The 3rd house in astrology is associated with writing, conversation, personal thoughts, day-to-day things, siblings and neighbors.
Friday, April 30, 2004Lost and found
I was just searching madly for all of my cycling gear. I found my helmet and goggles in the closet under the stairs, in a bag buried beneath the Christmas ornaments and winter clothes. But where were my gloves? Another closet. Found them. I also found my beach bag in there and unzipped it. Beach towels, flip flops, bathing suit, and... something else. Faint smells of... I pulled out the bathing suit, stuck my face into it, and breathed deep. Ah! Beach sand, ocean, coconut oil! Summer.
Ducks
I spotted this pair on a tiny pond at the base of someone's property yesterday when I was out walking.
Getting in gear
Before lunch today I went to Staples to look for a CF card for my digital camera because the one I have is only 16 Mb (came with the camera). I ended up ordering an Edge 128 Mb card for $35 on sale that I should get next week. Woo-hoo! I’ve been taking my camera with me on walks and it’s been filling up really fast, unsurprisingly enough at 16 Mb.
Afterwards, I went to Whole Foods and had a salad and a cup of roasted corn chowder before shopping. Overheard at the salad bar, a woman to the two little boys in her shopping cart: “Steven, don’t stick your brother with the toothpick.” I don’t know why it struck me funny; the mom rolled her eyes at me when I smiled. Later, I had to squeeze in front of another woman to get at the sports bars and she started talking to me. Bright-faced and maybe 30-ish, she had a cute little girl in her shopping cart and apparently a 6-year-old boy at home who’s constantly hungry. She told me she’s been looking for healthy snacks for them to eat, plus for herself when she’s too busy to remember to eat breakfast. She recommended getting boxes of them at the big wholesale clubs. Observation: moms with kids tend to grocery shop mid-day during the week and dads with kids shop on weekend days.
My favorite sports bars: Luna chocolate pecan pie for anytime; PowerBar Harvest strawberry or cherry crunch for cycling or hiking.
I’m planning to cycle tomorrow, assuming the weather stays as nice as they’re predicting. I’ll need to take my bike down off the trainer and add some air to the tires. I got my bike when I turned 40, as a statement: “I’m not dead yet!” I told everyone that in lieu of any present they might be considering if they’d like to contribute to my bike fund it would be most appreciated. People came through generously, including a nice chunk of it from my parents. I had enough for the bike and all the accessories – helmet, comfy seat, under-seat pack, water rack and bottles, and of course cool bike clothes.
My bike is a hybrid like this one with upright-riding handlebars, only an older model and with a nice gold color. It works well on the hilly terrain here – geared well for hills and sturdy to deal with bumpy country roads. The slightly fatter tires make it a little harder to pump on flatter terrain, but generally it suits me well.
Riding here is a weird workout. There’s no regular aerobic pedaling, just pump pump pump up the hills… and… then… fly fly fly down them! But one thing I noticed when I went from walking to bicycling – you can go a whole lot farther on a bike! Now I’m getting excited about it. Time to get in gear…