if you find yourself with a handful of lemons... make some lemon margaritas!

if you find yourself with a handful of lemons...
make some lemon margaritas!


this morning came with the shocking cold of transition from summer to fall...
the afternoon may have the glow of Indian Summer
but the morning hit us with the hint of winter
no one wanted to get out of bed

even Momma Lisa was a little slow to crawl out from under the covers

one by one everyone fought to climb out from under the sanctuary of
the warm blankets
first lisa... then me... then brutus... then dean
then... grant
then grant climbed back in

the tactic of tickling and chasing him awake did in fact wake Grant up
but it failed to break his attachment to the warm bed
even awake he still wanted to be beneath the covers
so we fought
lisa and I fought with him
we fought and argued as we guided Dean to get ready and we got ready ourselves

brutus waited patiently for his morning walk

if you find yourself with a handful of lemons... make some lemon margaritas!

it was getting late

it was getting late slip late
there did not appear to be any chance to get Grant to agree to anything
somehow like Harry Houdini he was able to sneak out of the clothes that we forcibly put upon him
so it became deal time

Grant... if you get dressed I will take you to school on the trail-a-bike
hmmmm... rewarding him for his misbehavior?
well... that was not the intention
the desire was to free Lisa and Dean to evacuate so that Dean could be on time for school and Lisa could be on time for work
Grant accepted the deal and started to get dressed as I started to get the bike ready for a ride across town

the morning was cold
it was almost see your breath cold
long pants were a must
Grant refused the fleece over his sweat shirt
but the combination of the hooded sweatshirt hood under the helmet and the full finger gloves seemed to be
enough for the short cross town ride
after all... it is a brisk fall morning and not a frigid winter day

out to the back alley and on onto the bike
Grant and I pedaled our way through Mount Pleasant down to the back entrance of the National Zoo
I got out of the saddle I muscled my single speed mountain bike up this long slow hill
I beckoned for Grant to aid in the process
a glance at his long morning shadow showed that he was pedaling as well

up the hill through the zoo and then onto the sidewalk on the other side of the street
Wisconsin Avenue during rush hour is no place for a four year old on a trail-a-bike
the car drivers in this town have shown that they do not know how to behave
so we take to the sidewalk for a few city blocks

on the sidewalk and across the bridge that crosses over the post apocalyptic Klingle Valley and then back onto the street for another long slow slug up hill
not as steep as the cut through the zoo but equally as long
Grant and I worked together to climb up Macomb Street


as the cars pass dangerously fast and dangerously close I think about this SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL initiative
always falling back on the simple notion of COMMON SENSE AND COMMON COURTESY
if people only exhibited some common sense and common courtesy... well... so many issues would be resolved
but instead I am surrounded by IDIOTS AND ASSHOLES

people need to either accept being late or leave five minutes earlier
their mad dashes across town are insanely aggressive and nothing short of dangerous

as these cars pass dangerously fast and dangerously close I think about a few issues...

if parents drove more sensibly with their children in the car...
well... that would be a good percentage of their driving time where they were being obnoxious and less dangerous

if people drove through neighborhoods as they want people to drive through their neighborhoods...
hold on... if people drove through their own neighborhoods as they want people to drive through their neighborhoods... well... that would be a step towards making the roads a more civil place


the behavior of the parents dropping their kids off at school is chaotic

it is a little more anxiety and a little more tension than we all need when we start the day
if parents could at least obey the law when driving around schools... not just their own child's schools, but around all schools
that means... driving the speed limit... making complete stops at stop signs and stop lines, and yielding to pedestrians
man... that would really contribute to making the world a more civil place
in my youth I did not understand those SCHOOL ZONE signs... but now I do
I guess the other parents have yet to notice those signs with their flashing yellow lights

your cross town shortcut is another person's neighborhood
figure that out
speeding on the highway is different than speeding down a residential street
buzzing a human body is different than buzzing another car
somewhere I lost my point...


Grant and I arrived at his school
we got off the bike and entered his classroom
his mood had been altered
his hands and body were still a little cold
or perhaps this was a coy ploy to force me to stay a few minutes longer

I too had places to go
I still had to walk the dog before I left off for work
those tasks have now been done
time for me to focus on the tasks at work and start my day
coffee has been consumed
I am at work
time to enter work mode

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