his is a sketch of the arlington meadows, a fine grassy bit of land off the bike trail towards lexington. this was towards the end of summer and you could feast your eyes upon more yellows and browns than you thought possible. the bike trail goes to lexington, and then on to bedford, where it ends. in bedford, i would take one of the inner roads, a pleasant road that meanders through fields and pastures and woods, up and down hills to the centre of concord and then intersecting Rt 2 to walden pond. i would sit for a couple of minutes by the edge of the pond before having to start back. it would be dusk by the time i got back to arlington at the great oak tree, where a tremendous chattering by hundreds of birds would greet me.
in the early part of the last century, ice from walden pond and spy pond across the road in arlington would be harvested and shipped all the way to bombay and calcutta, where it would cool the drinks of the wealthy. thoreau who liked to ponder over such things says, "the pure walden water is mingled with the sacred water of the ganges" which might be true for calcutta. but in bombay, the pure water of walden mingles with the water of vihar lake. it is an idea that stirs the heart, for i have spent many hours of happy solitude gazing at the waters of all three water bodies - spy pond, walden and vihar lake. over the course of the years, i began to look at my rides to walden pond as a personal pilgrimage. the associations with gandhi and thoreau added to the sense of ritual, but the fact of the matter is that it was a beautiful ride on beautiful summer and autumn days and no more meaning need be attached.
