Robert Schumann wasn\’t the only one who had daydreams. Sometimes I forget about cycling for a while and imagine what I\’d do if I had a house of my own.

More specifically, I think about how I\’d decorate it. Way back in about 2003, a friend of mine said she wished I could buy a house that had belonged to her parents. When I saw a home decorating book in a book store that was having a going-out-of-business sale, I snapped it up.

I didn\’t buy that house, and it\’s actually lucky that I didn\’t. It was located in a part of town that was badly flooded during Katrina, and was a total loss.

If things had turned out differently, and I had gotten the house (without the flood!), it would have been fun to try out different painting techniques as described in the book: ragging, sponging, and so on. My idea was to mark out squares on a wall; three feet each side, let\’s say. Then I would have tried out different colors and techniques to see what I liked and what looked good.

I still think it would be fun. Now that I\’m a cyclist, I could paint bicycle murals all over the place! Oh, the dreams I have!