Fourteen Jewel Box volunteers, fishing cranes and begging squirrels and sparrows
Today I rode in “the back door.” Down Tamm to Oakland, over the Tamm Ave. bridge, and west to Skinker. Down Skinker about 100 yards to the little back bike trail into the woods. This trail comes out behind the Art Museum. I enjoy this route but don’t take it too often. Not much riding (miles) before one leaves the “highlands” and descends to the “lowlands.” I like it especially in the hot summer days when I ride about dawn, since it off this trail that I most often see the coyote (which I haven’t seen yet this year).
After riding around the top of Art Hill, I descended on the bike trail past where they are working daily on the set for Shakespeare in the Park (just ½ block south of the Art Museum).
Thus, only 2 miles into my ride I was down in the lowlands, along Grand Basin. I circled around it and some of the golf course, rode down by the back of the zoo, along the bottom of the hill where the World’s Fair pavilion is, around the Muny and through the woods across the street.
By this time I was up to 7 miles, but needed to get in lots more, and this meant returning to the ‘highlands.” I took one of the roads that leads up to the back of the Muny and on over to the Jewel Box. It was a bee-hive of activity. It is now, especially by this time, some three hours after I was there, all planted with new colorful summer flowers and plants. There were FOURTEEN volunteers working. I counted them. 13 women and 1 man. Hmmmm, any older men who want to meet older women – volunteer to plant flowers at the Jewel Box. The odds are good.
I rode round, greeted the folks, complimenting their work as though I was the mayor or something, and took off along Triple A to find some golf balls. Only found three.
After circling the baseball fields, I was ready to descent back down to the lowlands, and headed for the wet lands. I had lots of fun there. On the east side, just below Kingshighway, there are two very long curved wooden bridges. Crossing one of those I noticed a very graceful white crane was fishing, so I leaned against the bridge railing and watched. This bird was walking in about 4 inches of water, very slowly. It was a skinny, but large bird, with a neck well over a whole foot long. It’s head was a very narrow triangle. It would walk a bit, and sit dead still. Then, in a flash so fast the eye could barely follow, that head would dart down into the water and it would come up with a very small fish. The bird was lightening fast and never missed. Finally it came up with a larger fish, about 4 inches long and walked up on the bank, into the high grass to eat that. I took that as my moment to take leave and went on.
I was getting on to 10 miles (and it is three miles home from Lindell where the Historical Museum is), so I decided to stop at the Visitor’s Center, at Forest Perk Café, for coffee, a treat and some reading. Today they happened to have chocolate chip scones, so I got one with my coffee and sat out on the front deck, in the shade. It was lovely. I had begun my ride with a modestly heavy sweater over my long-sleeve shirt. But by this time I had put the sweater in my basket. It was lovely on that deck. As I began to eat I noticed with some delight, that the scone crumbled very easily. I like that since the little sparrows, and sometimes even the larger starlings come looking for handouts. I flip some of the crumbs on the ground and the birds just zoom in. I was drinking my coffee and reading my book, only watching the birds in my peripheral vision, when I head a strange squeaking. I looked down and there was a very large squirrel, not one foot from my shoe looking up at me. I was so surprised. This was a first here, or actually at any coffee house in St. Louis or even Europe, where I had a squirrel so very close.
I broke off a piece (carefully -- as much as I wanted to feed the squirrel I didn’t want to give up any chocolate chips!) and flipped a piece. It was a decent piece about as large as the first joint on my baby finger. The squirrel picked it up, and sat right up on it’s back legs, holding the piece of scone in the front paws and began to eat, its jaws moving so incredibly fast. It was really cute. I went back to my book.
Within moments the squirrel was squeaking again. I started to reach down with a piece to see how close I could get to it, but decided that was a bad idea. The squirrel seemed not about to move and those teeth looked incredibly sharp. I flipped another piece and it sat there eating.
Before long my first cup of coffee was gone and I realized if I left my scone there, even covered up, the birds and especially the squirrel would get up on the table and get to it, so I carried it with me into the café to fill up my coffee. The squirrel did run off then, but the minute I came back it was at my foot squeaking away.
The scone didn’t last long, and I did get about ¾ of it at least. After a third cup of coffee and finishing the book I had been reading (I had a new one with me, but decided not to start that one until I got home on my own front porch), I decided to head on home. I did have to back track ½ mile to the east, to get back to this point at my 12.2 miles, so that I’d get home just at 15. I got interested in the turtles on the logs when passing the ponds in the wet lands and went a bit further, so today’s ride ended up as 15.5
Coming up Skinker Ave. is a really long trip. It’s exactly .9/10 a mile from the corner of Forsythe to Hi-Pointe Theater. But it is one long, if gradual, hill. When I pull up at the stop light at Hi-Pointe I am always puffing heavily. I guess that’s good for me. The ride home, another 9/10 miles from Hi-Pointe is very easy. Mainly down hill (very gradually) or flat. I get up enough speed as I pass St. James Church that I zip up my lawn and have to apply my breaks to avoid running into my own rose bushes.
Fun fun ride on a really beautiful day.
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