Sunday

A sunny day saw me biking through the countryside.  The weather was warm enough at noon for me to take off my layers of fall clothing.  Jacket,   gloves and hat were peeled off as the sun shone for me.  The electrified fenses kept me out of the fields as much as kept the cows in them.  They would look at me and I would have to respond as only a grown man would - by mooing back - they were not responding back.  As a city slicker,  I was just as happy that they stay 30 feet away.  The electric fense would make them think twice of charging me and running me down.

I bike for one simple reason - I am cheap.  So there you have it.  There is nothing more I will ever have to say about it to anyone reading this blog. I save 5 dollars a day when I commute to work - end of story.   You can now move on to some other blog about some noble person who bikes for a higher cause - save the planet - save their sanity - work their muscles or stick it to the establishment.

I save 5 bucks a day.  I will save 5 dollars a day - 200 times this year...

I bike on the weekends because I'm cheap and I can bike for nothing.  I can get excersize for nothing - I can get around for nothing.  I can make my schedule according to the weather and other acts of God.

I biked on Sunday through the countryside and found a converted train track right of way turned into a cycle route.  The price was right for using it - and it got me around the back side of many farm fields very easily because of the easy grades...  It is like you can go on forever when you are on these tracks.  They look nice and pieceful - even though,  150 years ago these tracks were gouged out of the forests and carved through the mountains to fashion an empire.  Now the scars are healed somewhat but the gravel path remains so that a few of us can cycle through and appreciate some quiet and greenery - from a safe distance immersed and yet separate - just as I can read Thoreau on my computer in my downtown home.

As the afternoon settled in - I got back to my cabin and decided to get some sun at the beach.  I took out my canoe for maybe the last time this year - and went down the river, because there was no breeze, towards a beaver pond I had seen earlier in the year.  The sun was even stronger and I was now in shorts and shirtless.  I dragged the canoe over the new beaver dam and explored a quiet pond.  The mirrored reflections of the trees shivered with slight breezes and unseen spirits.  God was here and I said a prayer to Him.  His response was all around me.  Who is God - well I will tell you some other time...

Golf Lite

I choose to be different when I play golf.  There has to be a trick to doing it because I have yet to master it after many attempts at getting better.  I use a single club to keep it simple - it adjusts from a sand wedge to a 1 iron and even a putter.  I enjoy walking with this one stick and 3 golf balls for amunition in my quest to enjoy this sport.

I used to play with just a seven iron and a putter - but now my special golf club gives me more options.

The golf this weekend was quiet and scerene - I had the course almost to myself and my golf buddy and like became very simple for that 2 hours.

I am working on getting my swing down into a simple pendulum motion - this stops me from lifting my head and swinging hard and topping the ball.  I managed to get my swing working by this technique and will soon be entering the PGA tour with my signature stick and simple swing.

You see,  if I minimize the game of golf to one swing for most fairway shots - 150 yards at a time - more or less in the correct direction - I may one day break 100.

But in any case,  as I said,  the time sent on a golf course is an oasis of freedom from the rest of my life - as is my bicycle commute to and from work - and my morning coffee...

What to say first...

Not much to say - being a minimalist forces me to ask the question - what does it matter whether I do something or not?  This blog is something I am doing tonight before entering a deep Melotonin enforced sleep.  Better get to bed before it is too late.