As I hit the road on my bicycle today...I cannot explain what a wonderful feeling it was, to have the spring breeze hit my ears. The sound of the breeze that hushed every other sound in the atmosphere away, making itself so prominent, letting me breathe this fresh and fragrant spring air, as I pass by the lilac bushes and crab apple blossoms. I felt sad that we haven’t come to the era yet…where I could have also attached the intoxicating fragrance that was permeating in the air along with these pictures to illustrate my experience :-(
As I had closed into this crab apple blossom, the buzzing of the bees that were in the blossom, had grown so much louder as though they were making it clear to me, my proximity disturbed them and they wanted me to get away!
(A side note: I've been fortunate enough, to enjoy this air, in its full splendor without any side effects although, if there would be any, I would’ve popped some of those over the counter meds and still made it through this clean fragrant air, I think!...Still, its heart breaking to see the affects of these allergies on little kids who are allergic to the pollen dust in the air. With their swollen eyes, irritated skin and asthma episodes..there are many children who fight out this season so brave. Many of the kids stay on nebulisers so they can breath easy.)
This feeling of riding on the bike against the strong wind as it threatens to almost stall the bike..unless, I stand on the peddle and make it circle so, the bike could move another yard, felt wondrous! As I passed the fields of gold
and pots of wishes…
and blue carpets!!
All that energy..I don't know from where it came, but I felt I had so much of it coming, especially, when I had the bike at the highest gear! Sometimes the bike..went so fast...Well good guess! Maybe because I was cycling in the direction of the wind, right?! And other times, I stood up energetically, challenging Vayu himself and made the bike move effortlessly (maybe I’m exaggerating, but why not?! ) against the wind.
As I rode, I was making a mental mark to revisit those, many beautiful spots that I was passing by, of course, with my camera! There I was going around soaking the air of spring, peeking into other peoples yards...trying to look for Apple blossom or the Dogwood bloom or the eastern redbud bloom...There was so much to look for!...While I did all that, I had a women who passed by my yard, asking me if she could come back with a camera so she could click some pictures for herself with the flowers in here :-)
The butterflies are back and so are the umpteen kinds of birds, reminding me that it was time for me to set up some contraption to feed these birds..so there'll be more of them on my yard to photograph, the geese were back at the ponds, instead of pooping on our yards, now that the ponds have un frozen! One also gets to find people standing at the signs that mention "No fishing, Private Property" and watch them fish!
The cherry blossom have shown their beauty and faded away , many other spring wonders are in bloom and still some getting ready for the show. I had gotten up to the sound of chirping birds and realized how long it had been! As I was putting the belts of Richa's car seat...I asked Richa what those sounds were and she exclaimed happily
"The birds are chirping mama!....Spring is here!"
Speaking of which..I'm reminded of the chirpy family that might be living somewhere around our bedroom and the wake up alarm we get from this family on the dot. 5.00am it is! Even on weekends! That's when I realized the positive of having a mechanical alarm clock vs the natural one.
And before I knew it, it was already an hour or more I had been on the road. Time to get back on foot, if I have to cover all this distance before I've to head off to pick up Richa, I think. So I zip back home, and park my bike and now armed with my camera I start back. The maples were breaking leaves, the pear blooms were shedding like white soft rain that doesn't get you wet, the sky decorated with such shapely clouds, that one could test out their perceptions to their extremes, the grass was being mowed on some neighbors lawns and that wind, who unfailingly accompanied me everywhere.
I love spring. Not that winter had been bad. Last winter was one of the most active ones we had in years..but, there is an unmistakable happiness when spring arrives. The colors of our mind changes too! The greens and pinks and blues and yellows and the different shades that come out of their combinations take over the mind.
The kids get to go out to play in the yard everyday now…There’s a big group of kids who collect in the back yard. Even Richa, runs out as soon as she spots any kid outside. I was reminded of one such evening…. I was washing the dishes watching the kids outside the window. I heard Ni-Hao Kai Lan mention on the TV
“Shall we play Dinosaur Games?”
And I thought “YES!”
That’s when I realized that it was me who was following the channel as I had done for the last 8 years..and not Richa! She was outside jumping on the trampoline and had left the TV running. On another thought, I left the TV running since the sounds just felt so soothing and familiar :-) !!
At this point..I realized that it was time to visit that road, the one that is lined with Kwanzon cherry trees. It must be in bloom right now. I will have to go walking there this week. As my mind started to plan for an appropriate time when I could make it on foot to there...I realized I had to get back home.
Don't forget to visit my gala spring display here!
