The Blue Bicycle by Chipka
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Description
The seasons, if anything, are a frame of mind: passing thoughts of the world at large—whims, fancies, the accumulation (or clearance) of emotional, psychological clutter. The city, more than those who live within her, understands this. Inanimate things, more than those who use them, understand as well.
On the first day of snow, he trudges through the fluffy, white accumulation, thoughts on summer, now dead and vanished somewhere behind him. On the first day of snow, he chafes at the tight constriction of new and unyielding shoes. His sandals—understanding the passage of the seasons more than he does—wait patiently under his bed. Where the streets collect snow, those sandals—black with nylon straps across heel and instep—collect dust and the common grit of everyday life. Later (maybe tomorrow, or the tomorrow after that) they will take their rest in his closet.
Now, trudging through the slow accumulation of the gray-season’s frosty thoughts, he spies a bicycle and wonders at its owner. It’s a pretty thing. Sleek. Muscular. Not equipped for weather as cold and as thick as winter with snow. He wonders if the bike feels as he might, and in a moment of anthropomorphic sympathy, he shivers, imagining himself chained to the spot, enduring the slow, drifting fall of snow, and the touch of salt splattered from passing blue trucks.
Home is three blocks away, and for the duration of his walk, he thinks of that lone, blue bike….
***
I don’t know if this will actually go with a piece of larger writing or not, but it’s something that came out last night, between stabs at catching up on comments and drinking as much Dr. Pepper as I could stomach. Quite a lot, when I stop and think of it.
If this becomes a part of something larger, I suspect that the blue bike will play a major role, as might the concept of weather as thought. Who knows? In any event, here is a picture, taken on the day of Chicago’s first real snow.
As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you’ve had a great weekend and are on the verge of an equally great week.
Comments (21)
MagikUnicorn
Great shot
MrsRatbag
There's a lovely graphic feel to this shot, and the starkness of the snow is lovely! We had 4 flakes (I counted them) yesterday before it began to rain. Today was blue skies, and way too bright for this moleperson!
mbz2662
Snow. Something I don't often see close up. Great writing and photo. Ya gotta wonder about the bike for sure.
Orinoor
I have a lot of friends who happen to be inanimate things, they seem to tolerate my company better than others. I love how you wrote this, I felt the shiver.
SerenityBlue
This is really beautiful. It looks like an interesting street.
NefariousDrO
Lovely shot, those snowfalls are always my favorites: the ground is still warm enough that it melts, so there's only the wet heavier blanket of fluffy white snow on the living plants and objects that are removed enough to be colder than the ground. Very nice!
bmac62
We have several pair of sandals resting right now in our front hall closet. Probably relatives of the pair above. The good thing here is we rarely get driven to shoes...berks or glogs being fine 99% of the time. As for the blue bike...having lived in colder climes...I can still feel its' pain:) Well done...stirs my imagination...makes me stop...consider and reconsider. Your pieces always work this way on me.
auntietk
Not my first choice of a conveyance through the snow! Actually, my first choice would be to sit indoors where it's warm. Excellent capture and thought process!
durleybeachbum
I do hope this leads on to whatever! We have real snow again today, VERY unusual for my town.
lick.a.witch
Only you could illicit sympathy from this quarter, for a bike! Fabulous shot! Superb narrative. ^=^
flavia49
excellent capture
helanker
Excellent capture. I think it is such a nice composition with the tree to the left, in front of the house and the fence and this lonely blue bike in the snow. I shouldnt wonder, if you could get a story out of that.
Bothellite
I think that bikes like nymphs have real lives. There are apparently dentists lurking behind that fence. Seasons are a shock except that they creep up on you with their shocking results. Great read!
makron
Great shot. Very well done
CoreyBlack
Yep, you can drink more Dr. Pepper than anyone I've ever known. It used to be my drug of choice(along with the more prosaic coffee)years back, but now if I look at soda, I gain 5 pounds. Mysteriously, you never do. Hmmmmmmmm. I was with you when you made this picture and never even saw the bike. I always think it's interesting how two people can get totally different takes on the same place, but then again, why wouldn't they? Still, it's always interesting to see the different point of view. Anyway, I like this shot a lot, It has an almost dream-like quality that I find very entrancing. Fantastic work!
sandra46
WONDERFUL WINTER IMAGE, SO FULL OF MEANING THAT BIKE, SO LONELY
RodS
Vrey urban, very cool (cold, actually - brrrrr) photo! I like it! You can keep the snow, though! :-D
kgb224
Stunning capture my friend.
KateBlack10
Beautiful capture Chip! The blue of the bicycle literally jumps out of the photo-
danapommet
I can feel the pain for this beautiful bike and its abandoned state. But I couldn’t pass up a comment about the house in the background. Very different. Dana
praep
Nice shot - I see you got snow too. We got about 50-70cm on the fields and there where 17 below zero this morning in the sunshine.