Driving Miss Daisy
26/12/14 07:57
Who goes biking on Christmas day? It was comfortably warm yesterday with temperatures in the upper 40's and a pretty good breeze kicking up here on the coast. Not the kind of weather you expect or even want especially if you have sleds sitting under your tree. It was so nice, in fact, that Nancy and I took our bikes for a ride. I have news for you. We weren't alone. There were runners in shorts, scores of bikers, and surfers busy with their boards riding what I would refer to as dinky waves here in southern New Hampshire. Dinky does as dinky do as they say but if that is what they want to do with their time on Christmas Day I say have at it. There were probably an equal number of passerby's in the comfort of their vehicles who thought the two of us to be daft in our own right. They would be correct in that line of inquiry. As nice as it was, it felt every bit incongruous as it most likley appeared. I even removed a couple of items of clothing along the way after gusts of wind failed to produce anything even close to a wind chill. We were happy to have the exercise and with any luck at all we'll have another chance or two between now and the end of the year for a repeat performance. Can you think of another way to otherwise celebrate the fact that the hours of daylight from here on in will just be getting longer? Tell that to Mother Nature.
"What about my mother," my darling inquired. In other words, she was telling me directly or indirectly to clear my schedule. There are familial responsibilities to attend to and that was that. At a minimum, we would take her mum for a drive and who knows after that. With it being Christmas day there were probably very few if any places to frequent so we would settle, as would she, for getting out of the house for a bit. Mrs G does enjoy her rides and it is one thing to drive yourself and quite another to ride shotgun with your son-in-law driving where you have a chance to take in the surroundings and opine as you see fit. If she tells me to go one way, I go the other. If she points with her finger in one direction I'll swerve in the other. Just call me Mr. Contrarian. Truth be told, I've never taken direction particularly well and may even take some perverse pleasure in doing as I please regardless of how well intentioned the voices around me are. Johnny alway knows best! That is, until he doesn't. We shared the usual laughs and enjoyed going over the recently renovated Sagamore Bridge that connects our town with Portsmouth. It has been out of commission for the better part of a year forcing us on to the more often than not congested route one to get into town to frequent coffee shops and restaurants. Driving through Portsmouth was somewhat eerie with an absolute absence of traffic on foot or otherwise. The downtown businesses were taking what apeared to be a well deserved rest after a long year and a busy, hectic, and prosperous shopping season leading up to Christmas. And a good night to all....
At the last minute, Evan decided to join us for the ride so it was nice to have him along. Good, in fact, to get him out of the house. We opened presents in the early afternoon after our bike ride and after having a bite to eat. I made some scrumptious BLT's for the family with turkey bacon from Trader Joes and they may have even been beyond scrumptious. Evan had one and then another and I couldn't keep them coming fast enough or so it seemed. BLT's are, by most accounts, not winter fare but seemed just right with the warmer temperatures hereabouts. The chicken and vegetables we bought to prepare for our Christmas meal would have to wait. There was a window of opportunity for both our bike ride and our christmas dinner and we took advantage of one but not the other. The late afternoon brought more cloud cover and cooler temperatures but the ride was thankfully behind us. The drive into town and opening presents at Mrs G's took us into early evening and it was simply too late to prepare a larger meal. Evan was not interested in having chicken for dinner anyway and I was happy to have a salad for my meal. As I sit here this morning I think I forgot to make myself a cup of coffee after arriving back home last night. No wonder the cup of java I'm now enjoying tastes so good.
"What about my mother," my darling inquired. In other words, she was telling me directly or indirectly to clear my schedule. There are familial responsibilities to attend to and that was that. At a minimum, we would take her mum for a drive and who knows after that. With it being Christmas day there were probably very few if any places to frequent so we would settle, as would she, for getting out of the house for a bit. Mrs G does enjoy her rides and it is one thing to drive yourself and quite another to ride shotgun with your son-in-law driving where you have a chance to take in the surroundings and opine as you see fit. If she tells me to go one way, I go the other. If she points with her finger in one direction I'll swerve in the other. Just call me Mr. Contrarian. Truth be told, I've never taken direction particularly well and may even take some perverse pleasure in doing as I please regardless of how well intentioned the voices around me are. Johnny alway knows best! That is, until he doesn't. We shared the usual laughs and enjoyed going over the recently renovated Sagamore Bridge that connects our town with Portsmouth. It has been out of commission for the better part of a year forcing us on to the more often than not congested route one to get into town to frequent coffee shops and restaurants. Driving through Portsmouth was somewhat eerie with an absolute absence of traffic on foot or otherwise. The downtown businesses were taking what apeared to be a well deserved rest after a long year and a busy, hectic, and prosperous shopping season leading up to Christmas. And a good night to all....
At the last minute, Evan decided to join us for the ride so it was nice to have him along. Good, in fact, to get him out of the house. We opened presents in the early afternoon after our bike ride and after having a bite to eat. I made some scrumptious BLT's for the family with turkey bacon from Trader Joes and they may have even been beyond scrumptious. Evan had one and then another and I couldn't keep them coming fast enough or so it seemed. BLT's are, by most accounts, not winter fare but seemed just right with the warmer temperatures hereabouts. The chicken and vegetables we bought to prepare for our Christmas meal would have to wait. There was a window of opportunity for both our bike ride and our christmas dinner and we took advantage of one but not the other. The late afternoon brought more cloud cover and cooler temperatures but the ride was thankfully behind us. The drive into town and opening presents at Mrs G's took us into early evening and it was simply too late to prepare a larger meal. Evan was not interested in having chicken for dinner anyway and I was happy to have a salad for my meal. As I sit here this morning I think I forgot to make myself a cup of coffee after arriving back home last night. No wonder the cup of java I'm now enjoying tastes so good.