Another bicycle ride

I love it when I can just hop on the bicycle and ride to places unknown or somewhat known.  The aspect of just being able to see another part near where I live can be intriguing.  So, what I usually do, is pick a direction and just bicycle.  There is no real rhyme or reason for what roads I choose, except sometimes if there is a good bicycling path or a comfortable space on the road, I'll take that road.  Sometimes the path doesn't feel very safe for bicycling, I will turn on a road and change directions.  Here is the path I ended up taking.  Do notice that occasionally I end up doing a circle which I am just looking around.  :)  

This is the map, time and distance.

It was an enjoyable ride.  The sun was out and the roads weren't too busy.  I ended up on a long bicycle and walking/running path that I had not seen before, or at least remember seeing (km 5 - 13).  It wasn't too busy, but I did notice that it was following the Seibu track for much of the ride on the path.  Here are some of the views. along the way.  

It looks like a mini-road but it's for bicycles and walkers/runners.

Remember stay to the left. :)

It wasn't until I got to the beginning of this bicycle/walking path that I knew its name.  

The Tamako jitensha dō Ave.  

The reason I knew I was heading to the beginning, is that the km markers were going down as I was bicycling.  Here is the beginning of this Ave. 

It is fun to just bicycle along, but at some point I have to look at a map and figure out how to get back home.  I am very grateful for the map on my IPhone.  It's helped me find out where to go many a time.  Today was no different.  

There was one place where I stopped and took a picture.  Doesn't this look like a fun activity?  It's kind of like croquet but  the mallets are shaped like sledgehammers.  They hit the ball on the side, unlike croquet.  The balls look to be the same size as croquet, but I have no idea if they are heavy or light.  Anyway, they were all busy playing away.  

See the flags?

They were aiming for the flags which had a type of space they had to get the ball into.  There were men walking around with clip boards that seemed to be monitoring the game.  It was all interesting to watch.  

It was a good ride for a Sunday.  During part of the ride, in my mind, I was singing a variety of hymns, especially when I was going down that bicycle path.  Parts of it were quite beautiful and so lush!  It was good to see another part of God's creation.  

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

So, it's Sunday, September 15th.  Today has been a rainy day, although the last couple of hours or so the rain has stopped and I've even seen a few rays of sunshine. 

Taken from my patio door, looking up between the houses.

This is the arch in the garden.  Looks beautifully sunshiny.  

During the dry spot, I hopped on my bicycle and picked up some supplies as well as took a bit of a trek down the river to see what it was like.  The waters were certainly higher, browner and the water was flowing faster.

As you can see the plants, it looks like the water may have been higher at some point. 

This is a playground area in front of an apartment building not far from my place.  

This morning when I woke up, this is what I was hearing and seeing.  Sure was coming down pretty fast.  

Tomorrow is supposed to be Back to School Day at CAJ.  School has been cancelled for the pending tropical cyclone 18.  I've heard there is more rain and wind coming tomorrow which may make things rather messy, but I have not experienced power outages here, even the cyclone we went through last year.  

On another note, I have a tune stuck in my head, it's a song written by one of my former students, Kayte.  I have really enjoyed listening to it and I find myself "singing" it in my head as I bicycle around.  Here's the link to the video and you have an opportunity to download the song.  Fifty percent of the amount you pay for the download  two shelter projects, one in New York City and one in Washington, DC.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.  Thanks!  

Kayte Grace Music Video "All's Not Spoken"

Please feel free to leave any comments you may have.  

Through the Woods...

Today is the first day of many of the sports competitions CAJ is involved with this fall season.  I volunteered to help with the cross country.  Basically I would hand out sticks with their place number to the runners as they cross the finish line or sometimes I have entered their bib number and other info into an IPad.  Usually the meets are at Tama Hills but today we were at a park.  It wasn't as steep of a route for the cross country articipants.  

We ended up getting a bit confused on our route to the park.  I was riding with Bette and we both were using our maps on our phones and the map she received from the cross country coach.  We ended up going in one big circle, which was kind of humorous.  It was an interesting route that had great bicycle paths and some pretty lush scenery.  It was a nice bicycle ride.  

Dome from the Seibu Lions baseball team

The dam between the two lakes. 

Looks pretty lush

This was a bridge we used but parked our bicycles because the path became very steep.

We did walk our bicycles up and down this path.  

Always find some sort of shrines or temples along the way.

Don't know what they were growing here, but it was all covered with a net.

Even though we took the long way to the meet, it was still nice to see parts I had not seen before.