~~ I think somewhere back in, ohh, say, 2003, I

started to ask tom if I could get a bicycle...nothing fancy, just a basic sorta thing that could get me around the neighborhood fairly safe. Nothing that would attract too many glares, stares, yellin' or whatever.


Then, one day about a year ago, after we moved here to the little cabin by the Sea..Tom & Noah went into the "City" to check out what they'd been told, was the local bicycle shop. BUT -- with tears in their eyes, and vowedto come back someday...Mainly because the shop was closed for some indefinite amount of time.

HOW-EVAH -- this last weekend, we were out on the "Town", doin' some Junkin', an' sniffin' around the thrift stores, and seein' what there was -- an' I FINALLY put my foot down an' said, "I WANT to GO TO THE BICYCLE SHOP!!" Tom started to mumble, an' I think I threatened something or another, an' tom finally relented. Noah was in the front passenger seat, sayin' NEGATIVE things, like, "Ohhh..you'll never be able to find anything..you just don' have enuf money.."


Real Good Vibes comin' from the front of the car...(an there I am in the back all smooshed up...)

So -- we find the shop, and LO!! -- There in The Light...the SHOP IS OPEN!!

Batches of Bicycles were out on the front sidewalk..some were "FREE!!" to a good home (teeny little childrens bicycles...which I never knew were even made THAT tiny..) -- and inside were every kind of old, antique and patched together bicycle(S) that could ever be. What the owner does, is basically put together pieces and parts of old bikes, clean 'em up, and send 'em on their way. We saw a few that could have been ok, but the owner was only going to be in town for 'bout a week, as he & his wife have to go see family in the Mid-West this next week..


So, we looked high & Lo -- and had Discussions...an' finally the owner sez, "WAIT!! -- Hold on a minute!! - I got a bike right out here just for you!!"


Almost sounded like a Used Car Salesman for a minute, which Put The Fear in me, of gettin' something horrid...


But -- HE WAS RIGHT --- and the little picture you see is the "New" (to me) bicycle I got, for the grand total of $44.00 -- Not $45, 0r $50...$44..Ok.


Tom & the owner an' Noah got it stuffed in the back of the Honda Car (With me in the back seat, too...) an' off we went joyfully and full of Gladness. Well --- at least I was full of gladness..


The bike rides like a dream -- pretty smooth, considering it's probably an early 70's bike -- Tom replaced the original seat, which was a little tough to take (no padding..ouch..) so that's all the fixin' it's gotten. I'm doin' little 10 minute trips on some of the streets along the water, an' within the next couple weeks hope to increase my time to about 25 minutes. That way, with walking Little Miss Muffett in the mornings, and sometimes the afternoons, and then riding the bike twice a day, that should bring my weight down, an' by the time I need to go back to the Dr. for my check-up in Oct., I'll have my BAD cholestrol lowered even more.

At least, tha's the thought.


But the bike is pretty cool, don' ya think??!!


Lady of The Tulips