Time to revive this blog and let it evolve

I think it is time to revive this blog and maybe evolve it a bit.  I have gone through a lot of change since I last posted and I can smell more change in the air (you will have to wait for later posts to see how this next chapter plays out).

Later this year will mark ten years since I bought my Razor scooter.  The logos are all worn off.  The tires are quite bald.  The handlebars are currently a bit crooked - I should get out a wrench and try to fix that this weekend.  But my scooter has been my biggest constant over the past ten years and it still brings me such great joy as the wind flows through my hair on my daily commute.  If I stand on my tip-toes and throw my head back as I coast down a hill, I feel like I'm flying and barely even connected the ground.

Is it weird that as a 44 year old woman, I still cling to this childhood pursuit?  Scratch that question - I don't care.  It is a part of who I am.  And I'm going to enjoy it for as long as my balance holds strong and I have a commute where it makes sense.

I was 34 when this all started.  That seems a lifetime ago.  Since then, I've sold a house, moved over 700 miles away for warmer weather, survived two lengthy government shutdowns and COVID, and got divorced.  That last one still sits a little heavy.  I never expected that after 19 years, my now ex-husband would without warning or explanation throw the towel in.  But oh, how it was a blessing in disguise!  My life has done nothing but improve since the separation.

I still live in Birmingham.  I stayed in the same apartment complex although moved into a small studio that felt too small in the beginning but turned out to be absolutely perfect.  All my belongings have their place and it is so easy to clean.  My scooter has its place under my bed when I'm not out riding it.  Plus, I get to listen to the local music acts that play at the brewery next door and watch the trains that go by all day.  

I've really leaned into a more sustainable life with a smaller carbon-footprint.  That obviously started before the divorce when we chose to live downtown upon moving south.  Ever since moving here in 2019, I've prioritized walking and scootering for work, church, doctors, etc.  Since the divorce, I've also started doing all of my grocery shopping by walking the mile to the downtown grocery store (with a cart) and I've explored so many entertainment, eating, and drinking opportunities within my mile and a half walking distance.  Who knew that even a city like Birmingham could be walkable with a little effort?

I've switched to an electric car that I only drive every 4-6 weeks.  And I've planned travel that allowed me to leave on foot from my apartment to the local Amtrak station or to catch a shuttle to the Atlanta airport.

So as I revive this blog, I plan to not only share scooter stories but also stories about what it is like to live in a walkable community now as a single individual.

I forded a river today.

Towards the end of my day I chatted with a colleague in her office when we noticed the clouds darken the sky.  The question wasn't whether it would rain but when.  My colleague looked down at my practical sandals and then at her leather wedge sandals.  She remarked that clearly I was ready and she was not as she pondered whether she dared make the run to her car barefoot.

I returned to my office to log off and pack up my work laptop.  Fortunately, I keep a poncho in the backpack that I use for my laptop so that I always have one on days like this.

I carried my scooter, poncho, and backpack down the stairs to the ground floor where I unfolded the scooter and donned the poncho.  I can only imagine what a sight I was to see as I passed an attorney from my office on my way out the door.  

Through the streets of my city, I navigated puddles, traffic, and the occasional pedestrian.  When I arrived at my favorite park, the place was so empty the two resident ducks were exploring the usually very busy path now filled with puddles to play in.  They were surprised to watch me zip by.  

The rain had gotten even heavier by now.  Puddles were getting harder and harder to avoid.  My scooter momentarily slipped on some wood boards of a path, nicking me in the ankle as I clumsily stepped off - one of the hazards of riding a scooter.

Then I reached the final block which had a river running down the middle of the road.  There was no way to avoid this puddle so I forded through it, feeling the entire board of my scooter get fully submersed at times until I reached higher ground.

I admit, I smiled throughout the entire journey as the rain washed over me, refreshing me, and cooling me after days of weather that at times reached triple digits.

