Inspiration

A few weeks ago while looking back at some of my older posts - the Chilly Hilly, Here Comes the Sun, Still Life with Pumpkins, the Coast of Bohemia - I began to feel I had lost my inspiration, just wearing a groove in the bike lanes on Northwest Road riding to and from work. Then last week I lost my job. My job was not inspirational, so now I am free to find joy in recreational cycling while looking for another source of income (besides unemployment compensation).


Funny, but the first thing I missed about work was the tip jar. Our tips were lousy, at many places one table would pay as much as I'd get in a day, but often my tips added a dollar or two an hour to my wage, and I needed it. Soft drinks and bottled water cost $2.98 including tax, or $5.97 for two bottles (airport prices), so most of my tips came in two or three cents at a time - it would hurt if pennies were abolished. Sometimes I made a game of psyching out customers, trying to coax them to drop some coins, or even a dollar bill, into my jar. The Canadian coins I had saved up were good for pocket money on my little trip to Vancouver. The rest I saved in a special slush fund - I call it my travel fund, or my college fund. Now it's my Plan B fall-back fund.

Winter storm damage

It's still too early to say we've had a mild winter, but it looks as if the little bit of snow we had on one or two days might be all we get this year. The weather is still raw and wild, stormy in the morning and sunny in the afternoon. I've been resting a lot, but today I got out for a ride to Cherry Point.

I hate the sight of that blue tape