How to fall in love with a small southern town...

Ingredients:

• Sunshine
  
• Warm cool breeze
  
• Your favorite bike [or other means of self propelled transportation]
  
• A day or afternoon to yourself

Directions:

• After sleeping in and thoroughly savouring your morning by drinking a cup of your favorite beverage, listening to the birds greet the sun, nuzzling with your favorite furry friend, and perhaps catching up with a distant friend via skype, you are ready to head out.
  
  
• Determine where your going, perhaps run a few errands... pick up some fertilizer at the local nursery and stop by the art coop to see the pottery exhibit. Remember, you are traveling light [via self propelled transport], so plan accordingly.
  
  
• Now you are ready. Grab your bike [or other self propelled transport mechanism] and hit the road. Put in your headphones, start you mp3 player, straddle your bike, and get moving... you've got places to go and the sunny afternoon to enjoy.
  
  
• As you ride along the uncongested streets lined with live oaks and older homes with established landscaping, feel the sun warming your skin as the breeze gently cools it. You push your muscles, making the bike go faster, listen to your breath, and feel your muscles begin to swell and your body warm from the inside out. Perhaps you can smell the wisteria that has just started to bloom as the white flowers of the dogwoods and silver bells look flamboyant against their leafless tree neighbors.
  
  
• Stopping at the local nursery, you become lost in the aisles of small potted plants. The annual flowers are brightly screaming for attention and the small veggie seedlings are modestly waiting to planted. You take a few moments and settle into a patch of grass to enjoy the sun warming your skin and watch the few clouds slowly move across the bright blue sky. "Why is the sky so much more blue here, so far from the ocean?," you ponder to yourself. Soon the nursery is closing, so you grab the fertilizer you came for and hop back on the bike.
  
  
• You ride, just for the sake of riding. You curiously explore the small, rural, southern town you now call home. Wandering over the railroad tracks, you find a cemetary and traverse the dirt track road. Then, you head out of the cemetary and come upon a fish market that you've been curious about. Passing by it each day on your way home, you were never sure if it was ever open or a relic, like so many of the shops that once populated the small town. But the fish market it open, so you prop your bike up against the building and head inside.
  
  
• After a few questions about what they carry and where it's from, you ask about their hours and then set out again. Daylight is burning and you want to enjoy every minute of it! You head over to the art co-op to check out the pottery exhibit and notice they are having another event in the adjacent old fire station building. You head over to check it out. There are a few nice pieces, but you are not overall impressed. So, you hop back on your bike and set out again.
  
  
• It's getting late and you are planning to attend the outdoor movie tonight at the park by the river. You head home to relax and grab a bite to eat. As you ride home, enjoying the sun and light breeze, you realize it... the joy that is flowing through your body bringing a smile to your face. "This is it," you say to yourself, "this is living... Oh, how I love my life!"