Scattered

Like my brain. My thoughts. My whole world.
I cannot pull it together into something cohesive.

So without any structure, here is what has been happening:

Northern lights. The Aurora showed up again, one late, dark evening, barely visible to the naked eye, but upon capturing it on camera, it was like a secret show.

I took the kids to the pumpkin patch last weekend. They had sunflowers, nearing the end of their season, but it was our last truly warm day and I love when the sky looks so big.

I went to ride bikes with friends. It’s mushroom foraging season. I just liked how cute these ones were, but we found a big pine mushroom that we plucked and put in a pack for later.

These are my bike/mushroom-hunter friends. To say we got distracted was an understatement. I really wanted to ride more. But here they are. Not on bikes. Looking for fungus.

I got my nails done the same colour as my bike grips. Which is to say black with sparkles. Because it makes me happy when I think about my bike.

And this, because you asked, is Skully. He has lost his mandible, because when you’re dead you don’t really need it. No regrets. Every time I see him I smile.

Work has been mentally all-consuming.
The weather has gone cold, the bike park is closed (though I got pretty good closing weekend laps in with a bunch of boys I hardly knew, but they rode all the techy stuff I love), and many of my bike friends are off to less depressing climes as our little pocket of Canada has properly settled in the rainy/cold season. This weekend, an “atmospheric river” has been forecast.

I’m currently on a mission to find a really cool leather motorcycle jacket. Just because. It’s a nice distraction from work. And I am deluded enough to think that I’ll have places to go where I can wear it and it will be a statement piece. I’ve been a little obsessed with finding a vintage Schott Perfecto jacket.

A friend came by to see if he could sort out my smoke alarm that had been chirping at me. I borrowed his extendable ladder to reach the 14 foot ceiling, and after changing the battery, it continued to chirp. The first thing he did? Lick the 9V battery. And lick the other alternates I’d put out and tried as well. I stare at him blankly.
“What, you’ve never licked a battery before??” he asks incredulously.
No… I have never had the inclination. What does it feel like?
“Try it. It’s like a little tingle.”
Well, no, because you’ve just licked all the batteries I’ve laid out.
“Oh. Well, I’m not sick or anything.”
End result: I have not licked any batteries, and I have ordered a new smoke detector after he checked all the wiring and stuff and determined that the detector is almost 10 years old so we’re due for a replacement anyway. He’s a home inspector/helicopter mechanic when he’s being a grownup, so not random advice, but … who knows if licking batteries has any detrimental effects?

I bought my son a used dirt jumper and I can’t wait to hit the dirt jumps and pump track with him next summer!

Tomorrow I am presenting a round table discussion for a rural medicine conference. Am I ready? No. But I have nice nails.