I was just looking at my header picture and thinking again how much I love it. It is so peaceful to me. It also reminds me of cool, fall mornings walking to school in upstate New York. There was usually a mist or even fog starting around the end of August and the leaves would be turning and drifting to the wet ground. The air smelled of dirt and rotting things from the long summer. (That doesn’t sound very romantic, does it? LOL) But that is the smell I get in my head when I look at that picture.

It is amazing how our sense of smell will trigger certain memories. Whenever I smell a tiny baby’s hair, I remember the births of my children and all the cuddle time. Whenever I smell certain spices like coriander, dill weed,  I think of my grandparent’s blue and cream-colored kitchen in Denver, Colorado. I know that is why I love blue and white in a kitchen now! The smell of tomato plants always make me think of summer and working in the garden. Usaully because I end up breaking one off while weeding!

Well,  on to the purpose of this post and hence the title!

I used to love riding my bike. My brother and I had a newspaper delivery before our teen years and we rode our bikes everyday doing that. Up and down the steep hills behind our house in Longmont, Colorado. Dogs chasing us…

Well, about five years ago, I was with my sister and brother on Cape Cod. Everyone wanted to ride bikes on the trail that starts about 20+ miles up and heads to Provincetown on the very tip of Cape Cod. The trails are wonderful and very well kept. Everyone had brought their bikes except me…I didn’t have one and they wanted to rent me one. So, I was to try out my brother’s bike to see how I would do since it had been about 20 years since I had ridden.  My brother is now 6′6″, so his bike is pretty big. That was the very first mistake. I got on it, tried to balance without falling on that treacherous bar that men’s bikes have. I think I made one rotation of the pedal before I felt myself going down. I hit hard on my hands and knees, trying not to fall on my head. My brother ran over trying to find out what had happened in the space of about 30 seconds.

That was our first day on the Cape, and I spent it hobbling around the flee market we went to, my knee twice the size it should be and oozing everytime I bent it. Needless to say I wasn’t in any hurry to ride a bike again!

Our second oldest bought a very nice Eddie Bauer bike at the thrift store for $10 just before she left for New York. This bike is in brand new condition! So, she left it here for me to use during the summer and then we are taking it to her in August so she can have it at Bible college. My husband loves to ride as well as our children. That is something they do together every weekend just about while I stay at home, (happily I might add). My husband wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer, so he got me on that bike, with me whining about falling off again and killing myself this time!

But, you know, I DIDN’T! I did so well on that practice run that we took all the bikes out to the Lake and we rode for two miles. I was pretty thrilled. I even made it up a hill that our son had to get out and walk on! You go, mommy!! It was a wonderful feeling to be on that bike again after 25+ years! The wind in my hair, the free feeling, the blisters in areas they shouldn’t be! That’s all I could take. I wanted to be able to walk when I got off. But, I’m back in the saddle again and really looking forward to some riding this summer. My husband used to do about 30 miles at a time, so that will take me some time to get up too…probably never.

But, I’ll wave as I whiz past. Just don’t distract me for too long. I don’t want to crash into a mailbox or flip into a ditch!

I haven’t written here for a couple of weeks…so I thought I’d better catch everyone up. I have been trying to stay pretty relaxed. Just taking it easy and resting. I think we all need that every once in awhile.

Everyone made it up to New York and then back again. The two oldest are having a great time up there and they both really love their jobs this summer. The oldest is the STC secretary. Her sister said the job is just right for her. The oldest is a little OCD, (wonder where she got that from! ;)) So she is having a wonderful time being in charge of an office and organizing everything. I guess she has posters plastered everywhere.  The second oldest is working in the bookstore and loving it. I’m really happy for them and I’m excited for their summer. What a great opportunity!

Husband and son made it back, a few days later than I expected, but they’re here. While they were gone I found out who makes all the laundry and cooking! LOL So I had a mini-vacation from that. They retrieved some more of our things from storage. It always amazes me how much stuff my husband is able to get on our little trailer! So, we now how our head and footboard for our bed, our carpet for our bedroom. That took a day of arranging last week, but it is nice to have it all set up again. Now I just need to finish painting the room I started on a year ago! But, I have the easy part left now.

He also brought back a couple dining room chairs, which we needed, so now we can seat 12 people comfortably. For those of you that have eaten at our house, you know what a blessing that is! You came to our house to eat and you brought your own chair. I also have my wall clocks, a couple of Cracker Barrel rockers which took a good cleaning before I could bring them in the house. But, they have good memories. Those rockers were where I sat and nursed our youngest, and sat, and sat…you get the picture! I always felt like that was about all I did for the first six months of a new baby’s life.

Anyway…we have more stuff now and we will be getting the rest when we go to New York for our oldest’s graduation in August. I have no clue where we will put it all…but it will be wonderful to have it out of storage and feel like a move that we started two years ago is finally over!

But oh, the work I would like to get done inside the house before that all arrives! I have a couple ceilings that need to be redone and it would be so much easier without all that furniture to stumble over. Will have to see how it goes!

The garden is doing fantastic! We should be eating tomatoes in another two weeks! We’ve already had some banana peppers, jalapenos, green beans and even some potatoes. That same dog broke off the tops of the potatoes, so I dug them up so they wouldn’t rot. And of course we’ve been eating lettuce and spinach for a couple of months now. I had the best lettuce crop ever this year. I even had a lot of cantaloupe come up in my compost pile, which I transplanted. They are flowering now, so hopefully we will have some cantaloupe! We’ve had a lot of rain, so it has been hard to stay ahead of the weeds this year. My son and I have both spent way too many hours bent over pulling weeds!

Landscaping is coming along well too. I started a brick walkway to the backyard last week. So I made another flower bed next to it and planted some grass seed. My parents gave me a ton of Hosta, so I broke that up and planted it in the shaded bed with the Impatients. Those two beds are looking good and they are getting crowded enough now that the weeds are at bay. Hosta is one of my favorite shaded area plants. But they are usually pretty expensive. So I was VERY thankful for the Hosta.

Well, that is a quick update…which turned into a little more! Hope your summers are going as well!

I say that with sadness. The last couple of weeks have been very busy with a graduation party, an early 18th birthday party, making a party dress for my second oldest to take with her. All of this to make ready for our second oldest to fly from the nest.

She just left with her father and brother for the long trip to upstate New York where she will be for the next year and a half. She will join her sister there. I am happy for her…but give me a few days to process this new phase of my life in rearing children. For those of you that have not experienced this yet…hug those little ones still with you. Enjoy the years you still have to spend with them before they leave. It all goes by all too quickly.

Cherish the time that you have.