The Last Daisies of August

Blue sky. Daisies. The luxury of time: PRICELESS!!!!

Beauty All Around Us

Back from today's bicycle adventure. When I left this morning it was 55 degrees. That sounded like just four degrees colder than when I rode on Friday. Right?? Plus the sun's out: bright and beaming. The piece of the equation that I didn't factor in was the WIND. Serious wind. Continual, adjust-the-angle-of-your-bike, wind. Fifteen miles today felt like thirty on any other occaision. WHEW! But I'm on a mission. My other summer of dedicated biking I clocked in 661 miles over the course of the summer. With my sixteen miles today, I'm up to 623.7 miles so far. I have exactly two weeks remaining to add to the bank. Wind or no wind, I rode. Look what I found!! I'm thinkin' it's a moth?? Pretty little creature, who ever you are.

Thanks to my blogging buddy Kathy, I was able to ferret my way thru Facebook's NetWorkedBlogs process and got my blog added to their rolls. Last night I noticed their list of "categories" of subjects. Much to my amazement, in their list of top-50 blogs with the subject "children", the 50th blog in their list only has 44 followers. At the time I saw this I already was up to 24 followers. I put out a plea, and have gained 9 new peeps as of this posting, bringing me up to 33 in my pack. Whooohooooo. A few more pleas and I'll sneak in the back door of the top 50! Come one. Come all. Please officially 'follow' me and take me from complete and total invisibility into the top 50. Maybe I should offer a prize?? Hmmmmm. That could be fun. An autographed copy of my book, perhaps?? How would this work?? I could put all the names of the 'followers' into a hat, when I reach the 30th on their list (currently #30 has 63 followers -- so we're already half way there) and draw a winner from the pile assembled. OK. We're on!! Let the following begin.

Pretty Peripheral Glimpses

When I go over to capture the sunset I'm always focused on the view of the sun over the water. I've learned to widen my vision to include the peripheral sights as well. Look at the clouds BEHIND my back, 180 degrees away from the sundown over the water. Pretty sweet. That moon adds a nice detail, too. BTW: I took these a douple days back, when my laptop was in the fix-it shop. Tonight was a downpour through out the whole evening, so I thought it fitting to reflect back on these shots. The sun is always out there -- even when obscured by the clouds. Evidence.

A Profusion of Color

Another four or five miles and upon the gentle breeze, I arrive in Bailey's Harbor. Cell phone reception!!! I call Connie, to learn that the acquisition committee at Redleaf Press has accepted our proposal!!! Details forth coming. They plan to publish a book combining Connie's expertise on movement & dance, with a recording of my songs and some of their instrumentals -- to make an all inclusive project sure to bring a smile to early childhood teachers. Happppppy day. We've been at work on this proposal for well over a year and today's a HUGE day along the continum of exciting progress.

Cana Island Road

The best thing about riding a bike is that you're moving at the perfect speed to pause periodically, when the scenery is enticing. This old and weathered beach fence was just callin' my name. This is where I stopped to hear the message on my phone from my buddy Connie Bergstein Dow....... exciting possibilities ahead. My phone reception would not allow me to talk to her -- only listen. I needed to peddle like wild to make it into Bailey's Harbor to learn the 'rest of the story.'

Look Who I Met Today

On an overcast morning, I pedaled out of our homebase headed toward Lake Michigan and Bailey's Harbor. What a lovely temperature to ride. It was 59 degrees when I left, clad in my biking skort and day-glow-green riding wind breaker. I went out along Q all the way out to Cana Island lighthouse road. This sweetheart was kind enough to pose for me along the way.

Gifted & Talented Maple Tree

Yesterday, August 26th, I get a late start for my bike ride, leaving home base after high noon. The sky is blue, the weather is gorgeous, there's a slight breeze -- all is well with the world. It's been a while since I've ridden into Ellison Bay so I head in that direction. Up my hills, down my hills. WHOOOOOAAAAAAA my hat flies off my head with that slight breeze. First time all summer. Stop to retrieve it. Now I'm really reveling in the blue of the sky. (I just love the skies up here..... long term readers are aware of my joy over these skies.)

