Live Free and Ride

Hi everyone.

My page today for Art Journal Journey is certainly a warm weather thing to do. Let's go for a motorcycle ride.

OK, I haven't been on a motorcycle for eons, not since college, but my husband likes to ride. I just need to go buy a helmet and jacket to ride along with him. AND I also have to get up a bit of courage. You might laugh at that, since he is a very good and safe rider.  I just know when we had the jetski he use to dump me in the lake a lot, as well as the one time he took me snowmobile riding back in our twenties and he dumped us onto the snow on that too. I just am a little worried about being dumped on the asphalt. Going who knows what speed on top of it!

Maybe one day I will get brave.

So my page today is all about this postcard I had in my stash and that I altered a bit. New Hampshire has a very high per capita number of motorcycles, and (unfortunately in my opinion) no helmet wearing law. (Although many folks do wear helmets, including the hubby.)  We are also home to the oldest motorcycle rally in the US, Laconia Bike Week, which is just a couple of towns away from where I live.  It usually happens in June around Father's Day, but this year it has been postponed with many changes made to it. 

The postcard also says Live Free and Ride. It is a take off of our state motto which is Live Free or Die,  a quote referenced back to  Revolutionary War hero General John Stark.  This is the same war the UK calls the American War of Independence.  New Hampshire was one of the 13 original colonies that fought for freedom from the British. Anyhow, Stark's quote became our state motto, and it often used in political talk, such when people debate a motorcycle helmet wearing law.  And why our state doesn't have one.

And the last bit of interest in this postcard is the stone face the people in the car are looking at.  It is our state symbol, although it no longer exists in real life. In the White Mountains of my state there was a natural stone face called The Old Man of the Mountain (or Great Stone Face and Profile too).  It was first recorded (according to Wikipedia) in 1805. Unfortunately it collapsed from ice build up in early May of 2003. It is on the standard free license plate and is still a symbol for the state. I'm glad to have seen it many times, and my daughter saw it at least once, but new granite staters (New Hampshire folks) will only get to see photos and hear about it. That is sad.

Yesterday it was grey skies almost all day, and I spent a lot of time on my studio reorganization. Not done yet, but all the big parts are finished. Hurrah! Now I just need to go through my scrap paper bin and the top of a couple of shelves. But the room is picked up and you don't have to walk on paths around my mess. Glad to be at this point as I am ready to be done. (But also glad I've done this!)

That's all for me today.  Time to go Life Free and Ride (in my car that is-smile).