Long Walks On Leafy Streets

10/16/2014 Tuckerman St NW, Washington, DC
This has been a very exhausting and extremely busy week. I have been working almost non-stop on a grant proposal and still the end is not in sight! Dealing with people has also been adding to the strain. Thankfully in the middle of this our family received some good news that I will share later.
I haven’t had much time to do anything but I do continue my practice of running and meditating every other day. Nicole and I have also started a new family tradition of eating our dinners together on a table without the TV and then meditating for a short while after that. All of this is helping me stay calm during this stressful time. I have also been reading Eckhart Tolle’s “A New Earth.” We have a group from the Washington Mindfulness Community meeting in our home every other Wednesday to read and discuss it. Tolle also wrote the very popular book “The Power of Now.”
His new book talks about how magical life can be if we let go of our superficial ego and connect with others with the knowledge that the same eternal light shines in all of us. How true that is!
On Tuesday morning this week I went running around 9. It was truly magical. A gentle, cool fall breeze flew comfortingly while multicolored leaves floated like snowflakes in the air. The sky was covered in clouds with just enough silvery sunlight seeping through. It was one of the most pleasant and exhilarating runs I have ever had. Nice way to welcome and be welcomed by fall.
Last Saturday I organized a bike ride for the Nature Lovers’ meetup from Fort Totten through various places in DC on bike lanes. It was drizzling all morning and I worried that no one might show up. This was done jointly with Sierra Club and normally we don’t cancel rides unless there is severe weather. Luckily one lady, Clare, showed up. She has been on previous outings with the meetup, especially the ones organized by Lori. The rain faded away once we started biking and in fact we didn’t face much rain at all throughout our hour-long ride. We rode on the interim route of the Metropolitan Branch trail from Fort Totten to Brookland and then the completed portion of it from there to Union Station. From there we biked to Pennsylvania Ave and then took 15th St and the Mount Vernon trail to Crystal City. Some of the bike lanes are protected from traffic by barriers. On Pennsylvania Ave the lane runs right in the middle of the road. It was a great ride. Parts of Pennsylvania Ave were closed because of the annual DC food festival. It was fun to bike and nice to have company, especially people who care about nature.
Saturday the 5th was also a great day. I attended the fall meeting of the Sierra Club Potomac Regional Outings Program. We discussed our hiking and other outings and plans for the future. It is a wonderful group of people, and they all love the outdoors. I biked to Fort Totten, then took the metro to Reston station, and then biked from there to Walker Nature Center where the meeting was held. The Nature Center building was very tastefully built, with many environmentally friendly features. I liked the motion sensing lights in the restroom and the recycled material used to build it. Reston itself has been planned with harmony with nature in mind as I have written in these pages before. Nicole and I had gone on a hike here just after the new silver line rail route opened. While the meeting was going on I got the good news that I mentioned earlier. I will write more about that later but it made for a rather pleasant bike ride back to the station and then a peaceful and happy train ride back home.

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