The Graveyard of Blog Posts

The wonderful thing about writing a blog, at least the way I do it, is that I have no deadlines and I'm not obliged to write to keep food on the table. Thinking that some of you might be interested in our cycling trip to Holland and Belgium, I tried three times to write a post about one aspect of another of the holiday. No go. One sounded extremely whiny and nobody wants to read that. Besides, I enjoyed the trip overall and whining about bits of it would give the wrong impression. The two posts were just plain tedious and if they're tedious to me why would anyone else would want to read them? It was tempting to get something posted because I'm behind on the self-imposed number of posts this year but all the writing felt awkward and uncomfortable so I decided it was better say nothing.

I'm not sure why it's so hard to write about holidays. When I try to cover what we did and where we went it ends up sounding about as interesting as a shopping list. Maybe it's because I spend a lot of time in my head and when I'm seeing so much that is new I'm busy taking it all in rather than thinking about it. Even the funny or dramatic incidents sound trite when I try to capture them in words. So where does this leave me? I don't think I'm going to be writing about the trip in the near future and I know some of you would be interested in it. I have put together a photo album with captions and, if you like, you can go to this address and take a look. https://photos.app.goo.gl/zpcO7M4mSlrimiL83 

Apologies to those of you who have already seen this album. As I have time to recall bits and pieces of the trip something blog-worthy may come up and if it does I'll follow the lead. This tiny dilemma has reminded me to stop, take a breath and ask 'why am I doing this?' It has also helped me to realize that I want to offer something to think about in this space. It feels good to have discovered and articulated that.

Thanks for reading this. I appreciate your support.

Side note: I wrote this is a word processing program and pasted in the text rather than working directly in blogger. The text is too crowded but I'll leave it for now and experiment with other possibilities in the future.

Weird and wonderful bicycles

A bike that can walk!

After supper in Cuijk, Marijka, our guide, announced that she was going to take us on a walk to see some bicycles.  I was feeling lazy and didn't think I really needed to see any more bicycles but decided to go along. As we walked she told us the story of how she had met the maker of these bikes.  She was walking one night and came upon a huge bicycle in front of his house.  He was in the yard and she stopped to talk. He invited her into his back garden to see some of his other bikes. She was captivated and, as she prepared to leave, she asked if she could bring some of her tour participants by the next day. He agreed and his garden has been a stop on her tours ever since.

Within moments of entering his back garden, everyone was smiling and the braver of us were trying out the bikes. I think the one with the wooden shoes was my favourite. As the rider pedals the feet walk forward providing a rather slow and bumpy ride.

The saddle-testing bike

Sometimes it's hard to choose a saddle.  No problem try one and if you don't like it just rotate it out of the way and try another one.







Got a set of long horns? Use them as handlebars.

Richard trying out the longhorn bike.

I'm not exactly sure what this one was.

Glenn, part of the small Canadian contingent, checking out a cruiser.

I'm very glad I decided to go on the walk. The bikes and the photos of them provide me with a long-lasting gift of whimsy.