I reached the main building of my apartment complex.  As I stood under an overhang, I folded up my scooter and then took off my poncho and shook off as much rain as I could.  Aside from my bangs and my legs/feet, I had actually stayed pretty dry.

I entered the building to see the eyes of the office staff on me.  "I don't mind the rain.  I don't melt." I said before continuing on to pick up the mail and head to my apartment.

It's been a while.....

Aside from a post a couple of days ago, you may have noticed a several year gap in posts.  I just thought I would briefly catch you up to what I have been up to.

Sometime in early 2019, I let the scooter gather some dust.  My commute was only 7 blocks, hampered by a lot of uneven sidewalks that took some focus to navigate, and I wanted to slow down even further.  You notice more scootering than you do driving but you notice even more if you start walking.  I got to know the faces of the people that I saw day in and day out.  I learned the schedule of the flowering trees each February and then again in the ones that flower in the summer.  I paid closer attention to the songs of the birds and the occasional lizard scurrying into the bushes.  And since it was only a 12 minute walk, it was still short enough to come home for lunches.  

And then in 2020, it was if the world stopped with the arrival of the coronavirus.  In mid March of 2020, my employer scrambled to make sure everyone had laptops and sent us home to telework.  There were so many advantages we learned from teleworking but it didn't come without some challenges.  The first challenge was our 1 bedroom apartment where the desk where my husband worked physically touched the kitchen table where I worked.  We solved that problem by upgrading to a 2 bedroom apartment with a loft in May of 2021 in the same building.  The other challenges related to the technology we had would somewhat improve over time until we got into a good routine.  During this time, weeks and even sometimes months filled the gaps between my stops in the office which were never more than an hour or two at a time.

Then in late April 2022, over two years since we were sent home, my employer called us all back.  The scooter was still gathering dust at this point as I returned to walking back and forth to work.  My husband's work had not yet called him back so he continued to telework every day for a number of months after that.

Even before the start of the pandemic, our apartment complex had started to rotate through office staff a little too often and that just accelerated with the pandemic when they left some positions unfilled.  The building went on slow decline which for us culminated in having to spend the 2022 Christmas weekend in a hotel because our apartment temperature was in the 40s and management did very little to address what caused that.  So after the first of the year in 2023, we started the apartment hunt.  A number of brand new buildings had opened in the last couple years or were opening soon.

In March of 2023, we moved in to a new apartment in a newer building  This new place is now just about a mile away from work.  It is definitely still walkable and when my husband and I go in together, we do walk.  But the route we take includes almost half a mile through a wonderful park with a paved path plus a couple blocks of a bike lane on the street.  So there aren't as many broken sidewalks to navigate.  And those extra few blocks turned a 12 minute walk into over a 20 minute walk.  So I have dusted off the scooter and ride it to the office usually two days a week plus one evening a week to choir practice.

Stormy days

 One risk of commuting by scooter (or on foot) is the uncertainty of the weather.  In the last hour of my work day, the skies darkened as strong storms approached.  A severe thunderstorm warning was issued and a chorus of thunder sounded between lightening strikes.  I did wonder whether it would pass by the time I was ready to go home.  

Fortunately, the rain had turned to a drizzle and the lightening was in the far distance as I stepped outside onto the sidewalk outside my office.  I swerved around the deepest puddles as my made my way towards the local park that was on my route.  Usually this is a park full of people - dog walkers, runners, children playing, people lounging on a blanket in the grass listening to a guitar player, etc.  Today, it was empty, eerily empty.  I paused as I saw the young yellow-crowned night heron sitting in his favorite tree.  I'm sure he was enjoying the quiet.  Then paused even longer as one of the resident ducks swam towards where I stood, looking for food that I didn't have.  And then I continued on my way.

Update

We have had a rainy winter so far here in Birmingham (it is pouring as I write this post and a mild 64*F - crazy for January!).  This has put a bit of a damper on my normal scooter ride in each day. 

