Spider Web (219/365)

“The means to gain happiness is to throw out from oneself like a spider in all directions an adhesive web of love, and to catch in it all that comes”

Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy (Russian moral Thinker, Novelist and Philosopher. 1828-1910)

TIME:  7:00 PM
PLACE:  Dr. Tom Amlung Nature Trail
SUBJECT:  Spider web

I rode my bicycle early this morning but forgot my camera.  Of course I saw many things I wanted to take a picture of, but since I didn’t have my camera with me, I couldn’t.  Grrrrrr.  This evening, after dinner, I escaped from the house and children and drove the Miata out to the Nature Trail (which is part of the bike trail) at the college campus.  I spent at least an hour there taking pictures and then headed to the nearby Wal-Mart to pick up some school supplies and other assorted items.  My, how my Saturday nights have changed from when I was in my twenties.

Flower Fireworks (184/365)

 
“Flowers construct the most charming geometries: circles like the sun, ovals, cones, curlicues and a variety of triangular eccentricities, which when viewed with the eye of a magnifying glass seem a Lilliputian frieze of psychedelic silhouettes.”

Duane Michals, *The Vanishing Act*

TIME:  7:43 AM
PLACE:  Along the bike trail
SUBJECT:  Queen Anne’s Lace

MonkeyBoy and I woke up early this morning and rode the bike trail.  We counted the animals we saw while riding: 13 rabbits, 11 squirrels, 1 cat and one cardinal.  There were many Queen Anne’s Lace flowers along the trail.  I made MB stop so I could take a photo of them.  I said that some of them look like snowflakes; he said that they reminded him of fireworks.  Being that tomorrow is the Fourth of July, I think that his observation is more appropriate.

Great White Egret (158/365)

 
“the small white blacklegged egret, how beautiful, quietly stalks and spears the shallows, darts to shore to stab—”

Archie Randolph Ammons (b. 1926), U.S. poet. Corsons Inlet (l. 74). . . Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry, The. Richard Ellmann and Robert O'Clair, eds. (2d ed., 1988) W. W. Norton & Company.

TIME:  6:42 PM
PLACE:  North Municipal Gateway Park
SUBJECT:  Common or Great White Egret

After supper, I rode my bike on the trail.  There was a plethora of animals to be seen this evening – rabbits (too many to count), groundhogs (I spied 3 of these guys), a snake (almost ran over him) and this egret.  These birds are pretty common in our area during the summer months.  I noticed this fellow by a pond that is located in a park on the trail.  There is a fountain in the middle of the pond – that’s its water spray you see on the left side of the photo.  It’s been almost 2 weeks since I’ve been able to ride…my legs felt the burn tonight.  Great feeling.

Get On Your Bike And Ride (102/365)

 
“Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride.”

John F. Kennedy (American. 35th President of the United States, 1917–1963)

TIME:  6:51 PM
PLACE:  Bike trail
SUBJECT:  MonkeyBoy and Grandpa

Tonight, MB came with me on the bike ride.  During certain parts of the trial, his comments were almost the exact same as his sister’s: “Wow!” “Cool!” and “This is awesome!”  He did have one comment that he repeated over and over during the evening: “I wish this ride would never end.”  I do believe that he enjoyed himself.

Dandelions (101/365)

“It gives one a sudden start in going down a barren, stony street, to see upon a narrow strip of grass, just within the iron fence, the radiant dandelion, shining in the grass, like a spark dropped from the sun.”

Henry Ward Beecher (American, Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, abolitionist, and speaker in the mid to late 19th century. 1813–1887)

TIME:  5:59 PM
PLACE:  Bike trail
SUBJECT:  Dandelions

DramaQueen rode the bike trail with me and Grandpa tonight.  I must say, she was a trooper and rode the entire 9 miles without complaining, even when I made everyone stop so I could take a photo of the dandelions that have gone to seed.  MonkeyBoy wants to come riding with us next.

Orbon Stove Co. (098/365)

“When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute.  But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute - and it's longer than any hour.  That's relativity.” 

Albert Einstein (German born American Physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921. 1879-1955)

TIME:  6:00 PM
PLACE:  Hometown
SUBJECT:  Building

This is a view from a portion of the bike trail.  I actually took this photo yesterday, before the squirrel situation and the squirrel picture took precedence as the photo of the day.  Our city was quite the stove producing mecca in the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s.  I’m not sure what occupies this building today.  I’ll have to do some research on the history of the company to find out more.

The Trail (095/365)

 
“Cycle tracks will abound in Utopia.”
 
H.G. (Herbert George) Wells (1866-1946), British author. repr. In The Works of H.G. Wells, vol. 9 (1925). A Modern Utopia, ch. 2, sct. 3 (1905).

TIME:  6:42 PM
PLACE:  By the college
SUBJECT:  Bike trail

The kids were off school (final day of spring break) and by this evening I needed a break.  So I took another ride on the bike trail again this evening.  Plus, I weighed myself this morning – that was ugly – yeah, I need the exercise.  Last night I rode with my dad, but tonight I rode by myself.  I stopped to take this picture by the college where the trail ends.  It’s a pretty spot on the trail, with natural grasses and woods.  Then I rode to the end, turned around and headed home – another 9 miles in total tonight.  I hope to ride this about 3 times a week.  We’ll have to see how it goes.