Given a beautiful, 70-degree, blue-sky, springtime day in Italy, it was a joy to get out on a bike again for a ride along the canal! It’s been 9 months, and I’ve missed it. That ride, and being on two wheels, invigorates me and makes me feel so alive. And I love the still and vast farm fields in contrast to the intensity of the city’s stimulation. One provides balance to the other.

The red poppies are blooming here and there along the canalside stone fences, and the rapeseed is sporadic, not filling the fields as it was last year. The distance of the bike path is fragrant with all sorts of blooming things and the cottonwood fluff is thick in the air and on the surface of the canal.

What a sweet, simple joy.