Meandering Thoughts

Each day, I try to consciously live a sustainable life. While many of my efforts go into the food I eat—from bringing my lunch almost every day to harvesting tomatoes from the back yard—others go into my daily routines.

Most of the time, I'm a bus commuter. Sure, I see my fair share of crazy things on the bus route (and once, I got jabbed in the head with a pen by a woman sitting two seats back, screaming jibberish), but overall it's a good experience that saves me money and keeps my carbon footprint small. It's only slightly less convenient than driving, and after a good year of public transit I can say that I prefer it over paying for parking downtown.

This week, though, I got a new bike. She's a beauty, and while I haven't named her yet, I already know we're going to be spending a lot of time together. She has a bell.

You know what this means, right?

BICYCLE commuting. I can barely contain my excitement, despite the undeniably miserable afternoon temperatures. 

It's exactly 8 miles from my door to my office, and it takes me about 40 minutes to ride (I rode a couple of times each week as training for the MS150). Not too shabby when you consider the bus ride takes 42 minutes, plus a half-mile walk, to get me home. Yes, I do get a little sweatier on the bike. Small price to pay. 

Imagine when this bike gets outfitted with her rear rack, and maybe a wicker basket on the front. There will be trips to the farmers' market, picnics in the park, bicycle-bound beer-drinking excursions, jaunts to the pool, and more. 

It's almost exciting as discovering that my not-quite-dead-yet zucchini plants are still putting out zukes that weigh in at almost two pounds. 

Be still my beating heart!