Archive for May 2010
Activity Up At The Lake
It is interesting that we call the Memorial weekend, “work weekend” up here. It might better be described as “workday.” With Saturday’s chores behind us, Sunday becomes a day for play. I snuck out early, before everyone was awake, and rode my bike around the lake. It takes about an hour. It was beautiful out and I came across many others walking, running, and biking in the early light of day. I got back to our place and took a quick swim to clean up and then made it to the breakfast table just in the nick of time to clean up the last of the eggs and bacon. The whole crew was up and at ’em by now.
Next, Julian invited me to play tennis. He schooled me. We have a new attraction at the tennis court this year. An eagle has built a nest in one of the giant pine trees right over the court. I was able to take solace in the scenery and beautiful weather as my tennis game was being systematically dismantled by my son. We followed up that sweaty activity with more swimming in the lake.
After a quick sandwich for lunch, Steve’s boys returned from their golf outing and we enlisted them to head down to the field by the lodge to play a little soccer. Yeah, I’m getting a little tired by now. It didn’t take long after sitting down and putting my feet up to realize I could use a nap. Then I showered up in preparation for our community feast at the lodge (Chicken Cacciatore this year) and played some guitar until it was time to go eat.
It’s a shame to have to leave paradise and return to the real world of a day job, but that is on the schedule for today. I will be enjoying the memories created this weekend as an antidote to the reality of the rest of the work-week ahead, you can be assured.
Lake Chores
It is opening weekend at the lake and we set about readying the beach for a summer full of fun. That includes preparing a few toys to play on.
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Now I’m going to sneak off and do some biking before the predicted rain showers move into the area. It’s a tough life, I know, but I’m trying to make the best of it.
Gettin’ Outta Town
We waited and waited to leave town until most of the masses planning to do the same had already set off yesterday. That allowed time to eat dinner at home and then I tinkered with mounting my bike carrier on the car. Julian is home from Chicago and so the three of us stuffed into the WRX and headed up north in the dusky light just after sunset. There was absolutely no traffic backed up at any of the usual hot spots. What a pleasure that is. Unfortunately, the bridge was out on our favorite route so we stayed on the freeway up to the Grantsburg exit. Only one close call with deer on the edge of the road. Luck was on our side because they jumped the other direction as we came upon them. We made it up in just under 3 hours and then unwound a bit before finally hitting the sack after midnight in order to get up for the annual work day. Gotta sweep away the cobwebs, pull out the beach toys and lounge chairs, clean up the boats and sweep off the tennis court. The loons are talking on the lake and it is time to begin the summer season, even if summer doesn’t show up on the calendar for almost a month. It’s always great to be at my favorite place. Happy Memorial Weekend.
Conscientious Ingestion
For almost my entire life I bet I’ve heard the phrase, “You are what you eat.” Whatever. Does anyone really heed these tidbits of wisdom beyond the surface first impression that hearing them elicits?
Then along comes a medical procedure requiring a couple of days avoiding all the foods that are supposed to be good for you… raw fruits and vegetables, whole grain breads, cereals, and nuts, followed by almost 2 days of a purely liquid diet. When you get all done with that and your insides have been entirely cleared out, there is a whole new appreciation for what food will restart the process of fueling your activities and becoming the building blocks for your cells.
I started with Dairy Queen ice cream on the way home, in celebration of my restored freedom to choose from my regular culinary passions. I love cereals more than anything and heavy whole grained breads are a close second. Vegetables are good, but they do lack the sweetness of breads and cereals. For my palate, it’s all about sweet and crunch. Fruit is something I whine about. The sweetness inherent should make it a winning choice, but they often also pack that sour twang that causes the twinge in the back of my jaw. That, and the fact there is such a wide disparity in what you might find under the outer covering. Ripe? I am a terrible judge. And I’m picky. There is about a ten minute period of ripeness that my palate seeks as ideal. Before or after that it’s too green or too mushy. Nuts are a winner all around, any kind and any way they come.
I’m finding it not as easy to just make those choices based on pleasing my mouth now that my ‘system’ has been reset for a fresh start. All this recent focus on the intricate workings of breaking down proteins and moving nutrients through cell walls and passing the mixture along through the system has me unusually sensitive to what I put in there. What better time than now to adjust my behavior and heed the wisdom that I am what I eat?
It’s hard to argue it. I guess for the short-term, I’m soft-serve ice cream.
Newsworthy?
Seriously. Turn off the television news. Why do we give them so much power in our lives? It intrigues me how our minds formulate a perception of familiarity with the anchorpersons over time. We come to perceive them as family when they spend years in our homes morning and night. THEY AREN’T FAMILY! Of course, it serves the broadcast stations well to market the anchors to the public as such, but it is not accurate.
One way to visualize breaking the insidious daily habit of television news is using the example of going on vacation. When enjoying time away from our home routine we find plenty of ways to fill the time without tuning in to TV news. For some people, it takes a while into the vacation to shake loose from that feeling that there is a need to turn on the news at an appointed hour. It passes. A week, or if lucky, two weeks of vacation and it becomes easy to forget what day it is, let alone that it is time to watch the news. Now imagine carrying that carefree bliss forward, even after returning home. It is incredibly freeing to live without that soundtrack purporting to be news, bombarding your daily life.
Shunning television news doesn’t automatically leave one ignorant of world and local events. Glance at the headlines of a newspaper or online news source. Catch a news update from a radio broadcast. There. You are aware. If you need to know more, look it up. Be in charge of what you want to give your attention to, instead of relying on what is served up on commercial television.
