Rider Strong

OK, so I am almost ready to run. Tomorrow or Wednesday I will be back on the streets, on my feet, I swear it. As I hinted before, as soon as I return to running, I will share The Secret of My Success.

In the meantime, I have been biking everywhere (or "everythere" as I just mistyped) and I've continued to scavenge, though not to the extent I do when afoot. I told you of the photo frames I found. A few of them I've refilled with my own art collection. (See below.)

Sidebar...

As I write I am filling the background with "Glee" Yes, I am a gleek (should that be capitalized?). At this very moment last year's Christmas special, a take-off of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." It is amazing. The music (from "The Island of Misfit Toys" to the "Whoville" chorus), the storyline, a Chrismas miracle (times three)... I gotta tell you, all you "Glee" haters out there don't know what you're missing. Check it out.

Resume...

Anyway, I was biking up Broad Street (or maybe I was still on Cherry) to pick up a graduation card (late!) for my Amazing Amanda (daughter No. 2) when I spy with my little eye a rectangle with jagged edges and writing on it. It's a cool wooden sign, about 4-by-10 inches, that reads "A REAL RIDER LIVES HERE." Being black with orange print, it is undoubtedly intended for a Harley owner. Perhaps it was ripped from its post by the high winds we've had periodically over the past week. Alas, I don't have a Harley or any motorcycle, but I do consider myself "a real rider." Heck, I'm more rider than runner. It IS who I am.

Ironically, or perchance just coincidentally, I next came upon... get this, you won't believe it ... a key to a ... wait for it ... a Harley-Davidson! (Carl Sandburg Drive, just east of Lincoln Park Drive, westbound lane.) It bears a four-digit number on one side. I'll have to check into whether that is an I.D. to the bike. If so, maybe it can be returned to the registered owner. I'll be making a trip to Nees Harley-Davidson tomorrow.

In one of the frames I've placed the bar band
poster I snagged from the front of the old
West Cinema in downtown Galesburg. It
reads: "The 1st and Last Annual Pageant of
Death." Gotta love it.

Finally, after a stop at Hy-Vee for the grad card and a perusal of the food stuff (didn't really need anything, so I didn't buy anything) I came across a kitchen towel in the middle of Henderson Street. (!?) I thought it was cloth of some sort when I first breezed past, but when it fluttered in the wind as I turned around I was momentarily disappointed to think maybe it was just a plastic bag. I completed my 360, however, and bent over the frame of the Jaguar (more on that tomorrow) and determined it was a nice kitchen towel. Why kitchen, you ask? Well, the print on it is a grape-and-leaf pattern. Not a dish towel, for drying the dishes (better to air dry anyway) but a hand towel for after the dishes are done.

I know plenty about doing dishes. I've done it professionally (or at least for pay -- WIU and Ponderosa) as well as at home and volunteer at church. I think I'm pretty good at it. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for the years of training (my parents didn't get a dishwasher until all three kids had moved out of the house). Coulda been worse: After my best friend (God rest his soul) and his sister left home, his parents put in a hot tub. Living only blocks from home still, I keep hoping my folks will eventually follow suit. Somehow I don't think it's likely.

Print brought back from
Sweden, 2004. Not sure
what it is. Need to work
on translation.

Today's Stats
Temp: 82 degrees F
Distance: 5.5 miles
Treasure: Kitchen Towel, grapes print; Harley-Davidson key; "A Real Rider Lives Here" wooden sign.

iPod Playlist (shuffle)Wonderful - Adam Ant

 When Love and Hate Collide - Def Leppard
If Ever I Lose My Faith in You (live) - Sting
A New Machine - Pink Floyd
State of the Union (Hidden Bonus Track) - Drywall
Moby Dick - Led Zeppelin
Reno - Bruce Springsteen
Black & White People
Don't Let It End - Styx
Take On Me - A-Ha
Shine (Re-Mix) - Newsboys
Her Diamonds (video) - Rob Thomas
Me and Howard Hughes - Boomtown Rats
Teenage Dream - Katy Perry
The Rain Song (live) - The Jason Bonham Band
On the Dark Side - John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band
Undun - Guess Who
Her Diamonds - Rob Thomas
Country Honk - The Rolling Stones

I think all of us on the Rotary District 6460
Group Study Exchange to Sweden, spring 2004,
bought a copy of this interesting poster.
It's an educational poster of the alphabet,
with pictures and words for each letter.
What made this one interesting, is the
illustration for "N." It shows a squatting
African tribesman with the word, "Niggern."
It struck us as odd, given Sweden's reputation
for liberal thought, tolerance and understanding.