Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

It has officially been three days now since I've been inside a car. I rode my bike to work yesterday and the day before, and today, with no meetings on the schedule, I didn't have to leave the house if I didn't want to. I did, though, first on a 25 mile bike ride then for a walk that took me downtown to meet a friend for lunch. The walk turned out to be close to 2 miles roundtrip. Another beautiful day, too. Cool, breezy, sunny. Not a cloud in the sky. Absolutely couldn't have asked for a better day. This whole no-car thing has really gotten me noticing what's going on around me. How could it not? I have to be super attentive to vehicles all the time in order not to get shmushed like a bug. I've seen some super bad driving behavior, but I've also seen some super nice driving behavior with the driver knowing I'm there and being very safe. One of the nicest things about all of this, though, is what I see and smell when I ride. I see lots of nature--butterf...

Last August, after going to the salon and having my hair colored, shelling out almost $200 in the process, I decided enough. It was time to embrace the gray and stop paying outrageous amounts to cover it up. After all, I thought, I'm heading towards 50 and gray is the natural process of things. Right? So I embraced the gray. A week ago, almost a year to the day, I was back in the salon having my hair colored. I just couldn't go another day with the gray that only seemed to like growing at the temples. Nowhere else. Just above the ears so when I pulled my hair into an updo it was like BAM! gray streaks on each side of my head. Not a good look for me. I caved and talked to my stylist who suggested doing a single color rather than highlights, and in the end I only paid out $65. I can handle that. I like to think of my year of no coloring as an experiment which taught me a lot about our society, how it influences us, how others see me, and how I see myself. There were definitely hi...