a garden, a concert, and bikes

Ahoy,

It seems like August has flown by in the blink of an eye. The RRS flew up to the Bay for a grand total of one day in early August. I spent the day with some friends at a Japanese garden. I was honored to be able to spend some time getting to know a very wise man. It was very much a day of stories. The garden felt like a secret garden. It's an excellent respite from the calamity of the world. I love the calmness of Japanese gardens. It is not my usual state to tune into the quietness that is deafening in a Japanese garden. I feel all the carefulness and attention that this garden exudes. Japanese gardens are marvelous living artforms, continually growing and changing - yet the artists/gardeners are eternally in this struggle to balance the growth/wildness with maintaining a picture moment suspended in space and time. You have to respect somebody who has dedicated their life to a losing fight. You have to admire the process.

That evening we went on to a free concert downtown. It's an interesting observation of mine that people are so amazed when there is a public free event. They happen so often in Chicago. I guess it's easy to take public goods for granted. My favorite part is snacks. I was expecting it to be at the park where you set up a picnic, but it was a plaza type location. We sat on lawn chairs and ate snacks strewn about.

The following day, A and I prepped for our 3rd annual ciclavia patio bbq. We made the grocery run and hopped on our bikes to check out the festivities. Since I had recently sold A's bike (at a profit), he had the honor of riding the cruiser. Our landlord found it tucked in the bushes on the property one day and reported it to the police, but no one has claimed it - so it is the community bicycle. I use it mostly. The food got cooked and people ate. We really do need to start the fire earlier. I always think it takes less time than in reality. It's always great when ciclavia goes through Culver because our friends show up on bikes. Good reward for biking, no?

sizzlingly tamaled,
jt