LA River Ride (preview)

When my collaborator said Friday is writing day, I must have heard RIDING day because I took off on Friday afternoon at 2:30pm like a bullet and overshot my destination.  It's easy to do on the LA River Bike Path, which takes you along the I-5 corridor.

The wildflowers were spectacular and the skies couldn't have been bluer.  I met my mirror image.  At a stoplight.  She wanted to ride with me, perhaps considering I was wearing as much fluorescent yellow as possible in addition to reflectors.  With the help of her mobile device and McDonald's free WiFi, I got back home without reaching my original destination.  Something about the next turn being 'Apex' I knew there would be no soon end to the climbing and I was out of gas.

Sometimes it's fun to see where the city leads you.  There were two streets I identified with.  One I called out 'Muhlenstrasse' because it was steep like the street in Jena I used to push my bike up on foot rather than choke halfway up.  It was actually called Alessandro.  Why is it always a freakin' hill?  That guy must have been one powerful dude if every street named after him is a long climb.  Made me think of a friend from Jena of the same name.

Long days give way to high productivity.  I can feel the solstice coming, it's only 10 days away.  From LACC you can see a cathedral of Scientology, the Hollywood sign, and Griffith Observatory; it might be fun to visit the last one on the solstice.  They have a cool sculpture that reads out the time and date by objects' shadows and alignment with the heavenly bodies and the energy emanating from them.

20 miles of SMILES

Speaking of collecting photons...The radish (easter egg blend) seeds are almost ready to harvest.  Spinach too.  Harvested Mexican Poppy seeds today.  Lettuce and chard are bolting.  Squash is flowering and fruiting.  So are tomato and pepper.  So is basil.  I started more radish (white icicle), new carrots (Danvers #126), new salad mix, and a bunch of herbs that I haven't had in awhile.  V-I-C-T-O-R-Y.  Spell it with me!  Made some new seed packets too.  And a new set of QR codes.  Just need popsicle sticks to finish that project.  And time, love, and tenderness.