VISITING WHILE CYCLING

       As many of you know I'm an avid cyclist. I've ridden about 45000 km since I started keeping track of the mileage.

      The crazy cyclist in 2008!

       When I first started riding, I put the pedal to the metal and rode as fast and far as I could. I did not stop on any of my rides. I didn't need to stop for a breather. I do remember one time when I had to stop. I ran over somebody's dog in an off leash park that the bike trail passed through.. I thought I'm in big trouble...angry dog owner and more. The dog owners just laughed and apologized  and said they had a very energetic untrained dog and that he got what he deserved.

      I have always said hi to people on the trail.

      The last few years I have slowed down and stopped at a bench for a breather. What I found is that some of the local residents stopped at the same bench so I got to know some people: a retired air force guy, retired RCMP, a lady who's had a major stroke and a lady with three dogs and a stroller for them. 

      This summer I met a woman who is going into a masters program. She worked for thirty years, retired and went back to school. She's an interesting character.

     Then there's my friend John. I taught with John and I knew he was an avid cyclist but when he retired he really surprised me. John has ridden to the tip of South America, through Greece and Italy, Israel, and India. He's done all these trips solo! 

      We have a young librarian who is super friendly and helps seniors with computers. She's taught me a lot. Yesterday she told me,"You know that I've known you all my life." She said , " My folks live in your subdivision and all the time I was growing up we saw this cyclist with the yellow helmet go by our house. We commented that the guy with the yellow helmet must be very dedicated. " She said , "The other day I discovered the dedicated cyclist with the yellow helmet was you!" As you can imagine we had a good laugh.

     So the social contact from cycling has been great and sometimes surprising.

eBoy's Lunch

    Yesterday was the  eboy's lunch. eboys are a small group of teachers who taught together  at a school in the 70's. We were mostly in our 20's and left our rooky teaching years and become effective teachers. During that time we became good friends. We were in the same boat. We had little kids, were broke most of the time and loved to socialize together. We had a couple of older guys who were great mentors and also stayed friends with us.

     We missed this lunch last year and the year before I could not attend. We all show a little aging since the last lunch. Our mentor was not able to attend due to his health condition. He's just not able to cope being out anymore.

    So yesterday there was talk of colleagues we've lost recently. Then talk of colleagues and sharing news. And retired teachers always have to talk about former students.

    Lunch was great but the visit was awesome. We had an awesome relationship when we were young and it's still the same although we don't see each other very much. Man, did we have energy in those days.

    The photos are from 2013 so yes we've aged over the 3 years. Don't look for me. I was the photographer.

I Felt Like Santa

      A couple of months ago I was waiting for my wife in the grocery store. At the far end of the store I saw a couple of people waving. As they got closer, I could see that they were waving at me. I recognized the two brothers and the friendly grins on their faces. These two are about 14 and 16. 

     These two boys lived a few houses down from me until three years ago. They still come back and visit their Dad. They happen to be two of the finest boys you could ever wish for.

    So they came up to me in the store and we had a chat. They convey the impression that they genuinely like you and enjoy the conversation. They're enthusiastic and never run out of things to talk about. They know what I like to talk about and they keep the conversation on my topics.

    They had been in the grocery store to get a couple of things for their Mom and obviously a few things for themselves as they had chips soda pop and I think some candy. 

   They left in the same way they came. They were genuinely happy that they had stopped for a visit.

    They left me standing with a great feeling that someone had come and given me their attention. They enjoyed the time. 

    As they left , I couldn't help feeling like Santa. They came and  were happy to see me and went away happy as if I had given them a gift. 

    I wish I would meet more people like this who really make my day.

Friends

I have friends

Here they are!

A lonely little birch twig

My birch twig friends

Lilac seeds

And lots of lilac seeds

A lot of pretty friends

    Last year I heard a very interesting talk about the idea that trees can communicate. Apparently quite a bit of research has been done and there's a number of  indications that trees actually do communicate. Trees communicate if there is a sickness or disease to others so that they can protect themselves. Sound far fetched? The speaker made  strong case that makes it sound reasonable that trees have some method of communication.

     So my little trees have their friends to be with on these cold winter days.