entry nº 33 // 20180831

notes from a bike ride [archive, early summer]

already drunk off the richness of the summer smells permeating everything today, heat, dirt, manure off the fields off to the left and right, flowers, leaves, the scent of explosive, unchecked growth, no portion control on the nutrients out here it seems, as far as plants are concerned, and it makes the air thick with its aroma. 

pause on the way up the first hill and look back over your shoulder to find a big majestic cumulonimbus looming in the sky out, up over the fields, shaded pink and orange, its features almost too crisp in relief against the bottomless blue sky, like it was carved of marble or alabaster. you feel surprised by its presence, like when you realize someone else is in the room with you and they’ve been there all along without your noticing. 

turn your attention back toward the road ahead and, wait, what’s that dashing across the way up there? mind flickering in those first few instants while you process what you’re seeing: cat? no, too big… wild boar? tanuki? no, gait is too weird… holy shit it’s a goddamn monkey! you didn’t know there were monkeys around here?! stop at the spot where it ran into the woods on the other side and it’s sitting up on the retaining wall there, looking at you, and you’re sitting there looking at it, and that’s how it goes on for a few precious moments, the two of you just kind of paused there, regarding each other. 

fumble around for your phone so you can snap a picture, which you finally manage to do as it turns around and saunters off into the woods. you stand there for a few more moments, in that happy after-surprise daze, thinking dang it’s dreamy around here (which, you realize gladly, isn’t such an unfamiliar thought). thinking what is this, a ghibli movie?, you continue on your way, and okay, what’s that weird leaf moving across the road up there? leaves don’t move like that… oh wait it’s a big bright red and green crab. seems like an odd place for a crab to be, but on the other hand who are you, at this point, to be questioning what belongs where in the world, or how it got there. 

final push up the steep part of the hill comes and goes real easy this time around, happy head swimming with summer magic, heavy hard breathing feeling a bit more distant than usual as your legs get you up over the crest, send you sailing down the pitch on the other side.