A Monday Meander: Transitions

In a meadow.

If you can’t change everything all at once, then at least work on changing something each day.  Become aggressive in your battle with the ego. You probably don’t need all the things that it wants.  You need hope, discipline, creative expression, love, and serenity—these are the important things. Remember, when you are balanced, one stepping stone will lead you to the next.  But you will rarely see the whole journey or all the answers at once.

~Stuart Wilde

Over the bridge.

A couple of weeks ago, M and I took our bicycles to a local bike shop to have them cleaned and tuned up for the season.  We’re hoping we’ll get out and about on them a bit more this year than we did last year.  Or the year before, for that matter.  Given how flat it is here on the Eastern Shore, there is really no excuse for not getting out and about at least a few times a week.  The riding around here is pretty easy except on really windy days.  Nope, no excuse at all.

On the trail.

We took our first bike ride of the season when we were in Pennsylvania last weekend.  We rode on a small portion (about 5 miles) of the Northwest Lancaster County Rail Trail.  The part of the trail we took went from Marietta to Columbia, and is known as the Susquehanna Heritage Trail.  It runs through Chickies Rock County Park and crosses over the Susquehanna River.

Point Rock Tunnel, an old railroad tunnel.

The weather was, for me, perfect.  Cloudy and cool enough that we needed to wear jackets.  The ride took us through some beautiful scenery.  I opted not to bring the good camera along on this trip so the photos were all taken with my phone.  To be honest, I was regretting the lack of the good camera from the very beginning of the trip when we parked the car near a meadow where there were poppies and other wildflowers growing.  Because it was a cloudy day, the colors really popped (as you can probably tell from the photo at the top of this post).

On the rocks.

The greenery was quite beautiful, too.

On the rocks 2.

There were quite a few young folks rock climbing.  I stopped at one point to take a picture of the rocks and a couple who are about my age jokingly offered to take my picture if I wanted to give the rock climbing a try.  It looked tempting, but I don’t know the first thing about rock climbing and certainly wasn’t equipped for it.  It’s one of those things I think I’d like to try someday.

Every now and then I had the trail all to myself.

While we continue on the bike ride via the photos, I will tell you about the transition I had in mind when I titled this post.  I’ve been sick a lot this year and with all the traveling, have not been taking very good care of myself.  My diet has been atrocious.  I’ve been indulging in a lot of sugary foods, a lot of salty (and processed) foods, and maybe a wee bit too much beer (I’m looking at you, Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA).  My body has made it clear that she would love more exercise, too.

Old stone wall. Henry Clay Furnace (built here in 1845).

I’m going to take the next few weeks or so to transition to a macrobiotic diet.  My past experiences with a macrobiotic diet have been good, and it always seems to do the trick when it comes to resetting my system and my health.

Forest bathing.

I won’t be going too strict or all-out.  This week I’m eliminating sugar, alcohol, and processed foods.  With all the fresh vegetables currently available at our farmers market, it’s not going to be too tough to do.  I love the fresh foods this time of year which means this won’t be a great hardship, and I won’t be feeling deprived.  I suspect I’ll be feeling much better by the end of the week.  Next week I’ll eliminate the white foods, and be sure to get more whole grains back into my diet.  Dairy needs to go, too, but that will have to wait.  There is some more travel in my future and that means doing the best I can with the food available while I’m on the road and spending time Elsewhere.

Overhang.

I reckon that’s about it for today’s meander.  Thanks for visiting and meandering with me.  It looks like the clouds are clearing.  Let’s go out to the Point for sunset.  It’s scheduled for 8:18 PM.  Maybe some of the clouds will continue to hang around to add some interest to the sunset show.

Be good, be kind, be loving.  Just Be.  🙂

Another look at the poppies on our way out.

A few of the 10,000 reasons to be happy:  201)  This morning’s bicycle ride to the river.  202)  The Bobwhites calling to each other.  203)  Turtles, crossing the road and arriving safely at their destination.  204)  Fresh greens at the farmers market.  205)  And baby bok choy!  Yum.