Hydration

"Water is the most neglected nutrient in your diet but one of the most vital." -Kelly Barton

Day 6

"When I go biking, I repeat a mantra of the day's sensations: bright sun, blue sky, warm breeze, blue jay's call, ice melting and so on. This helps me transcend the traffic, ignore the clamorings of work, leave all the mind theaters behind and focus on nature instead. I still must abide by the rules of the road, of biking, of gravity. But I am mentally far away from civilization. The world is breaking someone else's heart." -Diane Ackerman

On the Road

"The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man. Other forms of transport grow daily more nightmarish. Only the bicycle remains pure in heart." -Iris Murdoch, The Red and the Green

Double Rainbow

All the way! What does this mean?!

Somewhere in Iowa

"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving." -Lao Tzu

Summer Days

"I have no hostility to nature, but a child's love to it. I expand and live in the warm day like corn and melons." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Lots of corn here in Iowa.

RAGBRAI 2010

A look at what I'm getting myself into during the next week:

Breakfast

"It's important to begin a search on a full stomach." -Henry Bromel

Starting off the day at the Iowa City farmers' market and co-op. Yum.

Iowa Bound

"Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind." -Seneca

Headed up north with my baby for RAGBRAI! Iowa City tonight, Sioux City tomorrow...

Story Time

"Like stones, words are laborious and unforgiving, and the fitting of them together, like the fitting of stones, demands great patience and strength of purpose and particular skill." -Edmund Morrison

Fashion Statement

"He had earrings! Earrings! 1829 and he had earrings!" -93-year-old historian Warren Dalton tells his audience about John Gentry, a tiny Frenchman who established a tavern in Columbia once upon a time. Warren and his co-author David James spoke at the library last night about their book, Historic Downtown Columbia.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

"I get my best ideas in a thunderstorm. I have the power and majesty of nature on my side." -Ralph Steadman

Unfortunately, I didn't have any of my best ideas when our electricity was out this morning.

"Matt this is a special ride with your wife!!!" -Matt's aunt wishes us well on our upcoming RAGBRAI adventures.

And the living's easy

"Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world." -Ada Louise Huxtable

Loaded

As seen during our blueberry expedition to Jamestown, Mo.

Multitasking

"Can you eat and write?" -a professor requests to do an interview over lunch.

Official Diagnosis

"You look happy." -an FBI agent's words of approval at the end of our chat for Tricia's security clearance. Of course I was smiling after constantly talking about two of my favorite people -- my best friend and my husband! :)

One Step at a Time

"I've always felt running is a form of meditation. Running enables us to stop our lives, to go out and find a safe place for ourselves." -Nina Kuscsik, marathoner

Life is Good

Home

"I have come back again to where I belong; not an enchanted place, but the walls are strong." -Dorothy H. Rath

Wild Night

"If I get drunk enough, I'll make love to this thing." -A certain father-of-the-bride gets emotional about an expensive bottle or Chinese liquor.

With this Ring...

"A good marriage is that in which each appoints the other guardian of his solitude." -Rainer Maria Rilke

Congrats to Jenny & Ed on their wedding day!

Traditional Clothing for Men

"I've got something on him -- I know what his real measurements are." -one of the men at Binghams jokes about knowing the (quite large) clothing sizes for one of Columbia's best known magazine publishers. Maybe he can blackmail him and get me a job?!

Rainy Days

"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather." -John Ruskin

What about when rain causes your backyard to transform into a lake?!

No Fear

Triple Scoop

"Both of my first bowls were pretty small, so I need to get another." -Matt goes back for his third helping of ice cream. This is what happens when there are massive quantities of Sparky's in the freezer :)

Sleeping In

"One of the most adventerous things left is to go to bed, for no one can lay a hand on our dreams." -E.V. Lucas.

Happy Fourth of July!

"How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!" -Thomas Jefferson

Photo: Chinatown, San Francisco

Holiday Weekend

"Between saying and doing many a pair of shoes is worn out." -Italian proverb.

Parley Pratt 4-mile run this morning. Prizes are watermelons! Hooray :)

Senior Moment

"This is my sister-in-law." -Jean (my mother-in-law) introduces me to friends during our errands on Wednesday. We laughed about that for the rest of the day :)

Breaking the Ice

"You have to be happy with one of those in your hand." -Marc describes how it's impossible to be grumpy while eating a Fla-vor-Ice. These colorful popsicles were a big hit at last night's Youth Track Night.