Blowin' In The Wind

"The wind shows us how close to the edge we are."

-- Joan Didion

Paper cocktail umbrella 9-11-14

"No one but Night, with tears on her dark face,

Watches beside me in this windy place."

-- Edna St. Vincent Millay, "Night is My Sister"

"Everyone knows it's Windy."

-- The Association, "Windy"

I ride my bicycle primarily around farmland. Right now, the corn is high and the full fields provide lovely protection against the headwinds and cross-winds that typically whip and blow across the flat openness.

Except that now is the time of year when the farmer's start harvesting the crops. And as the combines gobble all of the corn and soybeans, they are also gobbling all of my good windbreaks.

The weather is particularly windy at the moment. Like, tornado watch windy.

Winds like these make it pretty tough sledding for a solo cyclist.

Unless that breeze is at my back, it's nothing but a bitch.

And so, while they still stand, I will appreciate and enjoy each day that the towering stands of corn line my route, like sentinel soldiers, watching out for me. Protecting me from the enemy.

Pretty soon the fields will be stripped shockingly bare and that cruel taskmaster, wind, will have its way, eventually driving me indoors until Spring comes 'round again.

Sometimes you don't know how good you've got it 'til it's gone.

A Strong Tailwind

"For I would ride with you upon the wind ..."

-- W.B. Yeats, The Land of Heart's Desire

Pinwheel  toy 4-27-14

"The wind envelops you with a certain purpose in mind ..."

-- Haruki Murakami, Hear the Wind Sing

"Air, I should explain, becomes wind when it is agitated."

-- Lucretious, On The Nature of Things

Cycling into a strong wind makes cycling feel a lot like hard work.

But thankfully, for every headwind there is an equal and opposite tailwind.

Turning the corner and riding a long stretch of smooth road with the wind at my back makes all the hard work worth it. This the part of the ride I live for -- the warm, gooey center. 

It's like dragging your sled up a huge snowy hill just so you can whiz down and feel the speed and freedom of fast. I'll gladly endure the burn in my legs and plow into a headwind or grapple with a crosswind for the sweet, exhilarating reward of being carried along by a strong tailwind. 

Headwind, bad.

Tailwind, good.

Sun On My Skin & Wind In My Hair

"For what is it to die but to stand naked

in the wind and to melt into the sun?"

-- Khalil Gibran

Barbie 3-11-14

"If you wish to know the divine, 

feel the wind on your face and the warm sun on your hand."

-- Buddha

March's lion momentarily yielded to her lamb-ish side yesterday and it was glorious.

The joggers were wearing shorts. A couple of motorcycles were out. I heard the sounds of children shouting and laughing outside for the first time in months. Large, open patches of grass and Earth bloomed and spread like dirty green stains between islands of receding snow, releasing a sweet Spring aroma of possibility. 

On my way to get the trash cans from the curb, I lingered in the driveway and let the stout but sun-warmed wind work away at my inner cobwebs as I watched flocks of birds dip and soar along the thermals and updrafts. 

I inhaled. I exhaled. I uncoiled and expanded.

The lion is prowling again this morning. I knew she would be. She's never been one to go without a fight. But her knees are buckling.  

Shelter From The Storm

"Everybody needs a safe place."

-- Mary Oliver, Dog Songs

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"Oh, a storm is threat'ning
My very life today
If I don't get some shelter
Oh, yeah, I'm gonna fade away."

-- The Rolling Stones, "Gimme Shelter"

As I sit here safe and sound in my cozy home sipping a hot cup of fresh-brewed cinnamon Starbucks coffee, it's easy to forget that there's a winter storm raging just outside my window. But every now and then the howl of a fierce, frigid wind reminds me that the weather outside is very, very frightful.

It is fascinating to watch the wind. (Yes, Christina Georgina Rossetti, I can see it.) I can actually see the drifts forming as the wind swirls and loops and whorls snow across open the spaces, then bucks and changes direction just before crashing against any solid thing standing in its way. 

It's elegant and graceful, in a way -- like a dance -- beautiful from the vantage point of my sturdy, warm, solid house, underscored by the accompaniment of the furnace's steady, comforting hum.

It may sound trite or obvious to say that shelter is a good thing. Most of the time, it's one of the good things that I guess I take for granted. 

Rather than complain about being antsy, or bored, or house-bound, today I am grateful that I have a house to be bound and bored and antsy in. I don't have to tell you that not everybody is so lucky. 

If you are safe and warm today, and if you have the means, think about donating blankets or coats or food or time or money to your local homeless shelter or soup kitchen.  Don't know of one? There's a really good one in my area called Victory Kitchen that accepts monetary donations online. Click on the link and you can help someone without even leaving the comfort of your safe, warm home.

And today, that's definitely a good thing.

Be safe and take care.