In Close Encounters, Richard Dreyfuss had his mashed potato mountain. I have Sunflowers.

IMG_0543_DxO1200This means something. That’s what Richard Dreyfuss said each time he created a sculpture of a mountain, out of mud, out of mashed potatoes, or saw something that became a vision of Wyoming’s iconic Devil’s Tower. For me, it’s Sunflowers. I can’t see Sunflowers and not think of France, specifically the Tour de France. It’s an obsession, no question. How else can you explain traveling to France each July, 13 of the past 14 years?

For several years I’d see Sunflowers growing out of a yard near the top of Jefferson, as I rode towards the start of the Tuesday/Thursday-morning ride. It was sad, a couple years ago, when a remodel displaced them. But a couple months ago Sunflowers have appeared again, not at the top of Jefferson, but in a small garden near the corner of Jefferson & Farm Hill. I pass them every day on my way to work.

As Richard Dreyfuss said, “This means something!” Indeed it does. The ‘Tour is coming.






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