no big deal but....

well. i'm going to do it. i'm going to brag.

tonight i rode my bike on the autobahn.
and no i did not get a speeding ticket...

seriously. i have a friend from church that said they'd go with me when i said i wanted to ride to Matka. (matka is about 16 + kilometers away (10 miles give or take)) i am glad that i had a buddy. it turns out the residents of the two villages that you pass through are a little less than friendly to their fellow countrymen of different heritage. it would have been fine to go by myself, but i am not planning on doing it ever.
so there are also some fierce hills there and back. hah. my bargin bike had a little bit of a problem with gear change (or so i will blame it on the bike) but all in all it was a decent ride for the trip. and with the fierce up hills came completely radical downs... oh man. thrilling, like verging loosing control type of thrilling. LOVED it.
but on the way back it was getting dark, so we planned to take an alternate route to avoid one of the villages. the first village coming back had no alternate route - but was really steep down hill, we flew so fast through there. i should have taken pictures of the mud all over my face to prove it. we FLEW! i don't think the villagers even saw us. we were in stealth mode.
then just before the next village was the turn off for the autobahn. there were practically zero cars out so it was actually really nice and relaxed. quiet, with superb road texture.
Matka, of course was BEAUTIFUL. we walked about 6 kilometers there along the paths built by slaves during world war two. oh. the beauty that is in that place can not be over come by the man-made tragedy in it's history. The one who made it is bigger and longer lasting...
Thank you Lord for making that place. Thank you for protecting us on the way there. Thank you for the legs and the bike to go there. Thank you for the mud on my face. Thank you for a friend who knows the way. Thank you for how your created is screaming of your existence and your faithfulness.
Thank you Lord.

in other news. my disdain for ficus trees is growing. quite literally.
there are these potted plants that my landlords very trustingly left in my care. one of them was just a wee sprout a couple of months ago. and now look at it.
the dumb thing only had three and a half leaves, and it already shed one. really? what are ficus good for?
ficus. what is it good for. absolutely nothing.
that's what i always say.
i am sorry if i am offending any die-hard ficus fanatics. maybe you could explain to me the reason behind their being. other than acting at a high-rise for all the spiders in my house. and making leaf confetti faster than i can sweep it up. how are they not bald yet? there's like 93 new leaves on the floor every day from the two mature ones that i have put behind the door in the living room. but they still look exactly the same as when i moved in. what the heck? i just wish they would look sickly so my landlords would whisk them to safety as they did that other strange tree that i was apparently murdering.
anyway. someone. please. explain the ficus.
(and yes, i realize that i am contradicting my prior comment of all creation screaming God's name, which i earnestly believe and enjoy... but that didn't include the ficus. i think they are the result of some experiment gone wrong)

*** the above commentary on ficus is restricted to the domestic type that remain in offices and homes feeding on artificial light. not the general species type that includes fig trees. because i love fig trees.