It was 72 warm degrees at 5:05 this morning and mostly cloudy as I brought out Discovery II for a quick, early ride to Meadowbrook Park.
As I rode south with the low light coming up, a word that hovered around my thoughts was “malevolence,” the power of evil, and “evil”, in a practical sense, meaning “harm.” For whatever reason it’s out there, even if I don’t like to watch it on TV and as much as I try to avoid it.
As best as I can figure, it happens when people are so afraid for their survival that they are unable to or somehow don’t consider the effects of their actions on others: from Hitler to Al Capone to mass shooters and maybe even to petty thieves.
Rode along with this mental company, the dimness of the light and my own dark thoughts preventing images from catching my attention until I arrived at the Vine Street entrance to Meadowbrook.
At the Windsor/Vine bridge saw a moving ripple on the surface of McCullough Creek, of the type the underwater-swimming beavers used to make, but did not identify its source. Maybe it was just the wake of a duck.
Rode along the “small loop” under the streameside trees and stopped for spiderwort and Penstemon in the sunrise.
Then got the customary view upstream from the rabbit-statue bridge
and spiderwort in front of the rising sun
and more dense, blue, lovely spiderwort.
Kept an eye on the lead plant in “pinkening” bud.
Greeted the new purple coneflowers
My mood, as always, lightened as I made my way along the path. The flowers were a powerful comfort. They were effective on their own, but also they made me think of my late friend Nancy, who also loved them, and who happened to emanate an evil-neutralizing energy, if you will. She saw the best in everyone and lived to bring it forth and connect it with that in others. I imagined her power of connection and kindnesses still out there working….
