Scooter in the Sticks

Exploring life on a Vespa Scooter and Royal Enfield Himalayan motorcycle.

Riding is Magic

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It’s always a surprise what triggers me to write an essay for Scooter in the Sticks. This time it was dragging the garbage can to the street for pickup and seeing frost on the car.

BMW K75 motorcycle parked by the Mid State Trail in fog.
A magical, foggy morning on the motorcycle.

There are hints that winter is approaching; leaves descending from trees; geese honking overhead; squirrels and chipmunks growing fatter and fatter as they store the peanuts we put out for the birds. And now frost along with a faint bite on skin that rattles awake ancient programming in my DNA that whispers deep in my brain, “you better get ready…”

Those feelings sometimes emerge while riding, especially when conditions turn toward the surreal or become physically challenging. It happened one morning when I was riding the motorcycle into the mountains and encountered fog.

I discovered (again) that riding is magic.

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Simple Pleasures

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breakfast in cafe at Perkins Cove, MaineCafe Moments

If I close my eyes and think about moments of simple pleasure, I always see the same scene; me sitting alone in a quiet cafe, watching the world go by.  This photograph was made almost seven years ago in a small cafe in Perkins Cove, Maine.  I had walked along the ocean on a rainy morning watching the waves crash onto the rocks before finding myself in the cozy warmth of the cafe.  I’ve repeated this ritual hundreds of times and it retains its glimmer.

Simple pleasures.

Saint's Cafe, State College, PennsylvaniaWatching

I like to watch.  It’s likely why photography became such a big part of my life.  The looking, the gaze, being a voyeur.  Sitting alone in a cafe with a cup of tea, my thoughts and watching is a simple pleasure that is endlessly fascinating as I watch the interactions between people, imagining the stories they’re playing out, all from the safety of a quiet perch masked by a tea cup and journal.

There are other pleasures — dogs and family to name a few.  But what clouded my thoughts today were the momentary escapes I find anywhere I can sit alone and watch.

2017 Brave, Bold Blogger Challenge

This post is part of a month long writing prompt challenge conceived by Kathy at Toadmama.com.

Simple Pleasure: Where Do You Find It?

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Vespa GTS scooter along freeway exit in the morning lightA New Day

Took the freeway to work one day this past week.  A crisp clear morning,  a spine pretending to almost be normal, I stopped to enjoy a moment alone on the road.  It’s a communion of body, mind and spirit that sweeps past unlooked for but welcome.  A simple pleasure that can’t be bought or planned.  A gift I’ve opened and received gratefully as a rider.

Simple pleasure of seeing my dog in the garden grassSimple Pleasure – a dog in the garden

Being open to the small moments that flame life takes practice.  Lest I miss them, I need to slow down and transform my eyes from detection devices into tools for introspection and insight.  Noticing Lily stalking through the garden grass, I realize how much there is around me that I don’t want to miss.

Riding a scooter, going forth on a motorcycle, these exercises have cleared my eyes.

Vespa GTS scooter in a pastureRiding Shrine

There are moments when my Vespa ascends from riding contraption to shrine.  It usually happens when it’s standing in some lush promontory where it stands against a wider world.  After weeks of nagging irritation from my back, it was a joy to face the morning and feel good about riding, the job I was moving toward and the knowledge that life was rich as a result of a few simple pleasures.

Tea at a morning call on a cafeTea, Light and Friends

An hour in Saints Cafe, some hot tea and conversation with a friend; it’s a simple pleasure that requires only an investment of time on my part.  Time that, in almost every case, returns far more value than the cost of admission.

Vespa GTS scooter in the blazing sunA Ride Home

My back has recovered enough to ride back and forth to work.  I’ve learned to sit up straight to minimize fatigue to that area of the body.  Still experimenting with the rougher experience of riding on gravel roads as habit leads me to old cow paths on the ride home.  The dazzling light of a low sun at the end of the day is a simple pleasure that I don’t embrace nearly enough.

Is there a good reason why I don’t see more sunsets?

Meyer Dairy milk bottle in a GIVI topcaseMilk in Glass Bottles

Twenty four hours ago the milk in the glass bottle was grass.  At least that’s what I like to think.  Meyer Dairy is two miles from my house and they still bottle and sell their milk to the community, a dying breed of dairy farmers not shipping their milk to a cooperative or factory in return for a milk check.  The simple pleasure of drinking fresh, local milk, hides the hard work and complication of daily production.

Seeing the bottle in my GIVI topcase has me wondering how long they’ll last.  Or my Vespa scooter.  Or me.

For now I’l enjoy the little rides I can take, a simple pleasure purchased with the effort I make to choose the scooter over the car.

Where do you find simple pleasure?