Choosing the Perfect Christmas Card

Christmas is coming.  I'm thinking about Christmas cards.  I don't think this is what I'm after for Scooter in the Sticks.  It's tough choosing the perfect card...

Suffering and Joy

Sometimes, when desire meets reality, you come face to face with suffering.  Most recently it was unexpected physical discomfort related to the cold and my newly arthritic feet.  Out early yesterday with the temperature hovering around 20F should have been like a walk in the park.  Instead I was served a big bite of suffering.

Looking back I can see how my love of winter has decayed into a state of annoyed acceptance that it's a fact of life in central Pennsylvania.  This first cold ride of the season really surprised me and has me wondering how much cold I can tolerate.  A question every year round rider wrestles with at some point.

After an hour I planted myself in Starbucks to hold a paper cup full of hot chocolate in my hands, let my feet warm, and scribble a few notes on index cards about the challenges ahead.  I wrote "Suffering" at the top of the first card intending to post under that title.  But things have a way of changing.

The iPhone vibrated on the table displaying an image of my friend Gordon.  He and his wife Val bought their 14 year old son a .22 rifle for Christmas, a Ruger 10/22.  Nice gun.  And since he had never shot a gun before he asked if I could go with them to the local shooting range and get them started.  I remember the .22 rifle my father got for me around the same age and the joy I found going out with him to plink away at tin cans.  

Funny how warm some of my memories are related to weapons.

Last time I fired a gun at this range was in the early 1970s when a serendipitous encounter with gun dealer led to firing thousands of round of ammunition via an array of automatic weapons.  My first experience with a Thompson sub machine gun, M16, UZI, and an Ingram MAC-10 with a suppressor.  I learned two things.  Automatic weapons are fun to shoot.  Loading magazines isn't.  It's an interesting story that I'll share someday.

Gordon's son wasn't the only one surprised on Christmas morning.  Gordon's wife Val gave him a pair of riding gloves and some scooter brochures.  The meaning is obvious.  More joy at Christmas.

Went riding again today with no suffering.  Suppose there is a yin and yang to it all.  Didn't realize polar forces of opposite strength were at work in my riding life -- the suffering and the joy.

Searching for the Christmas Spirit

A week ago I borrowed a motorcycle from the selection of pre-owned machines of Kissell Motorsports --a 2005 BMW F650 GS. I’ll often find myself looking at their web site listings or trolling eBay for the quintessential deal. For a lot of riders a used motorcycle is the best route into the world of riding.  And during those rides I found myself thinking about Christmas.

Junior and I walked in the park this morning to the tolling of bells from a nearby church, announcing Christmas Day. Blue sky, bright sun and the temperature pushing forty degrees doesn’t feel like Christmas.

I’ve been thinking about Christmas all week, trying to bring to life those feelings I had as a kid when Santa Claus was real. Memories of candle light services on Christmas Eve singing Silent Night, the anticipation of presents under a tree seem to fade away a bit more every year. Charles Dickens wrote that Christmas can, “...win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home.”. Maybe that’s what I was looking for.

Roaming the countryside on a motorcycle often fuels a flood of thinking. I found my thoughts leaning towards the past, to things that would not come again. Each stop along the road seemed to trigger a memory of Christmas time. Each memory bringing another, and another.

Looking at motorcycles (when you tend to obsess about them) isn’t a lot different than coveting a BB gun or some other must have item of childhood.  The evening I picked up the BMW was like that -- the proverbial kid in the candy store -- so many things to desire.

A festive red Ducati should feel like Christmas shouldn't it?

Or certainly a pink Vespa would conjure some sort of magic if only given a chance.  But maybe what the Grinch said is true: "Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn't come from a store."

The pink Vespa will have to wait for another day along with the Triumph Tiger 800 XC and the flat screen TV I was thinking about.

The BMW F650 GS in its 2005 incarnation is a marvelously nimble motorcycle on the gravel roads that crisscross the central Pennsylvania forests. Aggressive knobby tires provide a surefooted ride at speeds I don’t normally attempt in these environs. The bike is completely comfortable from the start.

