let us hope that we are all preceded in this world by a love story

i've recently discovered a lovely little film called sweet land.
it's a love story; a slow, simple, and quiet love story.
while the film is mostly spoken in english
the female lead character speaks almost exclusively german
and her words are deliberately unsubtitled.
the language barrier is effectively portrayed
and yet the performances are so good
that there's no question about what's being said.

the lighting in almost every frame is beautiful,
whether it's a room lit by kerosene
or the sun shining on a wheat field.
the love story is understated.
it takes its time
and this creates a depth and believability
that i think are lacking in so many romantic films.

the film was shot and takes place
in southern minnesota
which makes it all the more charming and relatable to me.
rent it, borrow it, i'll lend you my copy. :)
it's not a perfect film, i don't want to build it up
to an impossible level,
but it's very, very good.

-nicole

adventures in biking

yesterday was drizzly and overcast
and at 3pm i had before me the task
of biking home.

i love rainy days,
they stir up abundance inside of me
and leave me in this lovely place
somewhere between peaceful and energized.

so i set out on my bike,
rainy day songs playing in my ears,
raindrops making my eyelids flutter.
i had the bicycle path to myself
on this most fortunate of days
so i decided to practice bicycling with no hands.

things went surprisingly well and before long
i was able to steer around curves in the path
and even relax my arms
and put them by my sides
instead of holding them outstretched
to keep my balance.

the rain felt good running down my hair,
dripping off my cheeks
and i sang like no one was listening because
most of the time, no one was.
except those raindrops
but they're good secret keepers.

and then today.

the sun was shining but the air was cool
and i was once again biking home around the lake.

i had worn my sweatshirt during my morning ride
but no longer needed it so i had tied it
around my handlebars.
but it became loose early in my ride and somehow,
whilst tightening my sweatshirt's hold on my bike,
i lost control and went flying down a small
hill filled with bushes that separates
the bike path from the walking path.

there was nothing to be done,
i was going too fast and could not stop.
through the bushes i flew
and i finally crashed to the ground
on the asphalt walking path.

i just laid on the ground for a few seconds,
feeling a little shocked and a little embarrassed.
my head was downhill from my legs,
legs which were also intertwined
in both my bike and the bushes.
i tried to get up but the laws of physics had other plans
and things hurt all over so i gave up,
put my head back down, and started to laugh.
it was the only thing to be done, really.
thankfully two mom ladies came running over
to see if i was okay and one of them
picked my bike up for me which enabled me
to pick myself up off the ground.
i assured them i was fine,
thanked them for their kindness
and got back on my bike,
my pride mostly intact.

even though i was bleeding, in a lot of pain,
and had dirt and gravel embedded in multiple places on my body,
i couldn't help but laugh all the way home.
i'm sure i had made quite scene
and there had been plenty of people there
to see the whole thing go down.
i think falling is really funny
and i hope they all got a good laugh
at my expense. i really mean that.
i hope they had compassion, too,
but i really hope they laughed.

my battle wounds are as follows:
a somewhat deep scratch on the back of my left leg,
a chunk taken out of my left knee (still some dirt in there),
a swollen scrape on my left hip (definitely a small piece of gravel in there),
two painful, lumpy bruises near my left elbow,
broken blood vessels in both palms,
lots of dirt and gravel deeply embedded into my right palm,
it stinking hurts to bend my left arm and my neck is a little sore.

i decided i'm going to get a helmet this week
since if i'd landed on my head instead of my side
things could have been bad.
plus i promised my mom when i started biking
that i'd get a helmet, and promises are for keeping.

-nicole

tree hugger (part 2)

at work a few days ago i had a table of four folks,
two of whom were native american.
one of them was an older gentleman,
and through the course of conversation
i learned that he was a dakota indian
and his tribe existed right where we were standing
until about 1840.
he was dressed in a bright salmon shirt,
his long gray hair intertwining
with his many necklaces
made of beads and animal claws.

they were an altogether lovely
group of people
and i enjoyed hearing bits of their
conversation every time i walked by.

when i came over to clear a few plates
he asked if i was studying anything in school
and i said i was not in school anymore
but had attended college,
had studied theatre and biblical languages.
and then i added the usual,
"but i might go back because i really
would like to study ecology."
one of the gals at the table said,
"see. you were right."
i stood there in a confused state
and then she said,
"he told us you were an environmentalist,"
and nodded toward the old man.
"are you a tree hugger?" he asked, smiling.
i started to laugh and told him that yes i was
and i had climbed a tree just days ago.
he said he can tell things about people
and he could tell i cared about the environment
and that i had a special affection for trees.

we then had an interesting discussion about the earth,
exchanging viewpoints from our respective belief systems.
"man was not given dominion over the earth to exploit it
but to care for it..."
it was very enjoyable except for the part where
my boss got mad at me for talking to them for too long.
ah well.

-nicole

tree hugger

this afternoon i rode bikes with a couple friends
and we stopped for a rest at the most
wonderful park in minneapolis.
my friends helped me climb a tree that i've
wanted to climb for years.
i'm not tall enough to reach the lowest branch
so i always contented myself with splashing
in the nearby fountain instead.
but these friends understand the significance
of a good climbing tree
and worked together to help me climb it.
once the three of us were settled into its branches
we just sat for awhile and enjoyed the day.
i was so pleased to finally be in the tree.
i couldn't stop marveling at the fact that i was sitting there,
with my friends on either side.
at that moment it was the very best place.

-nicole

caution: me behind the wheel

i just got my new driver's license in the mail today.
i renewed it last saturday,
the day before it expired.
due to this expiration
i had to renew it before i could rent
a car for the weekend and drive to my grandparents' farm.
not only does enterprise pick you up,
they drive you to get your license renewed.
yeah, i had to be driven to the dmv and back
by an enterprise rent-a-car employee.

now, i'd just gotten back from a week and a half in alaska
and maybe i just tried to do to much too soon because
twenty miles down the road,
in my rented chrysler p.t. cruiser (i know, i know),
i got a speeding ticket.
75 in a 60.
i was within spitting distance of the 'speed limit 70' sign.
an hour after that i barrelled into
two garbage-can-sized pylons.
i dented the hood, took out a side mirror
and scraped an entire side of the car.
oops.

always get the optional insurance through
the rental agency, my friends. always.
if something happens all you do is hand them the keys,
sign a form containing your explanation of what happened
and walk out the door.
it's pretty sweet.
i still feel bad but they said cars come back damaged
more often then not.
i guess if i'm gonna get in an accident
it might as well be with a corporation's car
and with their car insurance
instead of with my own.

anyway, i'm sticking to my bike for awhile.

-nicole

and we all fall down

my favorite view of downtown minneapolis
was from the 35W bridge
and this was especially true at night.

as i've spoken with others in the last day,
i've learned that many people
felt the same way i did
when seeing the skyline and the river
as they drove across that bridge.
there are other bridges that cross
the mississippi into downtown
but none with a view that compared.

i've driven that stretch of road hundreds of times.
the bridge was a major part of daily life in the cities.
it scares me that it fell and people suffered.
it scares me that we don't have it anymore.
i don't know exactly how our city will function
without that bridge for the next few years.

this will change the way the city grows,
where people work and live.
it will cause some neighborhoods and businesses to thrive
and others to wither.
or maybe it won't be so bad
and we'll all get it figured out after a little while.

-nicole