Happy Friday

The week has slipped by, although maybe "floated" would by a better verb...it's been a little rainy here. I realize this all times of the day, when I'm having to turn lights on in the apartment as morning progresses because the dark clouds are lowering more and I can't see inside; when I awake in the middle of the night and hear the rain either lashing against the windows or else the continual patter of lots of water being added to the great deal of water that's already on the ground; when I'm on my bicycle and wearing full rain gear and the wind is not only blowing the rain in my eyes, making it difficult to see, but also acting like a large hand pushing against me as I try to get from place to place.

Because, yes, I'm sticking to my commitment and have been biking like a maniac all week. Now I'm wondering what was so bad about getting on the bike when it was simply really cold - at least then I didn' t have to kit up in rain gear and arrive dripping at my destination! Today was ride Maroz day and the ride down was very wet, but I was happy to be going and the reward of Maroz's happy neigh when he sees me always erases any problems I had getting there. Yesterday, I not only thumbed my nose at the weather and went for a run in the morning, but also biked to The Hague on an errand. Mind you, when I returned home, I was so drained I didn't get much else done, but I had the justifiable pride of being weary as a result of honest hard work.

There was no running today as my legs get enough of a workout riding Maroz, but I intend to be out again tomorrow. Mike will probably come with me, he's wanting to participate in a 1/2 marathon in March and needs to work on his conditioning. The cats will almost certainly stay home and look at us groggily when we return, having not moved AT ALL the entire time we're gone. As I've said, the life of a cat is not a bad thing!

We didn't get down for any movies this week, we intended to go last night, but I was tired and also cozy by this point and it was really pouring rain, so we elected to stay home and watch TV instead. We are finishing the final season of the West Wing and so tucked away a couple episodes (we own the series) before my BBC cookery show came on: Masterchef, followed by another BBC 'lifestyle' show called Victorian Farm. The latter has only started in the past month and shows the trials and tribulations of running a farm using only Victorian methods. It's fascinating because the three main characters are living this way for an entire year, right down to the clothes they wear, the lack of electricity, and the serious amount of elbow grease required for the most trivial (for us) of tasks. Interesting stuff and makes me start to question some of the ways I do things. I always appreciate the gentle jostle of something like this allowing me to see from a new perspective and to make decisions as to how I want to continue doing certain tasks. Too bad the show is only on once a week, I could do with more jostling!

I just looked out the window and saw some folks walking by, heads bowed, umbrella braced before them so as not to be blown inside out (a very real concern here) and the bare, brown branches of the trees waving; I'm glad I'm inside!