I felt like Charlie Brown. Christmas time is coming and I don’t feel the way I’m supposed to feel. Or at least that was what I was thinking. Riding through beautiful landscapes I can’t quite appreciate because I’m searching for the Christmas spirit. The little red-haired girl is waiting at home for me, my black dog too, and here I was along a creek, watching the cold, clear water sweep by and nothing. I’m blessed but don’t quite appreciate it.

The F650 GS leads me to the Pump Station Cafe in Boalsburg where I can appreciate a cup of tea and a scone, and the blessings of the motorcycle's heated grips when I take out my journal to write.  BMW has great heated grips.  They feel hot even through thick winter riding gloves.

I suppose there is no connection between riding and Christmas save for the incidental juxtaposition of machine and iconography.  But I did find that missing Christmas spirit.

Last night family and friends gathered on Christmas Eve, for fellowship and food, to spend time together and acknowledge what's special this time of year.  Maybe it just becomes more difficult to see past all the wrappings and tinsel to the meaning of Christmas, a time of transformation and forgiveness where, for a time, the world is a more gentle place.

Merry Christmas to all and best wishes for the holidays.

A Christmas Greeting

Last night, shortly before midnight, I was on the road again looking for the definitive scene for a Christmas greeting. No snow, no Christmas images in my book. Didn’t even get a tree this year.

Not that I’ve become Ebenezer Scrooge. I just don’t have any magical pictures merging Christmas, riding, and a Vespa. But there’s still magic without the Vespa, glittering lights, or the fragrance of evergreen drifting through the house.

After a late, Christmas Eve ride I stopped in Boalsburg and sat on the curb, straining my brain for an idea. And thinking of home. Earlier in the evening our family gathered at our oldest daughter’s house for Christmas. Home for the holidays. Family and friends.

So, from the curbside stop on a cold, winter ride, I wish each of you a Merry Christmas and hopes for a fine New Year!

Catching Up

As much as I enjoy riding in cold weather the Vespa and I have been confined, of late, to morning and evening commutes to work. Cold is creeping into pictures. Maybe they’re triggering memories of cold hands and feet.

Over the weekend I clicked the submit button a few times to officially kickoff the holiday shopping season. On the way to my weekly 3 Prints Project meeting I stopped to look at Christmas trees. I wasn’t feeling the holiday spirit. Carrying a tree home on the back of the Vespa requires some snow. A thermometer reading of 27F isn’t enough.

The café is festive and I always enjoy a watching the world from a quiet corner. Notice there are no prints on the table at Saint’s Café. It’s been the no prints project the past few weeks, a symptom of bad planning, chaos and choices of sloth. Or I can search for places to unload blame for falling so far behind.

It’s obviously Junior’s fault. The athletic beast needs, demands, time and attention. Just because he wants to exercise and go forth in the world doesn’t mean I want to. He does pose well though. Doesn’t he look like he’s watching over a flock of sheep, waiting patiently to herd a stray lamb back or warn off a marauding coyote? He’s my boy, snoring softly at my feet as I type.

As managing editor of Penn State Ag Science Magazine there are times, like now a week before going to press, that I descend into some other kind of consciousness. Going through page spreads with a red pen is particularly seductive. And it’s changed me. I actually told the art director to reduce the number of photographs so I could keep more words. I look for the photography guild to appear any day now and rescind my rights to a camera.

Gordon arrived with two prints; one a portrait he made of me a few weeks ago at another Sunday morning get together where we both bemoaned the lack of production. I look more like my father as the years change me. No matter how much I look like him though I can never imagine him sitting in a café talking about photography or the challenges of a busy life. He would be too busy working.

A piece of breakfast chocolate cake and a fine portrait may just cause me to make those prints. I actually turned the heat on in my darkroom this evening thinking I might process film.

I didn’t.

Another local Vespa rider checking his phone. His girlfriend has one too. I don’t think either ride in the cold so the roads will be shy two scooters until spring.

I plan to fetch a tree on the Vespa when the time is right. Snow is in the extended forecast. For now I’ll leave you with a holiday scene of one of the village of Boalsburg’s Christmas decorations. And that will almost catch me up. Except for my long, epic Vespa camping tale that’s waiting to post, and a cold ride on a new Triumph Sprint.

