Let the 2014 season begin!

I have a confession. I led a very suburban life this winter. How can you not? Kansas was cold, so I would drive to work in my heated car, drive back home to my heated house, and then sit on my pre-heated couch (cats are very useful) watching Netflix. When I wanted to workout, I would drive to the gym and go to an overly heated spin class. That was basically my winter and early spring. Despite eating delicious homemade canned tomato sauce and knitting up a storm, it was pretty suburban.

We did break up the monotony by going to Italy, but we went to the tourist cities (Venice, Florence, and Rome). Although beautiful, fun, and full of history, Italy really brought home how much we love wide open spaces and nature and how much we dislike crowds of people.

Gladiatoring tour groups in the Colosseum!

Warm weather has come, and we're easing back into going outside and enjoying the longer days. Yet, even as my garden is planted and growing strong (a post to come), suburban issues arise. I worry if  I'm letting my grass get too high because despite the lack of an HOA, our neighbors sure are out there once, even twice, a week mowing. I worry that our lawn has a lot of weeds. I don't know why. The neighbor to the east of us only has weeds. The neighbor on our other side has a company come out to fertilize and weed. There are cracks in our driveway from a cold winter. I thought these were things I wouldn't have to worry about as much when we moved away from perfectly coiffed lawns and homes 6.5 feet apart.

Longer work days and teaching more classes has contributed to this overall stress, BUT Friday was my turn around point. It was the day that inspired me to come back and write. I had had a very long week of work (I'm teaching three classes this summer, which is a first), and I had not had anytime outside. I was always in the classroom or tutoring one-on-one in a windowless room. Friday was my day off, and I knew I needed a bike ride. My road bike was in the shop, so I got my oft neglected hybrid out (yes, I have more than one bike and I know this sounds very suburban). This bike doesn't have a speedometer hooked up. I could have turned on my Map My Ride app on my phone to see my speed, but I didn't. I could have strapped on my heart rate monitor to see how many calories I rode, but I didn't. I JUST RODE. I rode past chickens and cows and fields and horses and creeks. I don't know how fast I went up that huge hill, but I don't think the miniature horses that I rode past we're judging me.

If those miniature horses we're going to judge me, it should be for taking pictures while biking.

I can't see this without Dixie Chicks singing "Wide Open Spaces!"

And thus begins the 2014 season of a suburban girl seeking rural life. I'm gardening, knitting, canning, and biking through the countryside. Here's what's happening this year......