An urban paradox

It's Thursday in Grand Rapids, and it seems like every road is under construction.

Cherry & Eastern

And despite the fact that it seems like it is nearly impossible to get some places by car, it's still quite easy to negotiate route by bike or by foot.  And I know that Art Prize is the driving force behind all this agitated movement.  Everything must look perfect by the middle of September when our whole city will go on display to the rest of the country.

After winding my way through downtown, I headed to my favorite morning destination, Millenium Park.  The fog was lifting and the morning was cool.  Cool and fresh enough to be the first of June.  But the late summer wildflowers belied this impression.

Millenium Park

Passing back over the Maynard using the pedestrian bridge, I thought I heard a familiar call.  As I got closer to the lakes it became louder...the pure two toned call of the Bob White.  It's a song I've never heard in Millenium Park before, and associate with being in a remote northern forest camping.

And then it struck me -- the joke -- that as I moved my life and work focus to the urban area and was now able to bike to work, I am now more connected to nature.   I am not imprisoned in the steel cage stuck on the highway.  I'm sitting here listening to the sounds of the bob-white and watching the stately blue heron pause on a log before slowing lifting off.