Vegetables and Bicycles, Part 2

This installment continues my two-pronged urban enviro-hipster attack. First on the agenda: vegetables.

We returned from Minnesota to find plenty of heat and humidity, but nothing close to the lobster-in-a-pot sensation July had so amply supplied. The relatively cooperative weather has resulted in a significant resurgence of our plants. The collards, both indoor and out, are getting broad-leafed; the tomatoes, again both indoor and out, have sprouted flowers and fruits; and the basil has reverted from bolting to leaf production in earnest. In fact, the latter adorned last night's tasty caprese salad.

Given my earlier fawning, it will surprise no one that the plants' resurgence has accompanied a very robust feeling of happiness and fullness, but their role in producing this feeling is difficult to extricate from certain other potential factors--

--of which the other one relevant here is my beloved bicycle, the second item on the agenda.

Wednesday morning, I took a three mile ride past parks and a community garden. Today I reprised my route with slight modifications. In addition to providing the thrill that inheres in exercising a newly-learned skill (such as it is), particularly one that involves some degree of speed and a resulting onrush of breeze, biking also allows an opportunity for impressionistic observation. Walking still seems best for picking up details, like gargoyles and busts of George Washington; driving is efficient but leaves little lasting impression; but biking's medium pace suggests a very significant amount of green on Providence's east side, the trees and gardens prevailing even over the bumps and divets in the road as the neighborhood's standout element. Without the distraction of details, a broad appreciation for the neighborhood's beauty is easier to cultivate.

That's it for now; today you get only gushing. Next time I hope to dig up some new food for thought and riff again on something beyond Summer's and my continued encroachment on urban crunchiness. Also, hopefully there'll be a picture involving the bike!