Ships and Roses

It's summer!  Boy, did that happen fast, at least in New York.  Aside from a day or two of spring, mostly we had cold and rain.  But, enough for the weather report.  That's just background for why the bike came out of hibernation yesterday.  It took me for a little test ride (its wheels and my legs) along the bike path that runs parallel to the West Side Highway before it went in for its annual spring tune-up.  And along the way, we wanted to check out the first full day of Fleet Week.  We got stopped in front of the pier by a hoard of photographers pointing their cameras at a tour bus.  It took a while to figure out that, with slow motion timing, one by one, Miss America and her counterparts (Miss New York, etc.) were emerging from said bus, posing for the multitudes of cameras (ok, a dozen maybe), and then sauntering into, where?  The visiting aircraft carrier?  To entertain the sailors?  How retro the whole thing looked to me and to the many other cyclists and walkers, male and female, who had to stand there and watch this display.

Riding back home I was struck by a marvelous flowery scent in the breeze, rare for a highway certainly.  What a great idea - rows and rows of rose bushes along the inside bike path of the West Side Highway.  Considering we New Yorkers live so closely beside  one another, no matter what our means of locomotion - automobile and taxi riders, joggers, walkers, cyclists, strollers, etc.,  - anything to improve the ambiance and provide the perception of division between the highway and the cyclists  is quite appreciated!  And the fact that the "aroma" wasn't exhaust fumes is miraculous.

PS - the real Mses. America of Fleet Week -