Month: July 2005

In downtown Aiken we have an ice cream parlor called the Sweet Cow Creamery. They have something called The Holy Cow, eight scoops of ice cream in a waffle bowl, if you eat the whole thing by yourself you get a free T-shirt. Every time we have company in town we invariably end up there for ice cream and Donna tries to get someone to try and eat one. Her bigger brothers, her younger brother, my brother-in-law, my sister, her sister, me, but no one wants to do it, whether for fear of failure or tossing their cookies or maybe permanent brain freeze, but no one has volunteered to take the challenge. Yesterday she finally got a taker, a friend from the old Navy days was in town and her 15-year old son said he’d do it if she would too. The contest was on.

As a warm-up, Donna and Mike walked the 3 miles into town together while his mom Chris and I chatted on the screened porch for about 30 minutes to give them a head start. Nervous energy must have caused them to walk a little fast because they actually beat us to the The Sweet Cow. Chris And I had to make a run to the ATM while the Holy Cows were being prepared, as they cost $11 each. Somehow we forgot the think that they might actually charge for the thing.

Donna actually finished a few minutes ahead of Mike, but he too managed to devour heaps of ice cream and waffle bowl. They each are now the proud owners of T-shirts that say Holy Cow on the front with a cute little cow cartoon and on the back in big letters it says, “I Can’t Believe I Ate The Whole Thing!”

I forgot the digital camera, but Chris had her SLR and promises to send us some copies. If it won’t cause irreparable harm to my marriage I’ll post a picture or two. While there is possible embarrassment in the photos, I think Donna is more worried about when they post her name on the big list that is in their front window…

Update: The Sweet Cow Creamery printed up the new window banners – photos here.

As if living through the eighties once wasn’t bad enough. I found a channel on the digital cable channel line up that I swear wasn’t there before, VH1 Classics. And like our natural reaction to a car wreck on the highway, I slowed my channel surfing to watch. What was with the little aerobic instructor headbands on guys. Rod Stewart was very feminine back then. Yikes, who dresses Stevie Wonder, a pink v-necked cashmere sweater!?! The last video I watched on the channel before I sped away was by a group called Scandal with Patty Smyth singing, appropriately entitled “Goodbye To You.”

I thought I had a left over blog post rattling around in my head from the weekend that I could use here, but can’t seem to find it tonight. I guess I’ll just head into the living room and see if TDPM is on one of the movies channels.

And I think I listened.

Donna and I used to bicycle a lot. It was nothing for the weekend to consist of a 50-60 mile ride on Saturday followed by a 15-20 mile easy ride on Sunday. Then we were riding to work, 12 miles round trip, a couple three times a week. But a medical issue for me back in 1993 put a damper on the fun. First it was once a weekend. Then they changed bike parking policies at work so we quit the commuting. Then it moved to 25 miles every other month and so on until our bike mileage decreased to next to nothing. I bet we haven’t even been on a bike in over a year. We still plan a spring vacation around the Tour de Georgia to follow that race and we pay for upgraded cable so we can watch the Tour de France on OLN, but active participation was nil.

On Saturday as we ate our lunch at the Atlanta Bread Company who should walk in but Doug and Alice Walker. Doug and Alice were at the center of the Aiken Bicycle Club when Donna and I started with the club back in 1991. We enjoyed many a ride with them before they drifted away from the Club. Doug was the newsletter editor for many years before he “retired” from it and I took over. We probably haven’t seen Doug & Alice for a half dozen years or so.

Sunday as we left Goody’s, were I was swapping out a shirt I had bought in the wrong size, we ran into Jay Noonkester and June Crawford. Jay and June joined the Aiken Bicycle Club somewhere around the middle 90s are in still members. We chatted a bit before heading our separate directions. I bet we hadn’t seen Jay or June for a couple of years.

The Tour is on TV and just like Sunday at the halftime of an NFL game, watching a sport on the tube, if you are a fan, makes you want to go out and participate. So instead of taking our second hike of the weekend this morning, I dusted off the bicycles, pumped the tires full of air and Donna and I went for an 11 mile ride. Not much compared to the glory days, but it is a start. We both had fun on the ride, now let’s see if those old pains return that sucked the joy out of riding in the past.