“Tiptoe through the tulips, with me (ha, ha, ha, ha!)”

Okay, I’m not really insane like the singer of the (above) song was, but I did ride out to my parents’ house this weekend in honor of Mother’s Day. Despite the 15 mph headwind during the last 5 miles, it was a very pleasant ride overall on Amelia. (Oh, how she flies! I could ride all day with her.)

I managed to get out the door before 10 AM (which is great for me as of late) and rolled up and down those 17.5 miles in about 1 hour and 10 minutes. I decided to make lemonade out of the headwind lemons so I did a bunch of gear-changing in the biggest front cog. I pedaled 10 spins and would shift up. I did this until I ran out of gears. Then I’d shift down every 10 spins until I ran out of gears. I just kept doing this over and over for those last 5 miles. (Does this kind of “training” have a name?) All I know is that it really made the time go by quickly. It felt great because it made parts of the ride extremely easy and others quite challenging. Plus, it was exciting because you never really knew how it was going to be until you got there. I rather enjoyed that surprise element, really.

So, I spend the last mile going as fast as I could (on a slightly uphill flat). Winded, I pulled into my parents’ driveway and took in the sights.

My mom’s garden is breathtakingly beautiful. The roses glow as if lit from within; kissed by the sun are some, and tainted by blood are others. The colors on many are swirled and mixed together representing Earth’s own tie-dyes. The scent is … beyond explanation. It’s so decadent, it makes your head swim, drunk on the inhalations of sweetly perfumed nectars. I’m not kidding you. I was inhaling and sniffing the flowers so hard, I saw stars and moons. (Or maybe it was the 23.3 mph top speed I hit.)

Must take pictures, I thought. Unfortunately, I only had my crummy camera phone with me (as is the case most of the time). Therefore, all I got were crummy camera phone pictures.

And of course, there’s my mom’s wonderful doggies who greeted me. I just love those two!

After that, it was a day of laziness and luxury. Dad and I went back into town, we bought pizza for dinner so mom wouldn’t have to cook, my sister called, we sat around and talked and laughed and drank iced tea on the southside patio, then we ate chocolate chip cookies and watched TV until bedtime. (I know, my parent’s are wild and crazy! Phew!) All in all, my mom had fun and so did I. I’m sure going to miss her a lot someday.