October 15, 2012

Monday Soul.

When we were growing up in the mobile home, Mom often watched “Soul Train” on the black and white television in the “dining room” (the original living room before the addition to the trailer) after we were done with the Saturday morning cartoons (and Shazam/Isis and ElectraWoman and DynaGirl). From an early episode of “Soul Train”, from 1972 here’s “I’ll Be Around” by The Spinners. It is still a very awesome track. You can hear samples of “I’ll Be Around” on Michael Moog’s “That Sound”, which was released in 2001.

Cozy.


So yesterday after Earl and I returned from our getaway weekend, the weather turned very warm. We woke up to nearly freezing temperatures, by 3:00 p.m. it was almost 70. It turned out to be a perfect day to get a bike ride in. I ended up riding just shy of 25 miles in about two hours.

I opted to take the “really hilly route”, as I like to think of it. It’d been a while since I’d ridden up a few of the hills I found along my route but it was a good workout for the arms and legs and I felt a good sense of accomplishment after the climbs.

When I go for a bike ride I tend to ride north and/or west, especially at this time of year. Riding up into the small villages of Holland Patent, Barneveld and Remsen seems like a natural for autumn; the leaves are gorgeous as they change to brilliant colors. The scent of fireplaces and wood stoves fill the air and there’s just a feeling of coziness as I ride by the historic, rural houses. It’s the same feeling I had when we lived in our first house together. That house was built in 1854 and had the fireplaces and the type of kitchen that just begged to be filled with the smells of baking cookies. It’s probably odd that one would feel cozy on a long-distance bike ride, but that’s exactly how I felt yesterday.

Yet another reason that this really is my favorite time of year.