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READING? TRY THIS! Being without Sarah for most of the summer was starting to make me strange, so it felt good to journey out to Redmond where she has been braiding tall grass beside the Sammamish River Trail just south of the overpass at 60 Acre Park. It was my first time crossing the 520 floating bridge on a bus with my bike, 545 Express to 154th and 85th, then a short ride north on the path, about 10 minutes, a snake painted on the asphalt more or less marks the spot. It was sweet of Sarah to braid this fractional section into a spiral to show she'd been thinking of me. Although she is left-handed and I am right- we both assemble our spirals counterclockwise. Why? "Let's eat!" A feast at shaded picnic table, Araya's all-you-can-eat vegan Thai buffet takeout (as much as I could fit in a single to-go container--quite a lot). We did not wait to take a dip in the whispering slue, dragonflies, little fish, and a tumbling puffball which danced briefly along the surface before sinking in. The actual braiding resembles toil. It is hard work-- you can hear it in the sound the tough grass makes. Not quite a protest, more like the grunts of a chiro- practic patient getting an alignment and it does seem as if the field is growing a backbone, more spine than serpent. But that's just the projection of a vertebrate. I'm biased to cycling, too, and the weather couldn't have been better for bikes and this same continuous ribbon of pavement could take us all the way back to Fremont, a slightly daunting distance but flat and free of motor traffic it was impossible to resist. After 12 years, our hearts are still bicycle-chained together. |
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