An old house on the side of the road (click for larger size)…

Got up this morning and after watching the recorded (thank you DVR!) Formula1 Qualifying telecast from the Shanghai International Circuit I headed out on my bike and enjoyed an awesome ride on a glorious day.  Today’s forecast called for severe clear, mild Spring weather in the Upstate of South Carolina; however when I left the house, it was in the low 60’s – just perfect.  It was during today’s awesome ride that I came across this old house…

I am very lucky to have some of the most amazing rural two-lane roads in what is basically my back yard.  These are very low traffic country roads with rolling hills and some pretty awesome sights.  On days like today though, things just take a special “look” about them.  The old house in today’s featured picture is on one of these rural roads and I’ve passed it hundreds of times.  Today though, there was something about it that called for a picture be taken.  I captured today’s picture – mind you – with my iPhone so that might account for the grain in the picture, but oh well – I though it was pretty cool.

What I thought special about this old house is that it sits in a very nice piece of property, with a wooded area in the background and a slight hill.  Makes you wonder how old the old home might be?  Who lived there?  How was day-to-day life when the inhabitants of this structure called it “home”?  How many cold nights were heated by that fireplace?  What did a summer rain shower sound like on that tin roof?

Life was different then…  Then again, was it perhaps better than today?  Simpler times, indeed.

Headed out on today’s bike ride, and not far from my house is the following muscadine vineyard.  The following gallery shows what I’m talking about…

What makes this so special though is that if you “stop and smell the roses” you can certainly smell the sweet aroma of the berries ripening in the late summer sun.  Certainly a Southern thang…  🙂

Today was an interesting Spring day.  Started out cloudy and overcast, then it turned into a “typical” Spring shower.  Sun came out after that at which time I decided to hit the road and put some miles on my bicycle.  About a dozen or so miles from home it gets overcast again and stays that way for a few hours.  Later in the day a thunderstorm moves in,  rains like hell, along with pea size (and larger!) hail.  Hmmmm…

Must be some of that 2012 Mayan Calendar stuff and the planets getting in perfect alignment…  BTW, today is:  12 Bak’tun.19 K’atun.19 Tun.4 Winal.15 K’in.

At any rate, I’m pedaling along on my titanium SevenCycles bike and I see this:

The photo makes no justice to the beauty of the moment…  I have no clue as to how to raise chickens but this all struck me as very special.  The two mutts in the foreground were not all too happy to see me there, but by the time I retrieved my iPhone and pushed the button to take the picture they had calmed down and their tails were wagging.  Needless to say, they were there to protect the yard-birds which incidentally did not get all too excited when these two K9’s started barking.  How about that arrangement?

There must have been a time in the history of this great nation of ours where folks raised a bunch of chickens, had fresh eggs for breakfast and fresh poultry for supper. I remember my Dad telling me stories about how farm-life was like during the days of The Great Depression – they did not have much, but there was always food on the table.  Somehow this moment made me think about him.

Today’s entry is not car related.  Duh!

One of the things I really like to do (other than working on cars) is cycling.  I started doing this back in the 80’s when it was not nearly as popular as it is today.  After a long hiatus, I picked this back up once again a few years ago.

Today, the weather was amazing.  Temps were crisp, the sun was out and just a perfect day to get on the bike and do some miles.  Today was a bit of a recovery ride, yesterday was a bit tiring so I took it easy.

On the way back home, I pulled off the road and took a breather (stop and smell the roses, as the saying goes) at a small church not too far from my home.  Sitting on one of the steps I took a glimpse at the tree in the picture.  Nothing special, I know.  A tree.

I guess my point here is to do something we don’t do much of these days:  slow down and observe.  Not many feet to the right of the tree above, was an interesting monument.  It was a monument erected by one of the local families to pay homage to their ancestors.  What made this interesting was that it listed the names and dates of these loved ones and told the story of how the patriarch of the family arrived from Europe back in the early 1800’s.

It doesn’t matter whether you are in a bicycle or a convertible – stop and check these little ‘gems’ out.  The monument I mentioned above was a bit of a surprise as was the small cemetery next to the church.  It is only a matter of stopping and enjoying what is to be seen on the side of the road.

Till next time, another story from the side of the road…