Huzzah! I'm so with you. One of my greatest joys in life is fixing stuff and bringing dead objects back to life. As for the bike, well, I just wish people understood that going car-free isn't martyrdom, it's freedom. I do it for fun. My fave t-shirt slogan is "Bike -- because it doesn't suck."
I like the note on buying things that’ll last (if you can). I really try to buy the highest quality thing I can afford, with that exact intention.
This is especially present in my coffee bar - I own a cast iron teapot set that should last my next 3 generations. I have a pour over coffee set because the last 3 traditional coffee pots I have bought went out within a year. If the cats don’t knock it down, my glass carafe and metal filter holdery-thing should also last the next 3 generations lol. My espresso machine is a third (at least) hand Ascaso, and they make all the parts very available to keep it running.
It’s a little harder to do with furniture because of the investment, but one day. Until then, second hand does it’s job very well. Facebook marketplace has been quite the blessing.
Oh and most recently - apparently reusable lint rollers exist. I am very excited about this prospect (again - cats). No more half-sticky papers clogging the bathroom trash up!
Hmmm, funny I read your piece tonight. Just talked to my bikepacking grandson about helping me shop for a bike or a trike with a carry basket. My car is a 1998 Toyota I rarely drive. Hmmm…thanks for your thoughts on this Earth Day
I am fascinated by the fact you gave up driving and owning a car in 1987. I think that’s AWESOME! We used to live half a mile away from a grocery store. I walked there and carried groceries home all the time.
Love this. Giving up driving in the U.S. is no easy feat -such a car-and-truck-centric culture with poor cycling infrastructure. How’s the cycling infrastructure in Lake Superior?
We lived in the Seattle area and Eugene, Oregon for years, both places lauded for their cycling infrastructure. Aside from the winters, we've found the biking to be better in Superior for several reasons. First off, the city was pretty much build up before the age of the automobile. While their are some busy, built-up "main drag" roads, the bulk of the city streets are low-traffic residential streets with sidewalks. The city is compact, so it is a good scale for biking and walking. Drivers around here are about ten times more courteous than their harried west-coast counterparts. Finally, bike theft, heck general propert theft, is much less of a problem here than on the west coast. Eugene, which on paper has a perfect bike score, has the highest rate of bike theft of any place I've ever been.
That is fascinating, never would have predicted that difference coming from Oregon. But I’m learning that (as with many things) it’s not always what you would expect with bike infrastructure. My husband is a cyclist from the west coast but we live on the east coast, and I’ve learned that the unlikeliest places can be better for cycling than some with more bike lanes. Where we live now there are hardly any bike lanes to speak of and no shoulder in many places, but with less traffic drivers are pretty courteous and able to move over to the next lane most of the time. Where we lived previously there were technically some bike lanes but traffic was terrible - fast and congested - and drivers did not seem agreeable to sharing the road with bikes.
Huzzah! I'm so with you. One of my greatest joys in life is fixing stuff and bringing dead objects back to life. As for the bike, well, I just wish people understood that going car-free isn't martyrdom, it's freedom. I do it for fun. My fave t-shirt slogan is "Bike -- because it doesn't suck."
Leaving tracks is the best way to reduce your carbon footprint.
I like the note on buying things that’ll last (if you can). I really try to buy the highest quality thing I can afford, with that exact intention.
This is especially present in my coffee bar - I own a cast iron teapot set that should last my next 3 generations. I have a pour over coffee set because the last 3 traditional coffee pots I have bought went out within a year. If the cats don’t knock it down, my glass carafe and metal filter holdery-thing should also last the next 3 generations lol. My espresso machine is a third (at least) hand Ascaso, and they make all the parts very available to keep it running.
It’s a little harder to do with furniture because of the investment, but one day. Until then, second hand does it’s job very well. Facebook marketplace has been quite the blessing.
Oh and most recently - apparently reusable lint rollers exist. I am very excited about this prospect (again - cats). No more half-sticky papers clogging the bathroom trash up!
Hmmm, funny I read your piece tonight. Just talked to my bikepacking grandson about helping me shop for a bike or a trike with a carry basket. My car is a 1998 Toyota I rarely drive. Hmmm…thanks for your thoughts on this Earth Day
Agree. There is a lot of unnecessary waste. Like to keep old things going as long as reasonable and sometimes beyond reasonable.
You are pretty awesome
I am fascinated by the fact you gave up driving and owning a car in 1987. I think that’s AWESOME! We used to live half a mile away from a grocery store. I walked there and carried groceries home all the time.
Love this. Giving up driving in the U.S. is no easy feat -such a car-and-truck-centric culture with poor cycling infrastructure. How’s the cycling infrastructure in Lake Superior?
We lived in the Seattle area and Eugene, Oregon for years, both places lauded for their cycling infrastructure. Aside from the winters, we've found the biking to be better in Superior for several reasons. First off, the city was pretty much build up before the age of the automobile. While their are some busy, built-up "main drag" roads, the bulk of the city streets are low-traffic residential streets with sidewalks. The city is compact, so it is a good scale for biking and walking. Drivers around here are about ten times more courteous than their harried west-coast counterparts. Finally, bike theft, heck general propert theft, is much less of a problem here than on the west coast. Eugene, which on paper has a perfect bike score, has the highest rate of bike theft of any place I've ever been.
That is fascinating, never would have predicted that difference coming from Oregon. But I’m learning that (as with many things) it’s not always what you would expect with bike infrastructure. My husband is a cyclist from the west coast but we live on the east coast, and I’ve learned that the unlikeliest places can be better for cycling than some with more bike lanes. Where we live now there are hardly any bike lanes to speak of and no shoulder in many places, but with less traffic drivers are pretty courteous and able to move over to the next lane most of the time. Where we lived previously there were technically some bike lanes but traffic was terrible - fast and congested - and drivers did not seem agreeable to sharing the road with bikes.
Beautiful and true 🙏💚 Agree 100℅