Memory, Memorial, Motion

Today my father would have celebrated his 55th birthday. In his absence, and to honor his memory, I took a bike ride. I extended an invitation to a number of my friends and classmates, and at the scheduled meeting time I was very pleasantly surprised by how many people came out to join me. Another blessing came in the form of the weather. While the forecast for the entire week has been rain, the skies were dry for most of the day as well as for the majority of our ride.

We set out from the school to a nearby shrine set against a dramatic rock face covered in pine, cedar and wisteria trees. Wanting to continue, we then headed down a trail I had never fully explored before. It ended with a dramatic view of a waterfall nestled between two fog blanketed mountains. The day took on this palpable dream-like quality wherein I felt myself cross over to join my father, if only for a few moments.

It was a good day for a memorial ride, and a great day to found the Bicycle Club. The excursion was a total success, and very fulfilling. I even managed to keep dry eyes in public, despite the extremely heightened emotions of the day.

I’m so lucky to have had you as my father for all of those years.

Enjoying Simple Pleasures

These days have been treating me well, perhaps to make up for the Nine Week Silence. I went with friends to a beautiful organic Japanese restaurant in Koide a few days ago. It was located in a gorgeous old fashioned Japanese building, complete with a pond and traditional garden. Inside, the ambiance was amazing in every detail, and they offered things like sakura scones and imported pastas and soya. The menu sounded so delicious cover to cover that deciding was an extremely painful experience. I ended up with a Tempeh Burger, and was not a mite disappointed.

Today, my cycling buddy messaged me shortly after class and we met with our bikes to face the ‘chance of rain’ forecast. It was perfect cycling weather, except for the unusually strong winds which actually pushed us around a lot! We went to the park and explored every corner. I bought some veggies at my favorite veggie vendor, after which the two of us sat out by the pond taking in the view. Luckily, she was up for fuwa-fuwa dome after a while, and we spent half an hour or so enjoying the bizarre trampoline and laughing like children. It was very refreshing. Check out the quality of this cell phone shot from the park!

After riding around the park for a bit, we caught a bite to eat for lunch at Budou no Hana and then headed back to campus. We took a totally new route neither of us had explored before, and found an enormous and beautiful old sakura tree, as well as a whole huge line of younger trees planted not 15 minutes from campus. They were all in bloom, and looked amazing against the still snow-capped mountains.

I think after today we have a pact to go to the park at least once a week. I’m looking forward to next time already.

Motivation amidst melting snow

The snow is melting in earnest, and we’ve had a run of four or five warm days in about a week. The imminent arrival of full blown Spring has done a lot to brighten the mood on campus, and motivated me personally to get some things done that I had been putting off in the previous term. It has also meant that it is easier as well as more enjoyable to get outside! It’s great!

I’ve started watching The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos lately, and have subscribed to The Hour’s video podcast feed. I highly recommend The Hour, and since subscribing I’ve been rummaging through the archives in my free time and watching a lot of really engaging and stimulating interviews. Among the loads of quality interviews featuring interesting guests (ranging from pop stars, to politicians, from scientists to fiction authors) I particularly enjoyed hearing what Margaret Atwood had to say in her interview late last year. Her books feature prominently amid what is occupying my attention.

1. Margaret Atwood‘s latest release, The Year of the Flood takes place in the same universe and during the same time period as Oryx and Crake, one of my favorite books. She has made her book tour vegetarian (‘no fur, feathers, or hooves’), as well as tracked and offset her carbon footprint. Learn more here. In a perfect world my library would include each and every one of her books.
2. My kindle has been dusted off after a few months of neglect. The weather has finally begun to resemble something like spring, and I spent an afternoon outdoors reading Alex Jones’ Losing the News. The innovative display technology of ‘digital ink’ is so readable and easy on the eyes, even in the powerful noontime sun!
3. I have this funny, city style bike called a mama-chari but that hasn’t stopped me from going for a lot of rides lately. Although the ‘rides’ I take cannot compare to the serious, often all day deals my dad would take, I’m enjoying these excursions a lot! A friend and I have been capitalizing on the warm weather to explore neighboring villages, and I’ve been thinking we should organize a casual ‘bicycle club’ to take weekly rides.

A Day Without Shoes! (but with a bicycle)

April 8th is the Toms Shoes event – a day without shoes. This is an awareness raising campaign seeking to highlight the health problems caused for children in developing countries and poorer regions of the world, most of whom grow up without shoes. Learn more at their website: One Day Without Shoes.

I’m participating, although I didn’t get the rest of my act together ahead of time in order to drum up support on campus (there’s still next year!). It really snuck up on me. Anyways, we do still have snow on the ground, but today has been one of the clearest and therefore warmest days we have had in ages. It is fully 50 glorious degrees fahrenheit, and feels warmer with the sun filling up the cloudless sky.

To take advantage of this good fortune a friend and I took a bike ride. It was a little awkward riding without shoes at first (I threw some in my basket just in case), but I adjusted soon enough. We spent and hour and a half of the warmest part of the day basking in the gorgeous changing landscape around us, and exploring previously unknown roads that hug the curves of a nearby mountain. Here are some cell phone shots I took today:

And this last bit is where I walked through the puddles formed by melting snow. We couldn’t stop laughing at my footprints. It was a lot of fun.