My Betty Foy and my Charlie Brown tree.

[Bicycle Belle Ding Ding!]

On my way home from the boys’ school, I stopped to take these photos. This is my Betty Foy and my Charlie Brown tree. Every year I wait for this spindly little tree to turn a violent shade of red and take my breath away. I’m living in exile out here in the desert, so I have to take what I can get, and while some of you are surrounded by canopies of red and gold and orange, this is what I have. Don’t take this from me! 😂 

We’ve been biking to the schools my boys have attended here since 2013, and this will be the last year I’ll be able to pull it off. Next year #theclemrider starts high school, and the school is triple the distance we currently commute. I summoned Google to make me a bike route 2 weeks ago, hoping somehow to make it work, and set off on my Clementine. I rode it unladen, and without the boys and it was miserable. Too much elevation change, too many rushed car commuters, and too many dangerous sections. I really can’t see how we’d do it with all the stuff we carry. I have no desire to ride that route again, and that’s saying something because I bike a lot of unreasonable routes. 

I’m grateful for the years we’ve had riding together, but I’m also grieving them. I love that the boys are growing and maturing but it comes at a high price. So, to those of you who get to bike to school with your kids, love every day of it. Pick out your favorite trees. Talk about everything with your kids. Have inside jokes. Make up stories about the characters in your neighborhood. Notice things the car folks miss. 

And, take pictures of your Charlie Brown trees.

Leah

[Eric Norris]

There are a few Ginkgo trees in our neighborhood that are due to change colors very soon. Here’s one of my favorites from last year:

--Eric Norris
campyo...@me.com

@CampyOnlyguy (Twitter/Instagram)

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[tc]

Leah,

I know that feeling...but in a different way.  My son now has his license and is starting to drive himself.  Though I never looked fwd to the early mornings, I always looked fwd to those 15 min of time we spent together talking about everything under the sun, hopefully helping to start his day off well.  

#theclemrider will always look back on that time you spent with him on those rides!

Finally, that Betty is simply one of the nicest Riv's around.  I know you love your Clem, and are desperate for the elusive "red anniversary special", but it would be hard to improve on whatcha got!

Tom

[Leah Peterson]

Tom, sigh, I can just imagine. It’s hard to watch your son grow, but also pleasing to know he’s becoming a good man. I’m sure those “15 minutes with Dad” in the mornings have shaped him toward that end. 💙

Thanks for your compliments on the Betty - she *is* a looker, and it can’t be denied! It is funny how I love that Clementine when it’s so low-brow compared to that lovely Betz. Not that the Clementine isn’t also pretty, but she’s more a big-boned, no-nonsense gal who you see as more attractive once you get to know her. 

But that anniversary bike (in the red color I’ve decided it would be though no one in charge has agreed to) would be nice to have too...

Leah

Sent from my iPad

On Oct 18, 2019, at 12:05 PM, tc <tdc...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Joe Bernard]

It's so pretty, so RED. In your Instagram post you said "Red. I yield to it..", which I thought was such an interesting, evocative way to express the experience of gazing upon the tree. Thanks for that.

[Leah Peterson]

Thanks! I should have written that I yield to red in this post, too.

I got my Clementine back today after being Clem-less for a week. I took it out for a spin and the boys chose to tag along on Rollerblades. As we came to the tree I said, *say it with me people* “Guys!!!! Look how red is my tree!!!” I asked #theclemrider to take a photo with the Clementine and me this time, and he said, “Sure, but you have to take one with me and MY tree.”

His tree? It’s “the orange one I crashed into on my bike.” He had barely had his #littlesilverclem for any time at all, and he brought it home to me with a busted front brake and some other minor damage that I don’t recall exactly. He had been overcome by the orange-ness of that tree and then as is the way of kids, broke his stuff trying to get a better look.

Ultimately, he decided his tree isn’t orange enough yet, so his photo will be later.

[Joe Bernard]

I did a similar thing when I was around #theclemrider's age. I wasn't looking at what I hit, but something across the street. Next thing I know there's a loud noise BAM! and I realize I've landed on the back of a parked VW bug. That was surprising! 😲