madrid

la llegada. la cafeteria fue lo mismo. Fuera amazing! suin cambios en 14 anos.

walking andando del hostal from the hostel i kept expecting to see something familiar, something striking. I found the pizza place - many many changes but still there. Then I stopped dead in my tracks. I had completely forgotten about the dorm across the street where I funny, language geek friends stayed. Spent so many hours there but was shocked to see the building.

Stopped my the place I lived. Looks the same. kinda boring. Walking down the street wondering about La llegada - the cafeteria where we spent ALL of our time.

Not only is it exactly the same, Antonio, the kid who worked there is returning from the US where he works as an English professor in CT. He´ll be here Monday.

I left a note with my phone number-hopefully we can grad dinner or something.

45 secoinds left of i´net time. must go.....

code names

they shouldn't be too clever. How do you know when they are too clever? When you go back and read your own post and can't figure out who you were writing about.

darn.


i just read a bunch of blogs - wistar and starhillgirl and lb and the single mama and i Wow. I am so lucky to have even met such creative and interesting people. How much they do, how sweet they are, how radically innovative and outlandish and special. Thanks mom and dad for raising me in such an awesome community.

hmmmm. They are all women. Does that mean anything?

good times

with the writer from down below and the friend from round the corner. walked and talked and time flew by. along the river and around our little world.

then home ran into upstairs student and caught up with good conversation and potato chips and pears.

internetted and catched up with the pirate.

and now -
time for bed.

mountains vs roads (legs vs wheels)

went for a bike ride on saturday - beautiful but chilly. should've worn the gloves with fingers. I found though, a lovely little path right in town that wandered through brush and trees and by a stream so perfectly.

today i went for a hike. up to the top of the mountain and down again. perhaps 3 miles? I have no idea. A quick jaunt up and back for a nice after-work afternoon. Thank you daylight savings time!

I found myself though, yearning to be one of those bikes I saw drawing itself up the mountain. How funny. How did I forget that I really like biking?

I know. I am not a cold weather biker - yet anyway. And there is no appeal to riding a stationary bike in a gym to stay in shape. So with time the appeal fades, and getting out the bike seems a chore, as it has been sitting unused and gathering dust. How sad.

What is the appeal? Smooth pavement flowing under your tires. The connection you feel to your body and machine as a gear change eases your effort. Wind rushing by your ears. Eye contact with a stranger, no need to talk. Pulling up and pushing down and seeing the world close enough to touch but far enough to keep at the distance you need so momentum continues.

Pushing hard up the hill - lungs hurt, legs pull, almost losing balance but - just making it over that last push. and then the descent - rolling rushing flowing blowing feeling of speed and freedom and ease and earned reward of rest.....that slow lee slows and eventually the pedaling begins again. So nice, so even. Just the right tension as one foot goes forward and the other pulls back. Not too hard and not too soft. Just right.

On the long flat stretches it may just be an impatience thing. How could I possibly walk all that way when it would be so much smoother and faster and slicker on my bike?

There is something though - to the walking. The something is the company. The talk that flows and the thoughts that are shared. These moments. The laughter and the openness. This is where connections are forged and friendships grown. For that, I love the walking. In the woods or on the walkways and streets, conversations over time. That's one thing the bikes don't always allow, at least not on the roads.

As with everything in this world - everything in moderation. The bike some days, walking others. Feed both the monsters. :-)




no editing, no rereading. just posting.