Bike Quotes: Bikes vs. Husbands

"The bicycle is just as good company as most husbands and, when it gets old and shabby, a woman can dispose of it and get a new one without shocking the entire community."

-Ann Strong, Minneapolis Tribune, 1895

I think this Ann Strong might have had the right idea. I sometimes wish I'd just stuck with a bicycle...

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BIke Quotes: Cheaper than a horse

Tens of thousands who could never afford to own, feed and stable a horse, had by this bright invention enjoyed the swiftness of motion which is perhaps the most fascinating feature of material life.
 
-Frances Willard, author of How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle, and suffragette. Willard was a contemporary and friend to Susan B. Anthony.

Though I disagree with her stance on drinking--she was big in the temperance movement--she advocated for some great things back in the 19th century that we now take for granted: federal funding for education, free school lunches, unions for workers, the eight-hour work day, municipal sanitation & boards of health, national transportation, strong anti-rape laws, & protections against child abuse. Hers is an interesting perspective on the bicycle, which was a major factor in the movement for women's emancipation.

Have you ever thought about how amazing a technological advance the bicycle was? Bikes made it possible for people--women in particular--to travel much faster & easier independently when the alternative was a horse or horse & carriage. With no public buses or subways, bicycles were (& still are!) a more affordable & healthy way of getting around.

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Bike Quotes: On Efficiency

The bicycle is the most efficient machine ever created. Converting calories into gas, a bicycle gets the equivalent of three thousand miles per gallon.

-Bill Strickland, The Quotable Cyclist

Yet another reason I love bikes. They are truly green machines, the most efficient vehicle out there.

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Bike Quotes: Desmond Tutu on Cycling

Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Photo Credit: Wa-J via Compfight cc

Found another great bicycle quote for you:

"Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring."
–Desmond Tutu

I met Desmond Tutu when he was in Vancouver last year for We Day. This quote seems pretty typical of his sense of humour. The man is constantly cracking jokes & laughing all the time. & that laugh--it's pretty infectious, partly because the cartoon-like squeaky sound of it is so unexpected.

Though the Archbishop says he hadn't been on a bike since he was in Sweden in 2007, he did gear up in spandex in support of the fundraising efforts of the Desmond Tutu Tuberculosis Centre team for the Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour in March last year. Article & photo here.

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Quotable Bits: What Kids Need

I kind of hate that this comes from an ad, but I really like the sentiment:

“Along with milk and vegetables, kids need a steady diet of rocks and worms. Rocks need skipping. Holes need digging. Water needs splashing. Bugs and frogs and slimy stuff need finding.” 
 – Go RVing advertisement

Who needs toys when you have rocks, water & giant sparrows?

Psst... you can vote daily!

Quotable Bits: Gardening

My husband loves gardening & it feels really good to convert the somewhat useless lawn we had into food production, bit by bit. We also very much want Sprout to understand where food comes from & have a connection with nature. These two quotes from Michael Pollan sum it up well: 

"A lawn is nature under totalitarian rule."


"The garden suggests there might be a place where we can meet nature halfway."


Here are a few shots of our first tomato harvest:

Quotable Bits, or, (Almost) Wordless Wednesday

"Le jeu est le travail de l'enfant."
--René Château

Taking a break in Hope on the long drive home from the Okanagan.

Linking up with Bits of Bee:

Quotable Bits

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." 
--Elizabeth Stone 

There goes my heart, running after a goose at VanDusen.

(I think she's the same one this Wikipedia entry talks about)

When I was still living at home, I couldn't understand why my mother couldn't fall asleep until I got home. As a teenager, there was no chance of sneaking home past my curfew: she would know when I came in.

Now that I have a child--though we're still far from the curfew stage--I can understand why she couldn't fall asleep.





This post is part of Bits of Bee's Tuesday linkup. If you'd like to see more Quotable Bits, or join in the linky yourself, click on the button!