In Which Pain Brings a Great Many Images

Far reaches of Lowe Park Trail--between middle school and elementary school. Was a bit of a butterfly fight--these two were not OK sharing the flowers and would dive at each other now and then.

On Saturday, I was playing at a park in Hiawatha with some grandchildren. There is a climbing dome there, and I challenged two grandsons to race to the top.

Big mistake. I grabbed a bar, stepped up with my left leg and then my right—and stopped. My right knee was suddenly very tender and painful. I turned, and sat, and wondered about getting down—or walking or ever moving again.

Well, to tell the truth, the pain wasn’t that great, so I gently lowered myself, making sure to have the left leg take the landing.

Whatever was wrong with the right knee was in the front region, and made the knee sensitive to bending. I would use the leg, if I didn’t try to bend the knee. My wife advised ibuprofen and ice, and I rested the knee for most of Sunday.

I also mowed the lawn, and took one short, experimental bike ride. Of maybe 20 yards and decided that was a terrible idea.

So today, what to do? The knee was clearly sore this morning, but clearly less sore than it had been Saturday or Sunday. I told my wife I planned to go for a ride—“just be careful,” she said. I assured her it would be a no-hills, slow ride.

And so it was. I took the good camera, headed out on my lightest bike and planned to ride my fastest bike ridiculously slow (even for CR Biker who is not a fast biker).

I had a goal for this slow ride. I’ve seen many butterflies, especially Monarchs, this summer, but have not photographed many, so this slow ride was a wildlife safari of sorts, an intentionally slow ride to find the elusive butterfly.

So, get ready for many, many images. I hit three hot spots for butterflies during a 22-mile, 4-hour ride (very slow ride, but lots of stops for images, too). First I headed out to Lowe Park, which was a highlight of butterfly hunting, with its Master Gardener area and many meadows of wildflowers.

I expected it to be the highlight. I headed west next, intending to stop at the Noelridge Park gardens, which at first did not look anywhere near as cool as Lowe. But then, I checked the Monarch huts, and saw multiple baby Monarchs.

And a drama. One very injured Monarch momma, despite severely deformed wings, was still flapping about, drinking Milkweed nectar and laying eggs as a I watched.

Finally, I headed to the wildflower meadow north of 42nd Street on the Cedar River Trail. I didn’t get as many Monarch images there—I saw a few, but always at a distance. Still, I got lots of good images.

One impression I have of my ride is that common Milkweed is a great plant not just because of the Monarch butterflies it can serve as a nursery for, but it’s pretty pink blooms are clearly a favored flower of just about every bee around. Many of my Lowe Park images are of bees on Milkweed.

Another impression is that a slow ride may be good therapy for a hurt knee. Maybe it’s just time, but as the ride passed, my knee actually felt better. I went kayaking with my wife this afternoon, and then went on a second ride on a tandem bike. The evening ride was a return journey to Lowe Park—and I think we traveled much faster together than I did alone.

All in all, I rode about 32 miles on a warm, gorgeous Iowa summer day. I consider that, under the circumstances, a big win. As I write this, my right knee is tender and I’ll drug up before heading to bed—but it’s pain level is definitely improved. I can sit with my leg bent at 90 degrees (I could not bend my knee at all Saturday). I still don’t have full range of motion in that joint, and I don’t want to push it too hard—but all in all, I’ll take it.

Three photo galleries from three wildlife hot spots I visited this morning:

Lowe Park:

 

Noelridge Park:

 

 

 
42nd Street Meadow: