Falling Colors

Landscape in October
Originally uploaded by Giorgos ~.

The year moves on: Summer gives way to Fall. Chill night air triggers nature's orgy of color.

Riding through fields aglow in Autumnal elegance brings to the soul an incredible focus. The air smells different, wonderful. Gone are the floral aromas of Spring -- here are the dusky smells of the past saying goodbye--the future saying hello.

Enjoy the days of nature's last hurrah. Tomorrow the earth sleeps neath a snowy blanket. And new life prepares an ever so soon grand entrance.

Ride safe and well.

BALANCE AND THE SIMPLE LIFE

Balluminaria
Originally uploaded by waxinggibbous.

Nature must indeed abhor a vacuum. Offer nature even the tiniest opportunity for life to flourish and flourish it will. The balance in this is obvious upon observation.

Peak at a slight crack in a roadside boulder and observe. Tiny dust particles recently settled transform from atmospheric flotsam to a nourishing soil for a litter of lichen. How perfect this life force.

Life is simple. As we too are life therefore we are simple. We nevertheless try so hard to complicate our lives: we confuse ourselves on a daily basis. I am as capable of this mistake as are any of us.

Yet balance and purpose unfold to show a path to perfection.

Example time – let’s take one of my favorite topics, motorcycling. If we ride for joy and toward a goal we wish to achieve we are riding in balance with nature. We are pursuing a simple life.

If, however, we ride out of pain we are not riding in balance. If we run away from something we wish to avoid, we are making a mistake. We are failing further in the healthy pursuit of a happy and simple life. In a simple, balanced life, we must first deal with the cause of our pain, take action to fix it, and then ride.

Like most motorcycle enthusiasts, I’ve ridden both such rides. I’ve learned more of life these past few years. I’ve learned that the joy of riding toward my goals far surpasses the shallowness of riding away from problems.

The problems, left unresolved, will be there to greet us when we return. And that is the antithesis of a simple life.

Destiny on the Road

Llugwy Downstream
Originally uploaded by Stu Worrall.

Go easy now -- we'll meet along the way. Later on the road will rise up and bring us home.

SUNSET SAILING and MOONLIGHT RIDING

I would expect that a sunset sail across Buzzards Bay for dinner at The Chart Room (on Cape Cod) would be the perfect conclusion to a fine day. It can be, and yet it can fall short of the perfection of a sunset in the mountains while on a motorcycle tour.

Please think me not a dismisser of fine sailing and the sea. Those who know me know that I treasure these things.

Yet now, in the brilliance of tonight's full moon shining down I am reminded of so many sunsets and moonsets not on the sea but on the land. I remember camping in the desert with a moon so big it seemed to fill the sky. I recall sleeping on Cape Breton beaches neath moons so bright it was hard to remain asleep. I see evenings in Alaska when the moon fought hard with the summer sun to find a place in the late night sky.

There are hundreds of full moons I recall seeing while cruising on motorcycles. Few, however, hold the magic I now see in tonight's moon.

There is magic happening, and I know not where or why. I will trust the universe to set things right. I feel ready for a new life, a life filled with adventure and simplicity. There's too little of that in my world lately.

I am ready for my moon.

A Green Wave

On a Green Wave
Originally uploaded by maruchan313.

A few weeks ago I went Body Surfing. No it wasn't that spectacular stuff we see on television when nubiles grab huge tubes off the coast of Hawaii -- it was more like swishing into the path of a small swell off the coast of Maine. Indeed, it was cold but very refreshing.

Temperature and size are not the issue here. The simple act of swimming out to the point break and then dashing toward shore to catch 15 seconds of rapture is what I'm talking about. That's the magic of "Catching a Green Wave."

Truth be known the ocean up here is cold. Truth continuing, as it should always, body surfing in our cold New England seas is worth every effort. When you're done you know you've enjoyed an excellent day. You've melded with the ocean, and that's pretty good, no?

Hay Rides

Montana sky
Originally uploaded by Jodene.

The fields are full of mown hay -- bales, rolls, stacks, and mounds abound.

The air is pungent with a grassy perfume.

Two months of great riding remain before the gales of November and the snows of December set upon us. Get out and ride friends.

Breathe in the organic air of late summer/early fall. Its simplicity is more than pleasant. It is seductive.

Belgium at Night

Orange & blue
Originally uploaded by Jason's Travel Photography.

I remember Belgium. After a ferry crossing of the English Channel my Triumph 650 and I headed north to Belgium as I many years ago commenced a Continental Tour .

My strongest memories are of the people and architecture of Belgium. I don't recall eating Belgian Waffles: I do recall dining with fine wines and yummy meals.

The architecture, however, stands out strongest in my mind. Canals, colorful manses, tall steeples, these I remember so well.

Then it was on to the Netherlands for me. Looking back I wish I had stayed just a few days more. The young man rushes. The wise man pauses to look deeply into the soul of each place and its people.

Orange Sun -- Salty Sea

Buena pesca
Originally uploaded by GomoX.

The sun and the sea - - a marriage of light and liquid creating a perfect day's beginning and end. Every motorcycle ride should begin or end at such times and places.

Ride into the mountains but begin at the sea.

Ride through farmlands and lakes and end at the sea.

Start or finish with a plunge into an ocean gloamed in the orange light of transition. You are reborn and ready to ride again.

TREATS ON THE ROAD

Berries
Originally uploaded by ·júbilo·haku·.

This is the northern season when berries of all species explode aside scenic twisting backroads and byways. A stop to investigate, nay to pick makes a long day's ride tasty beyond compare.

A recent spirited blast through Crawford Notch suprised me with yummy roadside blueberries, glistening blackberries, and a few other little treats. The sweet feast broke up an otherwise gorgeous yet hot daylong cruise to the Maine coast. It was surely a pause that refreshed.

Wouldn't it be nice if these tiny treats of nature flourished all year long.

Z is for Living

Z
Originally uploaded by sandcastlematt.

Sea and sand melded together into a perfect Z. How wonderful. Z may be the last letter of the alphabet but it is the first letter of Zen.

Z is for living, Z is for balance, Z is for perfection in balance.

I watched a perfect moon illuminate the sea this weekend. Diamonds of light glittered along the waves as they lapped the beach. Tranquility adorned the shoreline.

Earlier in the week I enjoyed an evening ride with a bright three-quarter moon riding my left shoulder all the way home. Its brilliance shone along the highway more beautifully than any daylight could. I sang songs aloud to myself with the ease one normally finds only in the shower. I was of course bathed in moonlight, so why not?

May your day be balanced in Zs to lead your heart where you need to be. May your night be gloamed in moonlight to lead your soul where you truly should be.