"When the world is running down, you make the best of what's still around."
—Sting
“I don’t want to close big, beautiful open spaces—not when we’re encouraging people to go outside with intention and purpose,” California Governor Gavin Newsom told The Mercury News with respect to exceptions to the STAY AT HOME order during the coronavirus pandemic.
Before heading out for my weekly bike ride yesterday, Cecile and I went for our usual morning walk on the nature trails where we live. Like most mornings we were serenaded by a symphony of birdsong which broke through our still sleepy awareness. The chorus of largely unseen birds hidden in the trees struck a reassuring note within us that in spite of the coronavirus, our ecosystem continues to flourish and renew itself.
My biking companion Bill and I rode adjacent to a long expanse of railroad tracks as we headed for a road that would lead us to a 900-foot hilltop of open hay fields In the Fremont Older Open Space Preserve offering sweeping views of Santa Clara Valley. The dark storm clouds of recent days were now replaced by puffy cumulus clouds. Though I was yearning for sunny blues skies, I have lived long enough to know that life would be boring if we only had clear blue skies and sunshine all day. Clouds to me are the magic show of nature. They are continually moving and disappearing in a slow-motion and seemingly mindful way. We were blessed with beautiful vistas of puffy, rounded blobs of cumulus fair-weather clouds hovering over the mountain slopes.
Just about any off-pavement riding will reward you with fresh air, and great exercise. But, we are fortunate to have easy access to the Santa Cruz mountains which offer the exhilaration of scenic views and long downhill stretches. While I love pavement riding, the variable terrain of mountain trails that include rocks, roots, and ruts makes it even more fun.
We decided to take care of business from our last trip in this area and set off on a trail to Garrod Farms Riding Stables
where Cecile used to take the kids for horseriding lessons when they were young. It was also the place that I used to do Plein air watercolor painting with the Saratoga Community of Painters. The late Jan Garrod was one of our members. One favorite spot to paint was the 28-acre Cooper-Garrod Estate Vineyards just beyond the horse stables. We used to have our Christmas parties in the wine tasting room. On our way there we found ourselves on a narrow trail behind a woman riding her beautiful horse. We let her have the right of way so as not to startle the horse. She alerted us she was making a left turn and we turned right.
While biking itself, is one way of maintaining my fitness and mental health (along with lives streaming yoga, Qi Gong, and meditation), I also see the bike as a vehicle to access natural places of beauty and spaciousness to feed my secondary interest of photography and blogging.
In a recent memo, California State Senator, Jim Beall, whom I had the privilege to volunteer with to help clean up the debris on the Los Gatos Trails and Creek with other volunteers a couple of years ago recommended following the advice and orders of Governor Newsom and the Public Health Officer, related to self-care tips during this time: Taking care of our physical and mental health which includes regular exercise to help boost our immune system. Those permissible activities include: Walking, Running, Hiking and Biking.
