Adventures of a Bike

 One can have many adventures on a bike.  Its quite amazing really.   I went for a simple bike ride last night.   It was maybe a 2 mile bike ride, tops.  Took about 20 minutes.   I used the bike path near our home, and as I was coasting alone and passing a family walking along,  I imagined myself along an old dirt road.  Children racing along to catch the hopping toads (or in our case, lizards).   My straw hat would of course stay one well.   Wild flowers would gently spill out of my wicker basket.  It would be a cool summer day.  (Not really an oxy-moron if you think about the fantasy life, anything is possible).   It was a lovely time.   

I passed Walmart and Albertsons as I turned onto a more fast paced road.   I pictured myself cycling down mainstreet,  this time, brown paper packages, tied up in strings graced my little whicker basket.  Oh and a flour sack.   Old automobiles honked in a friendly wave.   Dainty white gloves are on my fingers.   Children playing with those larger than life hoops.  Maybe, once in a while a cat will scurry across the road. 

It was time to turn again.  This was the road leading out of town.  An elderly man was pulled off to the side, a mexican man was jump-starting his car.  The bike path is more narrow here.   I thought of a wheel coming off  a buggy and a gentleman helping a gentleman with his wheel.   I also passed a man in a wheelchair, almost ran into him as a matter of fact, thats what happens when you think of the adventures your having and not watching where your going.  Gulp.   But as I passed, I used that image as someone like Mr. Churchill from Jane Austen’s Emma passing by with a tip of his hat and a smirk on his face.   I really wasnt blushing you know.  It was that cool summer heat getting to me.

Finally that last stretch that will take me home.  My bike has turned into a gentle riding mare.  I cant be the only one thats ever pictured my bike as a mare, even as a child that was my favorite thing to pretend.  Returning home to my little darlings.   I pass an elderly couple struggling along to get a good walk in for the evening.   My mare trots pass this lovely gardener and his wife.  They smile.  They have not a care in this Utopia world.  My riding crop is crisp and green of course.  It is lovely evening.  

Finally, I’m turning into my driveway.   All fantasy and dreams gone.  I am home.   I hear my little boy giggle as Daddy blows on his tummy.   I hear my little girl say,  “Daddy, Emma.  Daddy, Emma.”  And I know she’s begging for a turn.   It is time to come home.   And am I glad to be here.

Shall we take a walk?

Our early morning stroll.  Would you like to join us?

First we will get Emma all ready…

Then we will go South on our little street… still with me?

Now we have our first pit stop (you know like in Amazing Race?)  We are about to cross another street we are now heading East.

We shall continue along the bike path/walkers path.  The road on the other side is just too narrow and too full of dirt for walkers so the city put in this path. Wasn’t that nice of them?  The motorcyclists love it too… they can fill the path up with dirt and get dirt in the walkers eyes and mouth.  Ok, so not all of them are so rude.  There is actually quite a gentleman that frequents this side of the road.  He slows down to a crawl anytime there is pedestrians.  Once when I stopped to take pictures of our beautiful mountains,  he thought I was having car trouble and stopped to see if I could help.

The path; (see the brick building (the back of it anyway) that is our beloved WalMart)

Now we have a bend in the road and another main road. That one goes straight through town. I guess you could call it main street.

 

Another pit stop to cross the street and now we will head south again.

After the bend, another straight stretch… Need a drink yet? It’s been a little over 1/2 a mile so far.

We have to stop and smell the rose tree.  I want a few of these.  Can anyone tell me the name of them?

And to my right I see… YES! WALLY WORLD!

Ok, after another 100-200 feet maybe 300 we come to a stop light.  Now since there were a few cars there I didn’t want to scare them so I didn’t take any pictures.  I figure they needed to concentrate on driving more than saying, “Cheese!”  But I made my way West and we come to Albertsons…

But the real reason we are here is…

What can I get you?  I have a free coffee here so I intend to make use of it.  It has a $5 value.  o I am getting a Venti, Mocha Cafe’ Latte with extra shot. Yummy!  Let’s take a rest here while we wait
Refreshing ourselves;

Here is my ticket to heaven… or heaven on earth shall we say?

Don’t try to duplicate it… it won’t work. Sorry.
Now, we’ll head home… It’s been about 45 minutes and we still have half a mile to complete.  Somebody is getting a wee bit tired from not exercising… Fresh air, our lungs don’t know what to do!

So, here we are. Someone woke up and is full of energy now.  By the time this post is complete, she will be asleep. Mark my word.

And here is where I’ll go

 

Well, my friends, thank you for the lovely walk and I hope we can do it again soon.  Have a lovely day!

 

Dancing with the stars, Workout DVD-review

 

Product review;

Dancing with the Stars Workout DVD

With all it’s “faults” I have to say that I have really enjoyed this DVD. Dancing is hard work. It’s fun. It strengthens more than just bones and it is a good tool to have.

With dancing with the Stars DVD you learn some of the more common dances like;

Cha Cha

Samba

Paso Doble

Jive

And you have the warm up and cool down.

There are three instructors. Maksim is my favorite. He teaches the Paso Doble and, co-teaches with the others on Jive, Samba, Warm up and cool down. He is clean. Very light on the humor but enough to get you through. And modest for a male dancer. I can see my dh doing this with me easily. Bull-fighting dancing. Oh yeah!

Ashley has a voice like Leslie Samsone and her workout dvd’s. It’s annoying but she is very good at what she does. She does try to get a bit s*xy but honestly imho just can’t seem to do it. Very clean, always wears a good dance suit that covers and workouts well.

Kym is my least favorite and I think all her’s I have fast-forward. While her accent is enjoyable her moves are way to much and I feel very unclean with her clothes and inappropriate moves in my humble opinion that a Christian should not do. If you like belly dancing, Kym is the girl for you. She does give a good workout but in teaching dance- not for me and dh will not be seeing her.

The DVD is about 1 hour long and gives great workout in the hips, stomache muscles, arms, thighs, and calfs. I have been a dancer in the folk realm and I have to say that this probably is more of a workout than any of the 2 hours that I did at the folk dance class. They start you out with a good dancer’s warm out so you aren’t jumping into a cardio workout and you slow down without a dramatic decrease. As any dancer knows a good workout before exercising is vital.

For those that would love a good workout and a good dancing lesson, I very much recommend this DVD. The music isn’t my style but its not as bad as some of the rhythm beats that most workouts give you.