Horticulture and the Country Bike Ride

If we were stationary all the time, our own yards would be our main connection to nature. When you are a bicycle enthusiast, every yard becomes your own, as you visually absorb all the green beauty. When I ride my bicycle in my small rural town, I can feel the cold air pour through my lungs and take in the beauty of all the flowers and foliage. I get to compare yard to yard, with different designs and focus. There are planters full of ivy that hang in long trails, like tentacles, coming off the side of an upstairs apartment in town. Further away from the concrete and asphalt, there are hugs gardens and old bushes, like camellias, that have been growing for a very long time. Every plant and tree seems like it can tell a story. I wonder what some plants would say if they could speak. There is one tree I pass very often that looks old and wise. I like to think that this tree would be kind and compliment people if it could speak. Here is a photo of the old, beautiful tree:

Very close to this tree is a creek. Sometimes, I mountain bike and come back to get my dog when I get tired. Her name is Betsey, and we walk down to this creek and enjoy the beautiful silence and the water. There are elephant's ear plants growing profusely throughout the creek, and the air around it seems fresher and clearer than anywhere else. Betsey likes to walk along the creek and to bark at the squirrels. It is a fun place to bike to, since there is very little traffic and it is peaceful. All of this is located in a little town called Edgefield, South Carolina. What beautiful, natural gems have you discovered where you are?

-Flo-

Freedom the Turtle

Riding a bicycle in the country is a special experience, especially if you are a photographer. You can catch sunrises and sunsets that many people only glimpse on vacation. You don't have to live in a glamorous place to catch a glimpse of nature - a fox dashing across the road, a hawk soaring overhead, or a doe and fawns nibbling sweet grass - that are comparable to images you could see in nature and photography magazines. I mountain bike, because it feels safer where I live to bike through fields and dirt roads very far out in the country. I do not like the feeling of invading the public roads, and it is a thrill to take small jumps and quick twists on newly discovered trails. One of my favorite things to do is finding large turtles in the road and rescuing them, which I do by re-homing them to a local creek. I got advice to take the turtle over to the side of the road in the direction it is moving. The problem is, some of these beautiful turtles are not facing one direction or the other. Some are not moving at all, and cars and trucks steadily advance. On top of being a bicyclist, I am now a self-identified turtle rescuer. I take the turtle and place them lightly in my backpack, and I cycle over to the local creek. There, I leave the turtles to retire to a great life and to swim to their heart's content. As a cyclist, I am probably a shock to the turtles I often find. Sometimes, I learn facts about them that I had not previously known! Recently, I found a turtle that I named "Freedom." I pulled him from the road, like all of the others, and I gently put him in the creek nearby. "Freedom" had some long, webbed things that looked like nails! I looked up some information on turtles, and what I learned is that these webbed "nails" are found on males and can attract their mates. Here is a photograph of "Freedom:"

As I took "Freedom" to the creek not far from town, I wondered how he was getting along in my backpack on what was likely his first bicycle ride. I watched with relief as he swam away into his new home. He relaxed into his new environment, and I got to enjoy filming what was like an adventure. Every day in nature is beautiful, and the mobility of bicycle riding can take you places you never imagined! 

-Flo-