Thursday, August 5, 2021

Lake Forest: 10 miles; Irish sailing commentary; some quotes

I biked 10 miles yesterday.  While 10 miles is nothing, it was for me.  I have not biked that far for decades.

About twenty years ago something went wrong with my right knee.  This was while we still lived in Boston.  After biking about 3 miles it began to be painful and to swell, so I didn’t bike more than 3 miles.

In Hilton Head I have to bike 3.5 to 4 miles to get to a supermarket.  Tentatively I tried and found I could do so, there and back, without pain, although there was a shopping break in between.

A bike path runs through Lake Forest beside the commuter train track.  I googled and found it is part of a bike trail that runs from north of here all the way through Chicago.  So yesterday I decided to try to ride 10 miles, figuring if I got in trouble Carol whose office is not far away could come and get me.  

The path is well surfaced and not crowded and quite pleasant.  The train tracks on one side and a major street on the other are mostly hidden by trees and foliage.  I rode north 4.5 miles where the path crosses to the other side of the street.  Not wanting to do that, I turned around and rode a half mile past the Lake Forest village center, then home.  In all 10. 6 miles and not a twinge.  

I never knew what was wrong with my knee.  Whatever it was, even old bodies sometimes heal themselves.



From Jack comes a link to a video of an Irish commentary on a sailboat race.  In the title it is called hilarious and it is.  I thank him.  After watching it this morning I was laughing and Carol came from another room to see what was so funny.

While there are amusing parts all along, the best is at the very end.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Iz1de7Lwyw


  


One of the recent offerings from BookBud was THE 1001 SMARTEST THINGS EVER SAID.  I bought it assuming it would be filled with my words, but, alas, it was published almost twenty years ago and isn’t.  I am confident that any subsequent edition will rectify that egregious error.

The book is divided into six sections and I have completed the first:  ‘Love and Death and some of what happens in between’.  Here are a few of my favorite quotes from that section.  Warning:  You will be subject to more as I read more.

To succeed in life you need two things:  ignorance and confidence.—Mark Twain

Do not go where the path may lead, go where there is no path and leave a trail.—Ralph Waldo Emerson             

The strongest man in the world is he who stands alone.—Henrik ibsen  (You knew I’d like that one.)

Do well and you will have no need for ancestors.—Voltaire

I have discovered that all human evil comes from this:  man’s being unable to sit still and quiet in a room alone.—Blaise Pascal

Make voyages!  Attempt them…there’s nothing else.—Tennessee Williams

Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.—Susan Ertz 

2 comments:

Shawn Stanley said...

Excellent quotes...thank you, Webb!
-Shawn

Anonymous said...

Interesting then-and-now Olympic corollary, with the quip “…Belarus, questionable human rights” and a Belarus athlete currently in Poland after seeking sanctuary instead of being flown home to receive punishment for critical statements.
“Boring sport” a hint of the future, with zero coverage this Olympics.
Hilarious, as advertised.