Hello, everyone, and I hope you all are well. I’m still on vacation from my day job (yea!), but I’ve returned from my out-of-town trips and am slowly dipping my toes into the warm waters of the blogosphere. My first order of business after publishing this post will be to respond to the many comments I’ve received as well as to catch up with as many blogs as I can.
I do want to tell you that we had a lot of fun on our trips. First, we visited my mom and oldest sister in Saint Petersburg (FL) and took them on a day trip to visit with my aunt and her daughter. For context, my mom is 90 and her sister is 89. My aunt thinks the world of my husband for being willing to participate in these “old lady” meetups. My husband and I also did a few odd jobs for my mom which both surprised and delighted her, not an easy thing to do :) The trip was fun but exhausting as we had to drive A LOT and Florida traffic is never any fun to drive in.
The 2nd trip was to a bed-and-breakfast cottage in Gainesville, home of my husband’s alma mater. We ate too much but made up for that with a 30-mile bike ride on the Gainesville-Hawthorne bike trail. For context, I hadn’t been on my Raleigh hybrid in a couple of years. I thank my yoga practice for giving the strength and humility to get off and walk my bike when my thighs were about to burst into flames, rather than try to be the “superior woman” my husband thinks I am. In spite of the pain I was left with for a couple of days, the ride was worth it. The trail is beautiful, the temperatures were mild, and I got the pleasure of seeing this little critter:
Marie at 1 Write Way 
23 responses to “Still on Hiatus … Sort Of”
Welcome back. Sounds like you had a great time. Funny thing about the bike too.
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Yes, it’s funny now, but really wasn’t funny at the time ;) I told my husband later that we should have gotten the cottage with the jacuzzi ;)
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Always a good idea when you plan on pushing your muscles. :D
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Hi Marie! It sounds as though you had a great trip. I’m happy you were able to see your family. I’m impressed…30 miles on your bike! Wow…I’d be walking like I just rode 100 miles horseback. :) Enjoy the rest of your time off from work. Oh, I love turtles!
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Hi, Jill! You know, I almost didn’t make the bike ride because I couldn’t balance right away. My husband is very patient. He would have made the trip in half the time if I hadn’t been with him ;)
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I’m sure he was more than happy to “wait up” for you! :)
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As long as he gets some kind of work out, he’s willing to wait on me. He’s been a cyclist for decades, and he loves to ride hard :)
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Sounds like much fun. 30 miles WOW! Impressed :) I could have shown you a box turtle much closer though. Just sayin.
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Thanks, Susan :) Yeah, I really didn’t need to go on a long bike ride just to see that gopher tortoise, but it was the highlight of my ride ;) Box turtles are so cute! I see them around here sometimes.
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Welcome back, Marie – so glad you had fun on your trips! That turtle was adorable (never thought I’d say that about a turtle) – and boy, did he scurry right along!
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Hi, Katie! Yes, he was faster than I thought a turtle could be. Poor guy … I think he was scared of me ;)
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I know the pain of bike seats…
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And I was wearing a fairly thick chamois liner too ;(
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Glad you had fun. Longing for a holiday myself. I’ll ride miles on a bike as a trade off :-)
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Thanks, Jackie! I hope you get to have a holiday soon!
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Did you try to race the tortoise? Welcome back to your blog family:)
Ellespeth
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Ha ha ha :) That little guy was going pretty fast but I guess he was afraid of me ;(
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Lucky lady! That’s great of your husband, btw!
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I do feel very lucky, Luanne. Although it is a lot of driving, it is so worth it to see my mom and her sister together. They come from a family of 12 children and only 6 are still alive. Except for my aunt, everyone lives in upstate NY (my mom just comes down during the winter to stay with my oldest sister). Anyway, I am forever grateful that my husband enjoys bringing the old ladies together :)
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He must appreciate that they can still all get together and enjoy life together! xo
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Indeed he does :) xo
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Welcome back. Glad you had a good time. Bike is the way to go. You get a workout and see stuff. I do only eight miles three times a week, but really enjoy it. Thanks for the update on your trip. You guys are saints.
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Hey, John, 8 miles is more my speed (pun intended). But my husband is hard rider from way back so, if we go together, the rides are long ;)
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