Monday, May 12, 2014

I've Thought About Us For a Long, Long Time.














So, it's me again. What is it? May now? This was a big three day weekend for me. I try to save up as much vacation time as possible, so I can take it during the warmer months. I allotted myself an extra day and half for this month and used one day on Friday.



















 What did I do with that time? Well, I woke up and read my book,  Americanah. It is really good so far and I drank tea and was covered in cats while I read it. Heavenly. Then I went out and bought up a bunch of organic veggie plants and flowers. After I had effectively pissed away most of the day, I was ready for my bike ride. I took the road bike out to Amish Country and it was lovely....Except for the brutal headwinds on the first 24 miles of it.



















 I saw many beautiful Amish girls in bonnets and blue dresses doing yard work and men driving buggies, pulling trailers full of wood supports for buildings. I also stopped at the cheese house...Because I believe it might be mandatory when passing through Kalona. I rode through Frytown and then to Angle Road and finally got to my favorite road name in Iowa, Orval Yoder Turnpike. On the way home, I finally caught an amazing tailwind and flew up hills at 25 mph without even pedaling. So many reasons to be addicted to bike riding.














On Saturday I woke up with a migraine. I took my migraine meds and slept it off. In the afternoon, I was able to plant about 90% of the veggies and flowers I bought. John helped me expand our garden by one extra bed. So, we will try to grow twice as many tomatoes, as well as basil, peppers, lettuce, eggplant, pumpkins and I would love to grow zucchini, but I have found it very difficult to find seeds or starts. I rode my bike close to 150 miles last week, but guess what made my legs sore? That's right. Gardening.


















Later in the afternoon, we headed to Ames. Coadster still has one more semester of student teaching, but the Latino Students only have their graduation ceremony in the Spring. While we were there, we stopped by her house, to meet her new puppy, Bailey. Isn't she the cutest grandpuppy you've ever seen? I promise to spoil the hell out of her and to buy lots of loud squeaky toys, just for fun.


















The ceremony was really long and there were many speeches that sounded very similar. Most importantly to me, Coadster got honored by the college of liberal arts for her great grades and all the work she did as president of the ISU educational association. They also talked about her amazing organizational skills, and i had to laugh and think, "Kids have to rebel against their parents some way!" She also sang a song and got a standing ovation. So many reasons for me to be a sorry sap, and I didn't really need any of them.

Mother's Day was lovely. I still wasn't feeling 100%, so we took John's mom and Stinky to Mother's Day brunch and then went for a walk that we finished right before it rained. We came home and took a nap during the thunderstorms - the best way to sleep, as far as I'm concerned. Then we went to the Kalona Brewery and did some beer flights and ate pizza. I couldn't have asked for a better Mother's Day....Well, I suppose if we could have ridden our bikes to Kalona and back. That would have made it better.

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