“Did you ever wonder if the person in the puddle is real, and you’re just a reflection of him?”
It was cold enough this morning that Gracie cocooned, usually one of her winter tricks. She waits until I’m in the bathroom then pushes the covers to the bottom of the bed and nestles in the blankets so most of her body is covered, all except her head and chest. She looked pretty cozy this morning.
This is one of the coolest summers I can remember. We have hit 80˚ maybe three or four times. The rest of the days have been in the 70’s. Perfect weather. Usually August is humid and disgusting, but it hasn’t been except when we’re expecting rain. The nights have been in the 60’s. I have used my AC in the bedroom maybe five times all summer and the central air maybe three or four times. I’m wearing socks as my feet were cold. What’s with that?
Even though we haven’t had much rain, the lawns are green and beautiful. Usually by this time there are browns spots, and the lawns look dry and tired, but not this summer. When the rains come, they are substantial. Last week we got 3 inches in a single storm. Low spots in the roads became lakes or ponds as there are no gutters and no sewers for run-offs. Just up the street is one of those spots, and it always floods. This time it was the deepest I’d seen it in a long while. Cars went around the block to avoid it. After the water disappeared there was mud and sludge across the road.
I used to love to ride my bike through puddles, the bigger the better. As the water cascaded on each side of the bike, I’d take my feet off the pedals and extend my legs so they’d get wet from the rush of water. I aimed for every puddle I saw, and I laughed out loud for the joy of the puddle and the wave.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: bike riding in puddles, chilly nights, cocooning, cold mornings, flooding, greenery, lawns, mud and sludge, perfect days, rain
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August 15, 2014 at 1:44 pm
Like you Kat, I loved my bike – I was an “entrepreneur” at 13, speeding across lawns in “the Warren”, Ashtead delivering newspapers. Disraeli Gears (Derailleur) gave me 5 speed (and a love of Cream) so much cooler that the old Sturmey Archer 3 gear cylinder box. My pockets were full of rubber bands to secure my over flared pant leg from the perils of the exposed chain
I could have ridden the double decker green bus or used the train, but it was that bike that took me everywhere. Even when the 1961 Triumph Herald started to take me to the dance, the bike was always there.
My Cannondale is 20 years old, and takes me on adventures with Big Rick and The Prince.
August 15, 2014 at 1:54 pm
My Dear Hedley,
Down hills, my bike made me feel as if I were flying. I loved every second of it.
My bike was in the cellar, and it took some maneuvering to get it out as there was a wall right across from the door. I had to lift the front wheels in the air so I could turn the bike around to get it up the stairs, but I never minded.
My first bike was the old pedal bike with no speeds. You back pedaled to brake. I rode it all over town. My second bike had three speeds and was much lighter in heft than my first one, but the first will always be my favorite. It was freedom and it was the road ahead. I remember seeing it by tree that Christmas and I was so glad we had no snow so I could ride it.
August 15, 2014 at 3:15 pm
Our summer has been just the opposite, hot and dry, now it has changed though. It’s pretty chilly and it rains all the time, well on and off anyway. Not especially much each time though, just enough so the lawn doesn’t dry up so I can mow it 🙂
It was so fun to ride through puddles 🙂 I still think it is those few times I ride my bike but we have very few puddles on our gravel road. I don’t like to walk in wet grass and get wet feet 🙂 I can’t wait to get home and put on dry socks when that happens.
Have a great day!
Christer.
August 15, 2014 at 3:43 pm
Christer,
I don’t much like wet shoes and socks either. I walk across the lawn to get my paper but I am barefooted in the summer. My lawn is usually wet from the irrigation system which waters the lawn every morning. If I had on shoes or slippers, I’d go on the walkway.
We haven’t been especially wet but definitely cool in the daytime and cold at night. It has been a weird summer that way.
It is getting chilly right now as the sun drops lower.
Keep dry!
August 15, 2014 at 6:49 pm
Hi Kat,
I’m pretty sure that I would still ride my bike through the puddles just for fun. And I’d take my feet off the pedals and kick my legs out wide to side so they wouldn’t get as wet as they might have if I left them down on the pedals. Besides, it adds to the feeling of flying. 🙂
It’s been the same kind of summer here. I’ve used the AC maybe three times and one of those was because the dogs were panting. I was fine. This is the kind of summer I could always want. Right now it’s chilly and I can smell the ocean even though the breeze is from the west. I have no idea why that is but I’ll appreciate it. 🙂
Enjoy the rest of the day.
August 15, 2014 at 7:13 pm
Hi Caryn,
I agree-it would still be fun. Puddles were also fun if you had boots one. I have always been a splasher of puddles.
My house was at the top of a hill, and I remember how wonderful it felt to fly down it on my bike.
That’s funny-I used mine a couple of times because Gracie was panting. I was comfortable but she was hot. I love this summer. I just closed some windows as it is already cooling off, and the 50’s are cold.
Have a great evening!
August 15, 2014 at 7:40 pm
Hi Kat,
As you may know we are in drought here. In the summer I loved to ride my bike, but I believe I avoided puddles.
Waving,
Lori and the Crew
August 15, 2014 at 8:33 pm
Lori,
I know all about that horrific drought you are experiencing. It is just awful.
I aimed for the puddles. They were great fun.
Waving!
August 15, 2014 at 9:49 pm
I also liked to ride my bike through puddles when I was a kid. I haven’t ridden a bike in decades and I wouldn’t get on one now for fear of falling off and breaking my rear end.
This summer has been wetter and a little cooler but today was another 100 degree day. Number eleven this year. It’s much too hot to ride a bike except at the crack of dawn when the low temperature is about 80 degrees.
August 15, 2014 at 10:07 pm
Bob,
I rode a bike until about 15 years back. I’d ride the bike trail and a couple of times I rode all the way to Provincetown. I stopped riding a while back but I miss it.
Puddles just seem to attract kids on bikes.
My sister and I were saying what a strange summer this had been. The weather now is more like fall, mid-September, when the days are warm and the nights chilly. That has always been my favorite time of year but this is way too early for fall.
August 16, 2014 at 1:22 am
Sharing a web page I ran across tonight which reminded me of the discussion the other day about treehouses. I still don’t think a rope bridge is a good idea for you!
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/08/mind-body-spirit-treehouses-peter-bahouth/
August 16, 2014 at 10:48 am
im6,
If I were rich, I’d have something like these built in my backyard. I would tell people I was moving to my summer house.
Those walkways look sturdy and safe. I think I’d be fine but I’m not so sure about Gracie. Dogs don’t like certain stairs, the ones you can see through to underneath, and Gracie mightn’t enjoy the movement of the walkways.
How neat to sleep outside under the stars.