Bicycles, Nutrition, and Friendships

In another month or so it will be three years since Gary told me he wanted to get a bicycle for my [March] birthday. As just one of several adventurous ideas he was coming up with in our early days together, I stuffed my misgivings for the sake of love, took a deep breath and said "yes." 

My long-time readers may remember in our first years, Gary took me on a kayak, a canoe, an air boat, a two-passenger catamaran (boat), and zip lining. (He also took me to Minnesota to meet his family, but that required no athleticism on my part and they were not scary.)

I had not pedaled a bike in some 30 years and that was an extremely short ride. Before that, my biking experience was back in the early 1960s when my parents gave me a bike for my 11th birthday. A couple of years after that, we moved cross-country several times and out of practicality, our bikes were sold.

When given my first bicycle, it took me just one day to learn to ride it, and at my age, there were no training wheels. Then two months later when Sister celebrated her 9th birthday, she was given a new bike, too. After school we often rode down to Beth and Rhonda's house (two sisters close in age like us) and spent the remaining time before supper riding our neighborhood streets together.

Today I am responding to the weekly Hodgepodge questions. The first one reminded me of my early experiences with a real two-wheel bicycle, hence the memories in the previous paragraphs. 

                                                        Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 587

http://www.fromthissideofthepond.com/2025/01/hodgepodge-questions-volume-587.html

1. What was your after school routine like when you were a kid?

When sister and I came home from school, we would change into our "play clothes." I graduated from high school in 1968, just before public schools began allowing girls to wear slacks/jeans to school. Our usual school clothes were skirts and dresses and flats (pumps) for shoes ("sneakers" for gym class along with the obligatory gym uniform). "Play clothes" were slacks or pedal pushers (today's "capri pants") and sneakers. In Southern California, our pedal pushers were perfect for after-school bicycle rides. (Mama did not allow us to wear shorts after we got to the middle elementary school years.) 

2. January 26 is National Green Juice Day. Do you juice, as in make your own in an attempt to get healthy? Do you do the green juices? What's your favorite kind of juice (home blended or store bought, either one)?

Once upon a time (and for many years) I juiced a lot, especially carrots, greens, and apples.  When I grew tired of cleaning the juicer (I had 3 different models over several years), I morphed into green drinks in my "Vitamix" blender with all manner of fresh greens and protein powders, etc. 

Now I have a small glass of orange juice to moisten my daily Cheerios (instead of milk) and swallow 6 Balance of Nature capsules throughout the day. I gave my Vitamix to my daughter, and use my Oster Blender a few times a month for other recipes as may be needed. I've been subscribed to Balance of Nature for two years and it's working well for me.

3. What's something trivial about which you have a strong opinion?

Disclaimer: if I have a strong opinion, then it's not trivial to me, but it may be to others. 

Most likely due to my upbringing of modest clothing choices, I am very critical of what TV news anchor women choose to wear. A female teacher I had in my latter teen years was a public speaker. She told us (girls) we should not wear clothing that is more interesting than what we have to say. Not only do many TV anchors wear distracting clothes, but often very provocative. Their wardrobe choices distract from the news stories they are supposed to be communicating. Do they want people to hear the news they are paid to report or to focus on their appearance? 

.... of course, that's just it. Some want to communicate a very self-focused message with their clothing.

4. What do you need more of in your life? Less of?

I'm blessed to have what I need for myself but perhaps [based on the previous question-and-answer] I need to give more forbearance with the idiosyncrasies of others.

What do I need less of? Crazy drivers weaving in and out at breakneck speed. For a retirement-dense population, we have a lot of insanity on our roads.

5. Give us three adjectives to describe your January. I'm answering this question with 3 nouns describing my January.

appointments

successes

Brrr!

We did not get any snow where we live, but we still covered some of our more vulnerable bushes in anticipation of the cold and rolled out the space heater on the lanai.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

A highlight since my last post was the visit to our home of one of my long-time blog readers and her husband, who live up in the Frozen North but are in our area to thaw out. Our unusually frigid weather arrived with them, but it's warmer now.

She contacted me last year at about this time to introduce herself as a reader of mine since about 2018 (!!!), having found my blog after reading the blogs of mutual friends. The four of us had such a nice visit last year that we were eager this year to pick up where we had left off. 

good friends from
the Frozen North

Recently I came across a quote that I have since misplaced but the gist of it is that we benefit ourselves when we spend time with people who make us better. 

Here are some validating scriptures on that line of thought:

Proverbs 12:26 The righteous choose their friends carefully ...

Proverbs 13:20 Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise ...

I Corinthians 12:26 Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character.

Our conversation over coffee and red velvet cake (with white frosting) was a treat we hope to repeat in future visits!

Until next time, grace and peace!