My good neighbours are cyclists, and I have watched them set out for their ride, eager and filled with expectation … then return with happy faces fresh from their travels filled with stories of trails and birds and just feeling good!
So I thought, I need to do this as well. It will help in my effort to keep my weight down (hope runs eternal), and I want to explore these trails that are minutes from my home.
First step buy a good bike and get rid of the clunker I had bought at a garage sale 10 years ago for $15. Off I went to the Danforth’s Cyclepath, a friendly store just around the corner, and I laid my money down.
I’m off riding the trails and discovered my favourite,Taylor Creek, down Beechwood Road, and the journey begins.
The wind is cool against my face, the downward hill is steep and the speed makes my heart jump a tad, then the trail, ah, the trail.Tall grass filled with wild flowers, sprays of yellow, blue and white.
Four or five finches flutter up to the sky. Just as I race by, an oriole darts across inches from my chest. It’s all good, we all belong. I watch people enjoying this reprieve, doing yoga, walking hand in hand, and together, we strangers know that we are sharing something special. This place of beauty, of peace, and for now, the rest of the city’s roar is a very distant din.
The creek’s mood changes every day. It rolls sleepily some days, it rushes after a storm, and then it is still, totally still like a reflecting pool. It is disturbed only by children quenching their skin from the hot sun, their laughter ringing out like music. Back up the hill, heading home and feeling ready for the world again, I open the door, the phone rings.…
Rita Chiarelli plays at Hugh’s Room, Sept. 18