I was feeling really out of shape just doing the bike ride to the coffee shop (for bike to work friday) and wanting to enjoy the splendid weather with the wizard—so we went to this combo bikefest/green fair. The nearby town where it was being held closed off the street; there were bands, and food booths from local restaurants and caterers, and just tons of people wandering around, enjoying themselves.
I took this picture because of the blonde base. Never seen one before. Once upon a time I had a blonde starfield guitar, and so I was intrigued. I didn't even notice the solar panels till I cropped the image & started writing the post.
Absolutely the wildest bike I've ever seen. Evidently it's the sort the local cycle & sing group rides.
Naturally there were lots of bikes there, including this bizarre thing; among others, I saw Bob K with his fully faired recumbent, plus assorted friends at various bike shop booths, which of course were out in force. Plus, um, someone was handing out bicycle-operated blender smoothies, there was a cargobike (I spotted it in the bike parking, actually), tandems (though I didn't see any of the kind I'm most interested in, the combo upright/recumbent style, which among other things allows its riders to a) pedal at differing rates and b) to both have a clear view of the road (instead of sticking person number 2—that would be me—with a view of my partner's head).
Bike polo. I bet this would sharpen up one's manuevering skills. And it's lots cheaper than the horsie kind.
There was more than just bikes, of course—lots of hybrid and electric powered cars (naturally!) all sorts of green builders and supplies, as well as all sorts of groups doing education and outreach. (The great lakes would cover the US to a depth of nine feet. Wow. Also, it takes over a thousand gallons of water to produce a pound of cow, far and away (by a factor of a power of ten) the most water intensive product or service on the board. They didn't have paper or computers, two of my weaknesses.)
This screech owl is native, but local ones are grey rather than the brown here: something to do with our trees—perhap birds living in coniferous forests have browner feathers?
They even had people stumping for the local parks—one guy was trying to sell me on visiting one, on the strength of its spring ephemerals. Strictly educational, as in, here's this resource, freely available, come out and enjoy.
Honeybees. Along with chickens, this form of urban farming is taking off.
Though not native, honeybees are so integral to crop pollination that raising hives is a good thing—both wild and commercial populations have been suffering, from varroa mites, colony collapse disorder, etc. Given how popular my yard is with every sort of pollinator except fancy butterflies (i.e. monarchs and swallowtails) I figured I could probably do bees. —I get all kinds, after all; my faves are the iridescent green bodied ones, which are evidently Haliticids (a type of sweat bee).
Here's a blast from the past. Remember those? This was with an exhibit of a very early hybrid that the wizard told me also came from the 70s, but I couldn't get a clear shot of it, sorry. It's a real pity all the environmentalism from then never really went anywhere, because we'd be in a lot better case now; but mebbe this time around it'll take off.
Besides the weather being so splendid, and even seeing a few friends, I guess part of what impressed me was the sense of community. This is something I really appreciate about living where I do—I do feel as if I'm part of my community, that, for all its problems, the region where I live is what Jane Jacobs,, in her seminal book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, is geared to people.
Bicycles and cars aren't necessarily inimical; but after years of being so much on the margins (literally as well as metaphorically) it's nice to see impending signs that cycling, after years of decline (like, from about the 1920s—it was bicyclists who originally pushed for paved roads, and then found themselves pushed off, at least in this country, by the advent of cheap automobiles) might be coming back.
That would be a good thing.
photos, 12jun10.
Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.