But what has put an even bigger damper on my daily scooter rides is this government shutdown.  My husband is furloughed and his days at home are long so he walks me to work each morning and walks me back to work after I come home for lunch.  And I go into work day after day not knowing when I will get paid for the work I am doing.

So I don't have any new stories or scooter experiences to share.  And my scooter spends most days sitting on our patio unused (although I did get it out a time or two before Christmas after I had decked it out with battery operated Christmas lights).  Hopefully the weather and our situation will improve soon so I can be back out soaring down the sidewalks of our new town.

Check out this YouTube Video

My husband found this YouTube video and I just had to share it with you all (or should I say "all y'all").

You can't beat the commute, and the weather!

I get an extra hour of sleep every morning.  The sun is high in the sky when I step out of the stairwell with my scooter in hand.  And even on the coldest mornings right now, I don't need anything more than my fleece to keep me warm.   My ride to the office takes me less than five minutes, over mostly flat ground.  Every day I marvel at the water fountain in the last block of my ride home that is still running in mid-November.  My only concern is that on some blocks the sidewalk is missing, but that can be easily avoided, if I could only remember which side of the street and what blocks are affected....

Scootering in Birmingham

Last night I packed my backpack with stuff for my new office in anticipation of riding my scooter in the morning.  I woke this morning and the first thing I did was check the weather on my phone.  I was a bit dismayed to see "light snow".  It is November in Birmingham, Alabama!  They aren't supposed to get snow this early (some years not at all)!  Plus that would mean the sidewalks would likely be wet. 

Then my husband went down to our workout room and forgot his key so I had to meet him at the elevator so I took advantage of that moment to poke my head out the railing at the end of our hall.  (It's kind of weird having open air halls.)  The walks only looked damp and so I figured 50 minutes would give them enough time to dry a little more.  It was cold though! 

So I finished my breakfast, made my mug of mocha and grabbed my scooter.  The wind was bitter and the nylons I wore didn't do nearly enough to keep my legs warm but I kicked on as I soared down the city streets.  I made it to work in record time (less than 5 minutes) and was at my desk with time to spare.

I think this is going to be a very nice commute....

A Change of Pace

I know it has been a while since I last posted, although it really doesn’t seem that long ago. I haven’t scootered as much these past couple of months. Mostly because my husband started commuting with me quite regularly and he doesn’t scooter. So we usually walk to the nearest bus or when the weather is bad or we are pressed for time, we drive to the park and ride.  It’s been nice commuting with him but I do miss my morning scooter ride.

Soon all this will be changing and I hope to have new experiences to write about. I have accepted a job in Birmingham, Alabama and we will be renting an apartment less than a mile from my work, perfect scooter or walking distance.  It will be fun experiencing a new city and a new lifestyle (downtown apartment compared to the house in the suburbs we live in now). And no longer will snow get in the way of my scooter rides!

Stay tuned for what is to come next. 

June is the Month of the Deer

The deer have been especially active this month and seem to be less afraid of people than I’ve noticed before.

It all started with a deer running down the street that is closed because the bridge is out...  My husband and I were out for an evening walk on June 2nd to check out the progress on the bridge. 

Then on my scooter ride to the bus stop on June 4th, four deer were playing in an open field right near where I wait for the bus. 

Next, on my scooter ride home on Tuesday, a deer waited for me at the edge of the path, only a wooden fence between us. As soon as I came by he decided to get up and find some dinner. 

Finally, yesterday morning my husband and I met the most fearless deer so far on our walk to the bus stop. This one didn’t even flinch when a dog barked at it. Nor was it concerned with the multiple people in close proximity. 

Each time it has been amazing watching the deer so at home in our world. 

On another note, our walk home from the bus last night brought us through what appeared to be falling snow, a strange sight for June in Wisconsin. 

Of course it wasn’t really snow, just cottonwood trees shedding their seeds.