Sometimes life chaotic, hard to read, wildly colored. Just the sort of situation that begs a person to step out from under the wheel. At least that’s what I was thinking while looking at this painting in the cafe I stopped for tea this afternoon. The past week was on that canvas.
With a half-day vacation and no where to be and nothing pressing needing done I just wandered a bit. It’s easy for me to know when I’m not enslaved to a schedule — the speedometer seldom passes 25mph. Often slower.
Puffy clouds and a blue sky drifted over Mt. Nittany as I meandered along. A fine day for a good ride.
Cafe Lemont was quiet with the other patrons lost in whatever they were doing. This young woman wouldn’t give me the time of day so I opened my journal and began outlining a few writing projects, explored a couple thoughts and sketched and image I had been thinking about. My cup of tea grew cold before I finished, a signal it was time to ride on.
I’ve been down this road dozens if not hundreds of times and still I’ve not seen it all. The shadows along the double yellow line — what’s making those patterns? Something to explore next time I ride through. If I remember.
Last stop before heading home — Duffy’s Tavern in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania. Parked my dirty Vespa next to a shiny Harley Davidson motorcycle while I sat on the patio, again with my journal but this time with a cheeseburger. The first one since my heart attack.
I know how important riding is to calming a day. I had forgotten the seductive power of writing in a journal. Somehow I’ve gotten out of the habit. At times I think writing in this blog has been a replacement but journal writing is an entirely different animal. One I am going to engage again.
Didn’t go far or overcome any challenges save those between my ears.
Maybe it was a good ride.