Bus Musings

I will have taken the bus to work every day this week and all but two days the past three weeks now. So far so good! I wish they were spaced closer in the evening (after 5 they only come every 30 minutes), but there are plenty of options in the morning which is good because I am always forgetting one thing or another :)

I think I am starting to get into a schedule now, although I have been feeling rather lackluster midday lately. I am going to blame that on the heat and not my new schedule which mostly involves running at lunch and gardening in the evening with an earlier bedtime before I get up to do it all again. Bridget was kind enough to give me a ride in the evening to the Solon Track on Tuesday this week so I even got in a track workout with company without having to drive!

So far the bus rides have been pretty uneventful. Just one crazy guy who decided he wanted to stand and rant in front of the bus one evening downtown. (He thankfully moved after the bus driver hollered at him) The bus seems to be getting more and more crowded but since I run at lunch I usually take a later bus home and those don't get quite as much foot traffic. I wouldn't be surprised if I have to start standing on the way to work though. I'll just have to learn how to read and stand and hold on at the same time!

I have started to catch up on a lot of reading with the free time on my hands. Figured I would keep a list here and any fun notes about the books I am tackling. Reading is one of my other favorite hobbies and I am so excited to have a legitimate time to do it now that isn't taking away from other important tasks I should be doing each day. Started my bus trips with some lighter fantasy reading (what can I say I am a bit of an escapist at heart), and have moved into some outdoorsy fiction, some non-fiction, and some gardening books to help with my empty garden beds.

His Dark Materials Trilogy- Excellent trilogy in my humble opinion. I'm very much looking forward to seeing how they adapt the 2nd and 3rd books into movies. Was disappointed I had to finish this one, would have loved for the story to keep going. Good book for thoughts on how religion, politics, and the organizations that run them affect our daily lives with a great fantasy tale to keep you from getting too depressed by it all :)

A Walk in the Woods- Wow. I loved this book. I am so excited about the Appalachian trail now it isn't even funny. Informational and funny take on a novice hiker attempting to thru hike the Appalachian trail. Dreams of thru hiking dancing in my head...

Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons- Second time reading this one and still loved it. I think I am going to pick up a few of her other books and see if they are as good. Just a very good novel about the special bonds a special group of women can have when brought together by love of a similar hobby, in this case reading books.

100 Easy-to-Grow Native Plants: For American Gardens in Temperate Zones- I would really love to plant an entirely native garden (a rain garden if I could swing it even). This book was extremely useful, now if I could just find the plants that it helped me to pick in local nurseries. Hmm apparently planting native may not be quite so easy!

Bird Gardens: A Year-round Guide to Creating an Alluring Haven for Birds- Just started into this one. Mostly just some amazing photos of gardens that will successfully attract birds year round. Reminding me that I need to put up our blue bird box!

The pitiful gardener's handbook : successful gardening, inspite of yourself- Just perused this so far. Kind of a boring read but good advice for gardeners like myself who seem kind of hopeless sometimes. Now if only I would practice some of it ;)

Trowel & error : over 700 shortcuts, tips & remedies for the gardener- Cute little book with lots of fun illustrations and tons of little gardening tips. Way too much for this gardening dummy to remember but I will write down the tips that stand out as being most helpful for my situation.