Ups'n downs'n ups

Driving down the road of life, we often encounter bumps and barriers, making things much more difficult and uncomfortable than they need to be.  Some things do slow us down and add caution to our outlook, BUT I do not care about waxing philosophical at this point of derangement.  I am convinced the roads here are a sinister plot to irritate everyone beyond human tolerance so no one will want to drive.  This way, they will keep private vehicles off the roads and more people taking buses, which keeps the air cleaner so England can claim it has gone green.  The bus wheel base straddles the annoying speed bumps thereby allowing the passenger to be blissfully unaware of the monstrous mischief lurking on the road surface beneath.  

I told Elder Blain he should drive the bumps with one side hitting them for about ten times and then drive the other an equal number of times to knock the front end back into alignment.

Don't even venture to guess what Friday and Saturday were like.  Just the fact that I am focusing on speed bumps can give you and indication of my mood.  There's such a thing as slow and then there is snnnn-l-o-w, which is snail pace.  If anything drives me crazy, it is things that ridiculously waste time.  We turn the car around on the narrow streets on average about ten times and hour.  We park approximately that many times (which takes about three to four attempts because there is no space to park), and you can do the math by multiplying that by five to eight hours out on the bike trails they call roads.  It is rare when we get a U turn opportunity.  I just keep taking deep, slow breathes in and out in and out, concentrating on not clenching my teeth so they shatter, eyes closed rolling in my head . . . ahmmmmmmmmmmmm

This is only an innocent wanna be speed bump in a drive--no matter.

These are the dirty little devils designed to destroy front end suspension.

This picture does not do justice for the neck whipping these evil road adornments deliver.

In the middle of this whine, I shall interrupt to say, our days of searching for people was salvaged by some very good people opening their doors with welcoming smiles.  They remind me of the pretty flowers we find along our way as we walk by the small plots in yards that are overgrown with weeds and garbage everywhere and discover, in the midst of it all, a lovely little patch of garden tenderly nurtured and cultivated to give pleasure to the otherwise dreary surroundings.


Earth and her ten thousand flow'rs,
Air with all its beams and show'rs,
Heaven's infinite expanse,
Sea's resplendent countenance--
All around and all above
Bear this record:
God is love.     "God is Love," hymn 87 from HYMNS OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

Do you see the little hairy fellow smiling at you from under his baseball cap? Cute sleeves on his jacket too.

". . . and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness  a Supreme Creator."  Alma 30:44