There’s always something.

Season's Greetings from the Sticks

It's Christmas Eve and time for me to extend best wishes for Christmas, the holiday season and the coming new year. At 2am this morning I was out in the driveway fighting with Christmas lights, camera and a bad idea to make a picture that would represent my feelings of riding and the holiday season. For the past couple years the safe bet was a picture of the Vespa hauling home the tree but Kim and I made an impulse buy one evening a few weeks ago at a local Christmas tree vendor. So no tree to haul on the scooter. For those of you who just have to see the tree on the back of the Vespa check the bottom of this post for one of the classic pictures.

The holidays always seem to become hectic despite the best planning. Providence intervened this year to bring a bit of needed solitude to the house in the form of an impending ice storm. We canceled our traditional Christmas Eve party this year when nearly everyone who planned to attend was now departing town early to avoid the weather on Christmas Day. So I can sit here now and type and reflect on the season and it's meaning. Junior is laying at my feet gnawing on a marrow bone while Kim sits in the living room illuminated by the Christmas tree. Life is good and there is much to be grateful for.

After giving up trying to produce the picture in my head for my holiday greeting I put the lights, tripod and camera away. Could not seem to push the Vespa back into the garage though and decided to go for a ride. The night sky was clear and the temperature was a relatively comfortable 20F. Riding at night always is nice especially when there is snow on the ground and Christmas lights on. Though not so many as the clock ticks near 3am. In Boalsburg there were lights glowing on Main Street and I took a little time to wander around and shoot a few pictures. While it seemed nostalgic to me I'm now sure how a passing police cruiser would view me. Faith in the power of the Christmas spirit kept me going.

I hope these words find each of you with a quiet heart and a smile on your lips. For a day the cares of the world can slip away and the power of the season can renew us. For any of you who receive a new scooter or motorcycle, well, I don't want to hear about it......*grin*

All the best for a Merry Christmas and bright holiday season!

Oh, one of the classic Vespa Christmas tree pictures.

A Grateful Christmas on and off the Road

Christmas arrived this morning with sunshine and blue skies.  Ice covers much of the ground and parts of the road after a day of rain gave way to a drop in temperatures.  I suspect I'll see no holiday riders today.  Since my Vespa is still in the shop I didn't have any holiday scooter images so I decided to take one of the Christmas cards I bought for next year and make a picture of it with a sprig of holly Kim cut last night in our yard.  Imagine that reindeer is a Vespa...

I want to wish all of you who read and comment here a Merry Christmas and fine holiday season.  This year the season has moved me to take stock of all the gifts I have already received and are sometimes easy to overlook in the rush.  It is the simple, everyday things that make up my life that are more important than anything I might find under a tree.  I have much to be grateful.

I am grateful:

to have a family who loves and cares about me.

to have good and faithful friends.

to have a career I enjoy.

for a home and warm bed.

for being healthy.

for not being hungry or cold.

for having learned how to have fun.

for being able to look at my life and realize how many fine gifts I have.

In this Christmas season of gift giving perhaps the biggest gift we can give ourselves is recognition of the good we may already have.  

Best wishes to all of you in the coming days, weeks and months.

No Christmas Tree on the Back of the Vespa This Year

A week ago I took my Vespa GTS into the shop because the rear brake lever was pulling in close to the handgrip and the stopping power was less than desirable. Turns out I need a new master cylinder and it is currently somewhere between Italy and Pennsylvania. So it looks like my tradition of bringing home a tree on the back of the Vespa won't happen this year. And I had real plans too. Deep snow, wind, a long search through the mountains for the perfect Christmas tree, and then the ride home. Now I'm not sure if I really even want a tree.

Seriously though, I'm full of the Christmas spirit and it doesn't bother me at all that I can't scoot a tree home. Tomorrow night I'll be going to a theater with my oldest daughter and her boyfriend to see "It's a Wonderful Life" on the big screen. That's right up there and maybe even ahead of transporting an evergreen on a scooter!

