Harmony

As predicted, bicycling resumed. I declined to ride and complained bitterly a couple of days ago about it being too cold. Today was maybe, maybe two degrees warmer. But a couple of days off combined with that snowy interlude made me happy to be on the bicycle.

I was circling back from a trip down into the big city when as passing by the Conservatory I observed this bit of erosion damage in the pool and fountain across the street from the main entrance.That's going to be expensive to repair. It looks dangerous right now and in fact they have erected a fence around that pavilion deal over there. I wonder where rebuilding a limestone wall in a decorative fountain in a park will enter onto the funding priority list for the city. With actual infrastructure often in desperate need of repair this project might not get done right away.

I ended up taking a path through Como Park that led me to spots where I haven't been at all for several years and probably never at all on a bicycle. I came upon this plaque embedded in a rock on the knoll behind the wedding gates on the west side of the lake, near the pavilion.A labyrinth!!

A global harmony labyrinth at that. I love labyrinths and stumbling upon this one immediately made me think of Wireless and I walking the labyrinth inside this large stone building in rural Western Europe.The plaque advises on how to navigate the labyrinth. One of the first bits of instruction is to clear your mind. I figured I could do that so I moved on up to the top of the knoll to get a good look.You have to stay between the lines.

This immediately put me in mind of a station at a bicycle safety day event that I attended while still in elementary school. That long ago event involved riding a bicycle through a figure eight course while staying in a narrow lane formed between two lines on the pavement, somewhat similar to this labyrinth. I decided to see how well I could do at the global harmony labyrinth while trying to keep my bicycle between the two lines.

The labyrinth is designed for walking. The tight turns that a pedestrian can make with ease were completely beyond the capabilities of a two wheeler. Still I rode all of the turns, always outside of the lines but back and forth and around and round, doing the whole task. In the end my bicycle and I arrived here:Nothing that I did today made me feel any more harmonious that this moment from earlier in the ride.That photo is dedicated to the instructor of a photography course I once took. In a critique of an early project he gave advice on how to make most photographs more interesting. The advice has always stayed with me and courses through my head almost every time I start framing a shot.

He said to interfere with the image.

Even interfering with the image does not disturb the tranquility and harmony of giant bronze cattle.