Long Walks On Leafy Streets

7/14/2014 Near Skyline drive, Shenandoah Mountains, VA
Our days continue to be warm and humid with frequent evening thunderstorms. I try to go running or walking early in the morning or evening. It is harder to run when it is humid. The air feels heavier and it takes much more energy to run even at a slower pace.
What is left in the garden is coming along nicely. The squirrels dig up the ground too much, and in the process have destroyed most of the chili pepper seedlings that survive. Only two of them remain and I don’t know how long they will last. The zucchini seedlings on the other hand have grown up into plants of various sizes and somehow the birds and squirrels seem to be leaving them alone. The surviving blueberry seems to have stopped growing but the rose bush has recovered nicely from the disease that attacked it earlier. Last week on Thursday morning I saw a single rose in full bloom and it made me feel very good.
It rained almost every evening last week and so on the subsequent mornings I didn’t have to water the plants. It is nice when that happens. On Friday morning when I walked around the backyard flowers in the zucchini plants as well as more roses greeted me. The plants looked like they were growing happily and the grass looked very green and fresh.
Tuesday and Wednesday evenings I watched the semifinals of the world cup. On Tuesday night Brazil lost to Germany in historically shocking fashion and as if foreboding the result it rained hard with thunder and lightning in Rio de Janeiro that night. We had a thunderstorm here as well, as we were watching. On Wednesday night the same thing happened. Argentina won on a rainy evening in Belo Horizonte and it was raining here as well. This game was one of the best of the World Cup as far as I was concerned and I watched every second of it. It was an absorbing contest, albeit a defensive one. My mind was very calm this day, having spent some time in silence in the morning, and it felt even calmer after concentrating on the game for two hours. When you really focus on something even though there is some effort involved there is a kind of calming effect, as if all of your mind and body are flowing together smoothly and harmoniously. I was able to understand the tactical adjustments and constant movements like never before. It was like reading a thrilling mystery novel. There was constant tension and suspense and you knew at any moment something could happen. You can watch these games too, in their entirety and at any time, on espn3.com.
Last Wednesday was also the anniversary of our Hindu wedding from four years ago. We went to the temple and then had dinner at Woodlands. I told Nicole how the wetness of the evening reminded me of Kerala. It brought back memories of our delayed honeymoon in 2010 when we traveled around Kerala. On New Year’s Eve we were in a hotel in my native town of Ernakulam and as we were getting ready to go out and enjoy the night the rains started pouring. We ended up spending the night in the hotel watching the rain pounding on the roofs.
Back to last Wednesday. As we were driving west from the temple to the Woodlands along University Blvd I was struck by the beauty of the sunset in the distance. Underneath a bank of thick gray clouds the sun lit up a band of silvery sky just above the horizon. It has been a long time since I looked at the sky with the same kind of appreciation. These days more often than not the mind is caught up in mundane everyday worries and I do not appreciate such things as much as I wish I did.

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