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

I want to wish each of you a Merry Christmas and thank you for your support and kind words towards Scooter in the Sticks. I'll be spending time with family and friends and perhaps even take the Vespa out for a ride. I have much to be grateful for.

The magic of the season I felt as a child has changed -- replaced by the knowledge that this is indeed a wonderful life. And while I don't know where Scooter in the Sticks will be going in the coming weeks and months I'm glad you are along for the ride!

I'll leave you with the song below that triggers fond memories of a time when I was younger. Whatever your faith, belief, or tradition is, best wishes to you and yours for a fine holiday.

Bringing Home the Christmas Tree

It's now a tradition -- bringing home the Christmas tree on the back of the Vespa. I can't help but think of Clark Griswold in the Christmas Vacation movie driving to get a tree in the woods for an old fashion family Christmas. I may have even sung a carol or two on the way home.

The tradition's continuation was still in question that morning. Kim and I were talking about alternatives to a tree, it was getting late in the season, and we just weren't sure. Sitting in Starbucks enjoying a pre-holiday breakfast of tea and chocolate marble cake I decided to ride to the Tait Farm for a tree.

Business was slow on a weekday this close to Christmas so I had the place pretty much to myself. A few people were wandering around looking at trees and decorations. With the temperature in the upper 30's the melting snow made the fields a little sloppy so I decided to buy a pre-cut tree rather than wander around with a saw and cut my own. Waiting patiently among the pines and spruces was a lovely six and a half foot Douglas Fir.

It didn't take long to strap the tree to the rear rack and start towards home. While there weren't a lot of people at the farm there was a lot of traffic on the road (US 322) running past the place. It's a main artery between Interstate 80 and points south through Central Pennsylvania and thick with trucks and cars. I wanted to take a more rustic and relaxed path home -- to the right I would find a nice gravel road but with no winter maintenance it would likely still be covered with snow and ice. To the left just a half mile down the road I could turn off and ride through a golf course and into a quiet valley that would lead me home. I waited until I could see a big gap in traffic and made a beeline towards the golf course. With the tree on the back I couldn't go much faster than 45 MPH without the tree beginning to shake. I could see a line of tractor-trailers bearing down on me in my rear-view mirrors. By the time I made the turnoff they were only a hundred feet behind me and coming fast. Ho. Ho. HO!

Once in Brush Valley things were much more relaxed and I could ride along slowly and enjoy the scenery and sing a few bars of Let it Snow and I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas. Dean Martin or Bing Crosby I'm not. Having earplugs does enhance the singing of even a less than mediocre singer like me.

I didn't go straight home. I wanted to find another present for Kim so I stopped at the soon to go out of business Federal House, a small gift shop with an eclectic collection of things. With everything at 75 percent off I purchased two 10 by 16 inch paintings mounted in ornate, rustic metal frames. No problem with transport on the Vespa -- just strapped them down on top of the tree with a few more bungee cords.

I like Christmas and tradition is important. If you are looking to add one yourself you may want to consider hauling a Christmas tree home on the back of your scooter or motorcycle. It looks more imposing than it actually is. The tree weighs less than a passenger and when balanced correctly it doesn't even take much to keep it attached. Keep the tree less than 9 feet in length and you won't even be a wide load!

Merry Christmas!

Some part of me expects to find the landscape covered in snow on December 24rd. It's hard to listen to Dean Martin on the radio singing "Let it Snow" or Johnny Mathis doing "Sleigh Ride" when it was 50 degrees and sunny yesterday. I didn't grow up on "Christmas in Dixie". The little kid in me wakes up and won't go to sleep during the holidays. I rent all the classics at the video store. My daughter and her boyfriend invited me to go with them to see "A Christmas Story" on the big screen at a new theater in town. It's still a thrill to bring home and trim a Christmas tree. Family and friends will gather this evening to spend time together in the best spirit of the holiday. It's from this place I want to extend my best wishes to all of you for a Merry Christmas!

Over the past year I've watched the number of visitors to Scooter in the Sticks grow and I am grateful for the network of riders who share their experience where and on their own sites. It's been a positive experience, a gift from all of you who read and post here. Thank you!