If none of this resonates for you, at least consider this exercise next time you open your eyes and ears to what they are delivering… Determine who is paying for the advertising during the news. You are their target. The television station is making money off its ability to draw you in as a dedicated (addicted) viewer. The “news” they offer is just an ingredient in the recipe designed to bolster the value of their ad rates and avoid falling out of favor with their paying advertisers.
I don’t want it as part of my life.
Of course, I do give up learning the “news” about who got kicked off their featured reality show that day.
It is my bliss.
Truth and Fear
Have you ever tried to actually figure out what is true? Truth is not quite as cut and dried as it is made out to be. I feel differently about a lie. Lies aren’t likely to occur without intent, and as a result are much easier to define. Truth just happens. Truth just is. Ah, but truth is more often referenced against falsity. Falsehood can probably be argued just as much truthfulness. When a person is intending to cover up something, the action is rarely referred to as creating falsity and much more likely to be identified as an act of lying.
Which situation gives rise to the greater fear: telling the truth, or telling a lie? Why do either one produce fear? Look at some of the things we are afraid of… appearing uninformed, drawing undesired attention to ourselves, revealing a deficiency of character, being hypocritical. Lies might be employed in avoidance of such fears, but isn’t it possible that summoning truth could serve one equally well here?
I’d be lying if I said I knew.
I keep coming across another snippet from Gary Zukav’s meditations from Seat of the Soul (because the little flip book in the bathroom doesn’t get flipped very often) that refers to fear in a way that resonates with me…
From page 70:
All souls are tempted, but an individual with limitation of consciousness will find it more attractive to walk into the magnetic field of fear because it would not recognize fear for what it is. It would accept it as something else, as something that is normal to Life.
I often hear people discuss things that to my ears appear related to their fears, but their conversation isn’t framed with any recognition of it being a fear. It comes across as more of a frustration, or anger, or even indignation over details of a given subject (often fueled by news reports which so deftly propagate and then harvest the attention). They don’t even realize where it is they are dwelling, within their field of fear. It is, indeed, accepted as normal to life. It is a drama to which they are attracted. It becomes an addiction of sorts.
Turn off the news. Practice recognizing where it is that you allow your thoughts to dwell. Whether or not it ends up being a place of utter truth, it can certainly be a place other than one of fear.
Simple Acceptance
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the simplest of simple things
sometimes slip
they sometimes slip right by
unnoticed
until later
why is it always later?
after the time is right
flowing under the bridge
a hope can fade from view
but simple things remain
flashing such brilliance
with understated flair
the downbeat of life’s song
a smile of genuine vision
an authentic happy thought
luminous radiance
accepted
some simple things
just deserve to be
simply accepted
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Rain and Shine
If ever weather, and its incongruity with what forecasters predicted, could impact a day, yesterday was a classic example. Our gang of cyclists were all prepared for a sunny day in the 80-85° F range, yet the day dawned with a hard-to-read white overcast. A glance at the satellite image had me thinking we were just on the edge of clearing and sunny blue skies would be appearing any moment.
Not long after we set off in the morning, the color of the sky began to take on a darker hue. It was hard to read, though. It didn’t appear defined enough to discern whether it was coming or going. We rode on. Then a few raindrops painted the pavement. It still wasn’t clear if we were going to dodge getting a soaking, or not. We were approaching a town near a logical time for a break and a glimpse of a flash in the sky affirmed our plan to head for cover.
We leaned our bikes on the side of a McDonald’s restaurant and stepped inside, just as the now inevitable deluge let loose. A lightning and thunder downpour became the center of attention for about an hour and a half of our biking adventure. Luckily, we had Sarah along who was a wonderful second, in terms of center of attention. We made good use of the shelter provided in the area of the McDonald’s play room.
Eventually, the rain moved on and we emerged from the shelter to resume our trek. We were entirely successful at avoiding riding in the rain, but we were at the mercy of riding in the wet that immediately follows a good downpour. 
The wet means more debris sticks to the tires which, in our case, led to 2 flats, surprisingly, to the same wheel of the same bike. Finally, the ultimate insult to having successfully dodged riding in the rain, the wetness of the road and the dirt and debris on the otherwise wonderful trail sprayed up, painting everything with grime.
Those relatively minor inconveniences were tempered by the eventual clearing blue sky, warm sunshine, the ease of rinsing legs, bikes, and trailer with a garden hose, followed by a fantastic homemade feast amid laughter and fellowship at the home of our lovely host, Laura. This cycle adventure goes down as another one to be measured as ‘priceless’ in our collection of many similar trips this group of amazing friends have enjoyed together.
A Biking Day
No time to write, I gotta go bike! My friends are gathering for an extended jaunt and post-ride lunch today. Yahoo! I’ll take my camera.
Last night I finally got around to finishing the spring touch-ups on my bicycle, just in the nick of time. I had already given it an extreme cleaning, including scrubbing the drive train components to a brilliant shine. I don’t know why I bother. It doesn’t last very long. I also replaced both tubes and put on new tires.
So, last night I finally replaced the tape on my handle bars, snugged up the brakes a bit, and changed the cleats on my shoes instead of buying new pedals. I also adjusted the spring clip on my old pedals just a little tighter. A couple minor changes that I will interpret as feeling like having a whole new bike, …at a fraction of the cost.
Oh, and while I was at the bike shop, I picked up a new rain jacket, just to make sure it doesn’t rain, if you know what I mean.
Bring on the bikin’!
Relative Something 