And We All Go Marching Along

No quotes, just the stage winners of the Tour de France, a little pencil sketch of a sweater chest. and one of those awesome maps from Smithsonian magazine.


The quote: "Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, 'Where have I gone wrong?' Then a voice says to me, 'This is going to take more than one night.'" —Charles M. Schulz via Charlie Brown

Having had a few sleepless nights lately, I can empathize.


The quotes: "Action is at bottom a swinging and flailing of the arms to regain one's balance and keep afloat." —Eric Hoffer (1902-1983)

He carefully avoids mentioning that sometimes no matter how much swinging and flailing you do, you might not stay afloat. That was probably a little too glass-half-empty for him, and far less funny.

The other quote: "Let us go singing as far as we go, the road will be less tedius." —Virgil (70-19 BC)

I suppose that depends on the quality of the singer's voice. Perhaps whistling is the better option? Just a thought.

Trees in sketch inspired by them thar funny ones they got linin' the sidea the road in France.


No quotes on this spread, just some rides. Every now and then I hop on my mountain bike and have a rejuvenating bike ride. You might remember the variety from your childhood. You're tooling along the bike path and a ferret crosses the path (which one really did on Saturday), so you hop off your bike and watch it run away, stop, look at you while you look at it. Then you get back on your bike and have a go-slow test—you see how slow you can ride before you fall over. Then you take a trail you've never taken. Then you stop to eat a granola bar as you sit by a lake and sketch—the sun beating down and the wind blowing the pages of your sketchbook. Then you get back on you bike, stop to fill up the water bottle and squirt some over your head. You stop along the way whenever a butterfly catches your attention, or at the top of a bridge over the river, or in a particularly appealing bit of shade.

It's a far different experience than taking a road bike out, watching the miles tick by as you regulate your effort and deal with drivers. It's been my experience that butterflies are far less confrontational than drivers. Ferrets aren't confrontational either...in case you were wondering.



If you were sitting where I was in Independence Grove, you'd notice that I'd forced the perspective a bit in order to get the bridge into the picture on the far left side. But you weren't sitting there, so I guess I need not have told you. Ah well, a secret given away is one that doesn't need to be kept.

Thanks for reading.