Now that I'm stopped I might as well have some cold water, and WHOOOOOOOAAAAAAA, now it's time to retrieve my camera from my bike's little travel pouch. For the first nine miles of my ride every tree I've passed has been green: shades of green yes, but totally & completely green. And with no explanation what-so-ever, here is a maple tree that has fringes of fall color: on August 26th! What's that all about? 99.97% of the forest is still completely green and I've located the first evidence of fall. So I've determined that this tree is indeed: "gifted & talented." What other conclusion could be reached? It's ahead of the pack, but prophetic all at the same time. It won't be long now, sigh.

DAISIES!! Still DAISIES!!

After my encounter with the monarch and my odometer I continued on around the corner to the bakery and the other shops: antique and boutique alike. Each has an amazing planting of perennials and other garden goodies. Imagine my amazement to find that there were some late blooming, in late August, daisies still in profusion. Admittedly a bit past prime, but still standing tall against the blue sky. Oh what fun!! Let's pretend that summer will last forever!!

The Patience of Butterflies

So I'm off riding my bike, taking in my country road sights, just enjoying the morning's fresh air: no particular destination in mind, just wait and see which way the wind blows me. I end up turning west on Q, having the idea that it might be fun to see what's still in bloom on the corner of Q and 57. I'm just riding along, minding my own business, when out of the corner of my right eye I notice a dab of color..... as I ride on past the dab -- my brain finally registers that the splash of color was actually a monarch poised on the delicate ditch weeds. Still pedaling when I further consider that I do have my camera, perhaps I should turn around and go back and take a picture. Ever so cautiously I do indeed make a safe U-turn, peddle back the distance I traveled while considering this opportunity and then a second U-turn and come up on my nice ditch weeds. LO and BEHOLD: my butterfly is still there -- just waiting for me to capture it!! That's what I call patience.

Having captured the two pictures above, I just happen to take a look down at my odometer and nearly shriek from the excitement. Somehow in my stopping the bike, my odometer has shifted modes from the 'trip' mode to the 'total-miles-ridden' mode. It is at that moment that I have the opportunity to realize that I have ridden my bike 1312 miles in the two summers & a portion of FL winter, of my biking. That total amazes me. Flabbergasts me. How is that even possible? Couch potato me? One thousand, three hundred and twelve miles?? Seriously? And of course that's my lucky number!! (See last summer's Aruba post concerning the license plate for full explanation..... just click on the link 1312/1213 below.) That's what I call persistence. I don't ride quickly. I don't ride fast. I just keep on riding. That's what I call perseverance. So today's lesson is all about patience and persistence and perseverance.

Sailing Off into the Sunset

And so our sailors, literally sail off into the sunset..... packing up their sails until there's another picturesque sundown. See ya'all again tomorrow? These were some mighty special clouds adding interest to the process. Just pinching myself.

P.S. Yesterday, I was able to figure out how to add my blog to the Facebook world of NetworkedBlogs..... so I warmly welcome anyone reading along for the first time. It's such an honor to share this incredible place with you. I took these pictures last night, at the marina at the end of our block -- in Sister Bay, Wisconsin, a lovely peninsula of land bordered by the bay of Green Bay to our west and six miles across to Lake Michigan to our east, lovingly known to all as Door County.

Tacking Back & Forth

Have I mentioned how fascinated visitors to our marina are by the cooperative spirit of our sailboat folks?? People are just amazed that they would tack back and forth -- just as the sun sets, purely for our photographic enjoyment & amusement. Visitors oooooooh & ahhhhhh, saying: "Look, look!! The sailboat is going to get there, right as the sun sets." Yes. It's a ploy from our chamber of commerce. It's breath taking every single time, but it's just so much more amusing to listen in on the first time observation. This one was indeed pretty spectacular. Wouldn't ya say??