20 Mile Bike Ride

Today, I rode my bike around East Nashville for the first time. Since it hasn't gotten much use in a while, I needed to pump up the tires. Barry met me here at the house. He rode his hi-tech electronic assist bike. It helps you get up steep hills with its little 24 volt engine. The heat index was close to 100 degrees and boy it was hot. It was 9.5 miles down to Bongo Java, where we had a much needed breakfast meal and a bunch to drink. We rested a while and read the paper, chatting with String, and then prepared for the ride back. The ride back was close to 10 miles as we took a slightly different route. It was nice listening to Enigma while biking the trail at Shelby Park. I have to say, I was pretty happy when I finally made it home. It was nice to take a shower and a short nap.

Barry did well during the ride. I am very proud of him, still smiling after almost 20 miles in the scorching heat. Good job Barry!

Good Friends

I just got home from an awesome night with Emily, Carey, Heather and Caleb. I have to say, I have some really good friends. Thanks guys for being there. We started the night at Baja Fresh, had lots of laughs and a good meal. We then went to Cafe Coco with the objective of planning a few adventures over next next 2 months. We came up with a few wonderful ideas ranging from calm and meditative to extreme sports type of events. Many of our planned trips involve nature.

Everyone in the group is part of the spiritual circle we formed a few months back. We decided to take a break from the more intense spiritual work for the summer and do these events instead. We will still be doing some form of ritual during each excursion and that is something I am thankful for.

I have to say, it is truly a blessing to have so many good people in my life. I am not even going to try to make a list - it would be too long. I just want to say that I love all of you. Because of you, loneliness is not really a part of my vocabulary and my heart never feels like its in a state of poverty. I look forward to exploring both the outer and the inner dimensions with you. Especially since we have grown to love and respect each others landscapes.

Happy Birthday Linda!!!

Last night was Linda's birthday party. I got to the event late, almost midnight, and found half the group skinny dipping in the pool. No pictures, sorry. Everyone started the night with margaritas at Fiesta Azteca and went to Jocelyn's to cool down. Carey and Jeremy are now living there. Jocelyn's home, on Belmont Boulevard, is know as "The French House." A long time Nashvillian, Jocelyn is originally from France. Every year she throws a big Bastille Day bash at her place (it is a couple of weeks away, July 14). Two to three hundred of the most colorful people come to celebrate.

I had a great time at the party. It was nice seeing Heather & Caleb who are back from Australia. Heather is planning to spend a semester there next year. I also chatted with Dan and Aaron quite a bit. Dan is moving to Japan soon. Good luck man! Hope you find yourself a sexy geisha. Aaron and I had a hola hoop contest. We both had trouble with the hola and no one else was brave enough to give it a try. Emily was quite lovely in her birthday suit. And it was really nice seeing Linda really enjoying her birthday with her friends.

Brady showed up later in the night. We talked about the protest of the Southern Baptist Convention that we both attended. He and I got our faces plastered on the front page of Freedom Press. I will post more about this later. Before leaving the party, it was nice to have some time with Jocelyn. She's got lots of wisdom and is always pleasant to be around.