It's Christmas Eve and the Vespa is sitting quietly in the garage after carrying me yesterday on last minute errands before Santa arrives. Other than a brisk wind the riding conditions were perfect. I stopped along the Linden Hall road to make a photograph of the rural area I enjoy riding through.


Again, I wish all of you the best for you and your families.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Spirit vs. Riding Safety

Two days until Christmas. Everywhere I see bright faces and smiles, people shopping, families with children looking at decorations. Consumed by the magic of the season. Maybe the commercial part but I’m sure there are some more spiritual experiences too. Either way people are rushing, working, laughing, planning, buying, wrapping, talking, singing, and driving. Yes driving. After riding into town today I have to believe the heightened Christmas spirit and driving don’t mix too well with riding safety. Or maybe I am merely experiencing what is normal everyday life for those of you in more urban settings.

I left the house around 9AM this morning. The temperature was about 40° F and it was raining. Not hard but enough to keep the roads wet, generate a small bit of fog and mist to paint the world from a grey template. A fine day for a ride and an excellent chance to test the waterproof characteristics of the rain cover for the MotoFIZZ bag I now have on the rear rack. Riding down the road from my house I see a car coming down a side street to my left that ends at a stop sign. I have the right-of-way, I see the driver looking at me but the car is not slowing down. I ease off the throttle and cover the brakes as he rolls through the stop sign at 15 MPH and onto the road in front of me. I follow him down to the traffic light where he pulls up behind a truck waiting to turn left. I glide by him on the right and make a right turn onto the highway going towards town. I see in my rear view mirrors that the car turns right instead of left. I’m riding on a four-lane road with many connecting roads, lanes, and driveways and I always pay careful attention to everything on this stretch. Two miles down the road the car catches up to me as traffic slows for a series of lights. He is in the left lane and I in the right. Another half mile up the road he decides he wants to be in the right lane so he can make a right turn. I am presented with my first spiritual decision of the day. I can continue on the course I am on and effectively block his attempt to turn right. None of the cars are inclined to let him in. Or I can slow almost to a stop to let him in. I can tell you that in the past, in the pre-scooter days, I would not have let him in. Especially after the stunt he pulled earlier. I slow and let him in, he turns right and I follow him along up the hill. We continue on for about two more miles until he signals that he is going to make a right turn into an office complex. I have to go to the same place. I’m thinking he is worried now that some big mean scooter rider is going to pummel him in the parking lot. I smile to myself and go about my business without any further interaction or notice of the offending car.


Later as I am riding in town I feel as if I am dodging people and vehicles constantly. Everyone is talking and laughing and not paying a whole lot of attention to the road. I see a young driver in a white Ford Explorer chattering away on a cell phone as they pull across my path from an alley. They really looked happy, eyes all aglow, full of the Christmas spirit. Near disaster later as I am leaving town and a Jeep Grand Cherokee runs a stop sign at 35 MPH on a really busy street and me only 20 yards from the intersection. It was a surprise seeing that Jeep rush past in front of me, driver’s left hand holding the phone to their ear talking I’m sure about whether to buy the heating pad for Uncle Owen or just get him a pound of fudge. I’d take the fudge.

The real news here is not that drivers, pedestrians, and dare I suggest riders don’t always pay attention to the road. The more important news is that I don’t get angry anymore about these things. And not so long ago I could really generate some grudge and rage fuel from these sorts of things. While riding I have become more accepting of the inconsistencies on the road, and that generally it’s not personal. I have some expectations of drivers and riders but if they aren’t met, well, that’s OK. And I accept what those shortcomings could mean to my own wellbeing. I don’t really know if all those people are full of the Christmas spirit or not. But I know that I’m feeling it and it makes it pretty easy to be generous on the road.

The waterproof rain cover kept everything dry. I had a bit of difficulty at first figuring out the best way to cinch it over the pack. I left it sloppy in the back but by the end of the day I figured out how to have it nice and snug. I did worry a bit about leaving the scooter parked in the parking garage wondering if some enterprising thief would grab it for a present for some rider thief. After a few moment of consideration I decided that it’s only a bag and if it is going to be useful I will have to leave it on the scooter. When I returned it was still there. It was a good day.