Riding the dash – re-set 04.07.2020
Today was another day of attempting to look after myself and do things that make my soul sing.
It’s been a week – computer issues at work, significant workload that will continue at current volume until mid-August with some weekend days to be worked as well (including tomorrow) and a little moment of colliding with the floor which resulted in a bruised ego and some impressive temporary re-colouring of a few locations on my body. That particular incident was the almighty re-set that I needed as the walk through the mountains last Friday didn’t quite do enough – it was interrupted with a call from my assistant who considered that she had sorted everything, even though sorting everything required a call to interrupt my re-scheduled Sunday. So, grumble over, Wednesday morning saw the re-set and the revision to pace.
Friday night was about good friends and a new place to dine – Smokey Moo after a beverage at the Defiant Duck. Sometimes, this is a short term way of assisting in winding down before you are able to put into place the things that help your heart sing. This pair of mischief, a seemingly mismatched couple, have no idea just what they mean to us – thank you for being a part of our escapades.
During the week we had also welcomed a new addition to the family – the lovely leather chair in which I am perched as I write this. A chair for reading, thinking, writing and simply being. A place where I can reflect on the simply beautiful misty morning that rounded out the working week as I traveled to work by public transport so we could enjoy the aforementioned beverage (or two…)
Today covered new roads for us with some new friends. The thing I like about riding with the people we do is that they are interested and curious, they have a sense of adventure. There were twisty roads, some gravel and some truly majestic scenery.
Together with this, riding means you have the immediacy of smell: the cattle truck ahead, the fertiliser truck, the freshly turned rich brown earth, the slowly rotting vegetation from a harvested field, the bitumen. It is also about the wind, who today brought along friends flurry, gust and squall just for good measure – and a huge dose of laziness, tearing straight through us and pushing us around like there was no tomorrow. The sunshine was spectacular, no sign of rain, lots of vitamin D, a warmth when out of the lazy wind and a cleansing of spirit.
It was an interesting feeling to have one leg cool because that side of the body was on the shaded side, the other side was comfortably warm counteracting the wind.
The sounds of birds, the beautiful warble of magpie and the screeching of black cockatoo is gorgeous. It is something else to see the birds glide on the air currents, with no apparent effort. It sometimes makes you wonder what it would be like to be so seemingly carefree.
One thing that dose amuse me is the wonderful variety and imagination behind the letter boxes. It is difficult to take photos of these because no sooner do you see them and you are past them. You simply have to go for a drive and keep your eyes open – a small helicopter, a mosaic creation etc to the mundane Bunnings sold letter box of the cut down 20lt liquid container or microwave.
So, hopefully, today has really helped to reset the 6-day week that is about to descend and will be wrapped up with a night of glamping. We enjoyed some pretty good tucker at Fernvale Bakery Café and The Floating Café at Grantham. We traveled from south side of Brisbane to Fernvale to Gatton to Glen Rock Camp Site to Grantham, Fernvale and home. We covered about 330km, supported local small business and enjoyed the freedom that being on a motorbike brings. A special thank you to our trusty ride leaders Bridget and Alan of Throw Your Leg Over and to my ever-patient partner in mischief. We hope you enjoy the ramblings and the photos and if they plant a seed for a little exploration of you own, our task is done and we hope you enjoy the majesty of this gorgeous land. The colours are something else, the ranges, the valleys and everything in between are spectacular.
