Friday's Field trip

I love old houses. I love my retro, one-speed blue bicycle with a basket and a "I heart my bike" bell. So Friday's bike ride through some of my favorite Denton neighborhoods was just the medicine I needed to end the work week.

My friend Callie accompanied me and with cameras in hand we took off toward Oak, Egan and Congress Street.

I was born in Denton and have loved this town for as long as I can remember. It's nice to have roots somewhere, for memories to be connected with certain places and with certain people. And while so many of the houses I photographed are ones that I have grown up driving by, I so rarely stop to study them, to look at how beautiful and often quirky they really are. 

My oldest, life-long friend grew up in a little house at 810 Congress, and since she moved out about 14 years ago, I believe that house has been painted ever color imaginable, which we laugh about often. It's a great house, and yesterday as I rode past it, I just had to stop for a moment and remember. I had to remember getting splinters in my feet from the old wooden floors and camping in her backyard as we attempted to catch fireflies in glass jars. 

It's sad sometimes to feel as though life is quickly slipping through my fingers, like I can't reclaim the last 23 years. They have been good years, and I'm glad I have this place — Denton, Texas — to help me remember what a blessing life has been as it enables me to dream about the future.