News flash! Thanks to all the rain we had lately, for a time the Rillito looked like a real river, with water running not just underground but as far as the eye could see.
We humanoids need water on the most basic level to sustain life. Yet this precious liquid also has wonderful therapeutic value in so many forms - from taking a dip in the pool on a starlit summer evening to relaxing in the hot tub after a hard day's work to one of my favorite ways to unwind come fall: bicycling along the Rillito River at twilight, letting all the busy moments of my day melt into one of those spectacular Tucson sunsets.
The simple experience of biking along the river path during its version of high tide is a pure pathway to heaven.
The Catalina Mountains have their part to play in this feast for the eyes, especially the afterglow. As I ride along the Rillito, with the welcome cool breezes of winter caressing my arms, I try to maintain that delicate balancing act of keeping my eyes on that narrow strip of pavement (as well as my fellow cyclists, skaters and pedestrians) without losing sight of the kaleidoscope of color nature has gifted to me.
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The whole scene is intoxicating. I am suddenly transported via reverie back to a European city I have visited and loved, a city that also has a river running right through the middle of all the hustle and bustle. That city is Paris.
Speak of Paris and Tucson in the same breath? Unthinkable, preposterous, one might say. Yes, the obvious differences are there, but as I take my evening bike ride along the Rillito, the similarities strike me.
In the distance are the many twinkling lights of Tucson. No question - I am in an urban environment. Yet just like my previous visits to Paris when I have strolled along the Seine, finding an oasis in the middle of all those honking horns and people scurrying in all directions, I have found on the Rillito Path my own quiet corner of our desert city, which itself is fast becoming a major metropolitan area.
As I leisurely rode along one evening, a poem kept running through my head: "La Chanson de la Seine" or "Song of the Seine" by Jacques Prévert. In his lyrical tribute to the Seine, the poet describes this majestic river flowing along nonchalantly, oblivious to all the sights, sounds and high emotions that make up the dizzying spectacle that is Paris.
It goes in part like this:
La Seine a de la chance
The Seine is lucky
Elle n'a pas de soucis
She has no worries
Elle se la coule douce
She flows calmly along
Le jour comme la nuit …
Day and night
Et s'en va vers la mer
And goes towards the sea
En passant comme un reve
While passing like a dream
Au milieu des mystères
In the middle of the mysteries
Des misères de Paris
Of the miseries of Paris
But you don't need a trip to Paris or even a magical elixir to let go of the stresses of daily life. Just take a step back to the basics, back to the wonders of nature, right here in Tucson - with a little help from the bicycle.
Winter and early spring are great times to enjoy the Rillito River path while bicycling next to gently flowing waters after a major rainfall. Before too long, the Arizona sun will do its usual hot-weather number and turn those gently flowing waters into late spring's bone-dry Rillito gulch.
E-mail Barbara Russek at Babette2@comcast.net
