Biking Near Lake Farm Park

Biking around Lake Farm Park is fun - it's such a pretty area - my friend Laura and I decided we'd cruise around together yesterday evening. Laura has an electric bike too, although she feels it would benefit from an update to the battery for both power and longevity.

We met at Lake Farm Park and set off on the bike path going west, and it certainly was a nice evening. There were mosquitoes, but we were going too fast for them, so it was just pleasant.

In Lake Farm Park.

The last time I was on this path was when I had biked from my house. A personal best at 11 miles, it didn't set any world records, but I was very happy with the accomplishment. Today I felt a little fresher, since I hadn't already biked 11 miles - but only a little. I had spent much of the day working on my summer's garden project, and was pretty worn out. That's what power assist is for!

After we'd gone along the path for a while, we came to where it crossed a road, and we decided to be adventurous and take the road. One of the immediate rewards was the sight of four giant catalpa trees in a row along a driveway. Laura never travels without her camera, so we stopped to take photos. All the photos in this blog entry are taken by Laura.

Although you can see many fallen blossoms, the ones on the tree are still fresh and beautiful - and they smell wonderful!

On we went up the road, but were soon stopping again. Adventures with Laura are like that - alternating between cruising and stopping to explore something in more depth. This time it was a close-up view of the Sandhill cranes we had seen and heard earlier in a big field. Sandhills are interesting. Their normal adult color is gray, and the ochre color comes from dirt stains. They eat plants, but they also eat a variety of small critters like frogs and mammals.

Laura took me on an excursion to see life-size bison sculptures in a field, including two adults and a calf kicking up his heels. We failed to get a pic, but maybe next time. They are welded of iron and look very at home in their grassy field. 

A wedding tent at Lake Farm Park, with streaming ribbons in the doorway.

Back at Lake Farm Park we went to the access roads along the road to the south, and entered the park that way, heading for the group camp. The drum circle was playing again, so we joined in - until the storm hit! During the deluge we hung out under the small food tent, ate chips, and sang songs that I hadn't heard in years. We watched the lightening until it finally blew past, and played some more.

My Farmers Market in June

Finally on my bike again! I haven't been out for a while, and it was just wonderful to bike to my Westside Community Farmers Market and bring home as many vegetables as I could stuff into my backpack.

My stuffed backpack, with the Westside Community Farmers Market in the background.

I promised I would not go on about medical issues, but I will just gripe briefly about the one that has kept me off my bike. I have an irregular heartbeat, and it waxes and wanes like the moon in its severity. I recently had a sleep study (during which I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. I'm actually hopeful that the treatment for sleep apnea will improve other aspects of my life, so that may not be so bad). For some reason my heart kicked into a highly irregular pattern the night of the sleep study and continued for a solid week. It is (they tell me) not life threatening, but it sure is a gigantic pain in the tuchus. It's distracting, tiring, uncomfortable, and really, really annoying. I make plans, but I have to cancel them or modify them or do them very carefully in slow motion, resting often. I have friends older than I who run marathons or bike 50 miles. I've worked hard this spring to improve my health every way I can - but it would help if the old bod would meet me halfway.

OK, enough of that. I'm still struggling with it, but most of most days my heart does its thing in a mostly normal fashion - and I am profoundly grateful for "mostly normal."

The bike ride to my market is short, and perfect for my first ride in over a week. And I know that I won't get stranded if my heart gets over-excited - I will just come home by full electric power. That's a nice thought to carry with me.

It's early, but there is already a lot at the market, including some of the most lovely lettuce I have ever seen. The cool weather with plenty of rain is just what lettuce loves - so much the opposite of last year. The result is red leaf lettuce so lush, and romaine so crisp, that the huge heads are irresistible. There are also snap peas, the first baby summer squash, spring onions everywhere, and still some asparagus. I buy some of each, along with a jar of purple loosestrife honey, and I'm on my way home.


More photos from a lovely day:

My bike and backpack, Farmers Market tents in the background.

Glorious Market lettuce! This is one single head.

The Market is in the parking lot of the Dept. of Transportation building. The lot itself is not a beautiful setting, but the building has nice plantings - and I've always liked the bike racks.