One from Column B

The 8 year old's still not sure how he feels about living here. It's been almost a year since our move but he still misses Syracuse and our house there. When we first settled in he began to keep a list. "Reasons Why We Should Never Have Left." Slowly the list changed. He gave it a column A and column B. "Reasons Why We Shouldn't Have Left" and "Reasons Why It's Good That We Did." His most recent addition to Column B is that at our new house we have a bay window in front, which gives us a place to put our Jack O'Lanterns.

At our old house our pumpkins had to sit on the dining room table after we carved them and only the family got to enjoy them. Now we'll be able to put them in the front window and they can scare all the trick or treaters coming up to the house.

But Column A is still longer than Column B.

I try to encourage him to keep adding to Column B. I want him to be happy here. And there are lots of ways in which our new home is better than our old.

The truth is, though, I keep a similar set of lists in my own head, and my Column A is also still longer than my Column B.

But the first item on the list of my why it's good we moved here is the area around here provides some of the best bike riding terrain I've every traveled.

I'm Lance Mannion not Lance Armstrong. A day tripper not a would be racer in the Tour de France. I don't own any lycra, spandex, or funny little shoes. And it's not tough going. Flat country lanes that take me past farms and through woods and into the centers of small towns. I start at a pretty spot, I pedal through more pretty spots, and I wind up at a prettier spot. I like to think I go for a ride the way Thoreau went for walks. I'm out there to poke around, see what there is to see, and come back knowing a little more about where I live.

Some days I go for 20 miles and more. Some days I don't get very far out of town.

Those are usually the days I make the mistake of stopping for coffee.

We live by the Wallkill River, a tributary of the Hudson. The convenience store where I buy my coffee is right on the river bank. So I usually take my coffee down to the river and drink it while looking at this:

That's the view to the south. When I get tired of that, I look north.

And while I'm looking one way or the other, I can't say I forget about Syracuse and cross off all the items on my Column A. But the print on Column B grows a whole lot larger.

By the way, the bay window is in my Column B too.

Comments

[Jennifer]

The top image is a gorgeous photo. So is the bottom, but the top has me thinking, would it look better in oil or watercolor, or would it look garish, some things can't be captured in either.

Since it's evening, my eyes are tired so as I was reading, I squinted while rubbing one eye. I realize they look like Rorschach tests. The top one looks like you are looking down on Pinocchio sneezing. The bottom one... well... I can think of a couple of things that would most likely have Freud shaking his head. For that matter, both could be misconstrued by a twisted mind.

Still... very pretty picture. And I'm glad you're not wearing Spandex...