Photo Bike Ride

Nehi and I took a Photo Bike Ride today which really just means that we took a lovely bike ride this evening, as par our norm and I just happened to remember to take my camera. I'm finding it hard to get back into the habit that I HAVE a camera again.
I couldn't help but make up mini stories for the things we saw, that I took pictures of.

So, the last few weeks, these strange pipes appeared in the neighborhood. No idea what they were, just all of a sudden there were digging up driveways and pipes everywhere. I finally asked a neighbor what was going on. She said that they were trying to drain off some of the groundwater. Because we're at the head of a nature conservatory with fresh water ponds, there was some concern that with all the rain we got this winter, that the groundwater was going to overflow into the neighborhood's septic system. Yuckers.

It turned out, as I discovered on one of our bike rides, that they (always the mysterious THEY that conjures up dark Orwellian images) were taking the groundwater from my neighborhood and had run pipes just two streets over and were dumping the water into another neighborhood. See how attractive it is being dumped into an overstressed drainage ditch? I know it's just groundwater, but it is foul, THEY did not dig out the existing drainage ditches to accomodate the overflow and didn't clear the old ditches of debris, so it comes out of the very attractive black pipe and gurgles to a stop a few feet away. YUCK!

Onto prettier images. I always love to imagine what the lives of people are based on their houses. I did it in NYC and always came up with some interesting stories. I think my favorite is this:

It looks so out of place at the beach, more like something that you would see in some secluded location for rich people up north. Beautiful ivy crawls up the fencing on either side of the driveway and the pine trees that flank the driveway. Every time we go past it I wonder who lives up the hill and what the house looks like.

This one is bizarre. It's on the route Nehi and I take for our walks and our bike ride. It's on a lot next to a regular house except one day all the pine trees were cut down. There's no contractor sign out front, and the people who live in the regular house seemed to be directing the lumberjacks. So this is what the lot looks like now. I find it a little sad and strange because of the way the trunks are cut, part-way through, but not completely taken away, just sad reminders of the grand majesty they possessed only hours before.

These little cotton balls live a few streets over. They bark ferociously and defend their yard vehemently which is funny every time we pass only because they are constrained by an electric fence and can't do anything other than bark their little Q-tip heads off.

 I still think this is creepiest children's playground I have ever seen. In the year that we've lived here I have never seen a single child playing here. It's set way back in the woods and I don't even know if people know it's there, which is strange, as there are a fair amount of kids in our neighborhood. I'm still percolating the horror story I'll set here. Sorry, I know it's twisted, but it really is the perfect setting for something horrible to happen. No kids involved though, I promise, I'm thinking dark, but not that dark.

And of course, what blog of mine would be complete without the wee one? Here she is as we rolled back into the garage after our photo bike ride. She's always very happy on the bike because she gets to run, and Mom doesn't run unless chased, although it took her a little while to get used to being hooked to the bike. Now of course, when I say bike, she practically bowls me over to get to the garage.