Long Walks On Leafy Streets

7/3/2015 Beach Drive, Rock Creek Park, Washington, DC
It is 6 a. m and I am not an early riser. I am up only because our son wouldn’t stop crying this morning. I was woken up around 4.30 and spent about half an hour comforting him. He literally cried himself to sleep. I have brought him to the basement with me to give Nicole a break and also so as not to disturb his grandma and Uncle who are visiting us for the fourth of July weekend. It has been that kind of week. There has been scarcely any time to do anything other than taking care of him and essential household duties. Nevertheless during the course of those activities I have had a chance to enjoy nature and that has been a great source of joy.

Last Friday morning I biked to the D. C government office of vital records to get his birth certificate. It was a bright morning and I started early.
I biked along the Metropolitan Branch trail. It has not yet been completed but starting near Fort Totten there is a very good bike route with little automobile traffic. I enjoyed the lush vegetation around Fort Totten. The recent rains have really greened up the city. Trees and vines are thriving and fighting for space in the woods, and gardens are blooming everywhere. After passing fast gentrifying Brookland with its new developments and shops and offices I entered the proper bike trail, with a new asphalt bike path lined with solar powered streetlights. This three-mile stretch from near Union station to Brookland has become quite popular among bikers and runners. I even had it as part of a bike ride that I organized for the nature lovers’ meetup recently along DC’s new bike lanes. It passes Rhode Island Ave metro where they have built a nice bike ramp to the metro station itself. It then goes through the so-called NoMa (North of Massachusetts) neighborhood that has sprouted many upscale condominiums and office buildings. I hope they build similarly good bike lanes and other facilities in all parts of the city, not just in the areas newly developing due to the influx of young professionals. I know they are doing good things along the Anacostia waterfront in the southeast.

On Sunday we took our son to Rock Creek Park. It was our first outing in a week, other than to go to the hospital. It was quite a beautiful day and we enjoyed the sound of the water rushing and the verdant forest all around us. Prashant slept the whole time, perhaps lulled by the stream’s sound that some say resembles the ambient sound in the womb. The creek and the park were really alive after the heavy rains on Saturday. At one point Nicole was struck by how neatly a big pile of branches had been arranged behind a rock by the rushing water. She wondered at the inherent elegance of nature. Whether it is patterns created by water meandering along a sandy plain or the rising sun’s silvery rays spreading through the clouds over the ocean or the whorls of leaves and patterns of petals on a flower, nature is full of beautiful symmetries and hidden regularities.

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