in the shadow a bridge

Yesterday I went for a nice long run, everything went well until the sun hit. Holy smokes, it was like running inside of a frying pan. Days like that force you to slow down, get off the stopwatch and listen to your body, or else you die.

My usual routine for a long run is to walk to the Little Red Lighthouse that sits under the George Washington bridge, and run from there. The lighthouse was made famous by a kids book, and has a very interesting story in its own right. I start at the lighthouse which is about 181st in Manhattan and from that point I can run almost to the end of Manhattan with almost no street lights and just the danger of getting hit by a bike or a rollerblader. It is a great run, parts of it shrouded in green with the Hudson river to your right as you head South. Clears the cobwebs of the mind.

Yesterday it was brutal. So I cut off the long run and headed back home in a big circle, with a total of seven miles, back to the Little Red Lighthouse.

I sat under the shadow of the GW bridge, looking up at its humming and cranking steel underbelly as the folks whizzed back and forth in the daily grind. My eye hit on two little floating things in the water, they were ducks, swimming Northward. Two little ducks with that giant bridge over them, and the giant swells of passing boats lifting their bodies up and down in that cold Hudson water.

Made me think about fear. Those ducks have no idea what is happening around them, they just swim because they have to. No choice you know. Sort of like artists.

I wondered if they had no fear because they were together. I guess being with another duck in that water would help. It's hard to swim alone in the Hudson. Nice to know another little ball of feathers has your back.

Anyway it all brings me to today's post on John Carter of Mars. Which has nothing to do with ducks or running, but it has to do with some sketches I did while I was at MIT after a lecture on John Carter of Mars. I guess I should talk a bit about that lecture of J.C but when I do I will post illustrations of ducks.

Be well all of ya.

Frank.