...