I certainly had reason to give thanks yesterday.
Just after I posted, the friends who'd invited me for dinner called to say that the start time was pushed back--from 2 to 5 pm due to an "emergency". Whether it was in the kitchen or elsewhere, nobody said. Not that it mattered.
I didn't mind. You see, after I posted, I glanced outside and was treated to a picture-perfect late-fall morning: The sun, totally unimpeded by clouds, mist or anything else (well, nothing that I could see, anyway!), set the last red, yellow and orange foliage aglow and burnished the brown leaves with a warmth, to the eye anyway, that felt like brick fireplace just starting to spread its heat.
It was so beautiful, I didn't care about the temperature--which stood exactly at the freezing mark. How could I not ride on such a morning?
Or afternoon? Arielle, my Mercian Audax called, and I hopped on.
Well, I felt so good The brisk air braced my skin and I saw almost no traffic anywhere. In fact, in this normally-busy shopping area, I saw no traffic at all!
Now, if that picture
or this one
looks familiar, it's because the shopping area and the "Connecticut quarter" tree are, in fact, in Connecticut--Greenwich, to be precise. I felt as if the town, the hills I climbed on my way in, the roads and the world were mine, all mine. OK, I shared--with a few other cyclists I saw.
I don't normally boast (really!). But I couldn't help but to tell everyone about the ride I took--140 kilometers (about 85 miles) round-trip.
The food was great. And I felt absolutely no guilt about how much of it I ate. I'll be eating some of it today-- there were leftovers for everyone--and I'll get to re-live, for a moment, a fine Thanksgiving Day.
Just after I posted, the friends who'd invited me for dinner called to say that the start time was pushed back--from 2 to 5 pm due to an "emergency". Whether it was in the kitchen or elsewhere, nobody said. Not that it mattered.
I didn't mind. You see, after I posted, I glanced outside and was treated to a picture-perfect late-fall morning: The sun, totally unimpeded by clouds, mist or anything else (well, nothing that I could see, anyway!), set the last red, yellow and orange foliage aglow and burnished the brown leaves with a warmth, to the eye anyway, that felt like brick fireplace just starting to spread its heat.
It was so beautiful, I didn't care about the temperature--which stood exactly at the freezing mark. How could I not ride on such a morning?
Or afternoon? Arielle, my Mercian Audax called, and I hopped on.
Well, I felt so good The brisk air braced my skin and I saw almost no traffic anywhere. In fact, in this normally-busy shopping area, I saw no traffic at all!
Now, if that picture
or this one
looks familiar, it's because the shopping area and the "Connecticut quarter" tree are, in fact, in Connecticut--Greenwich, to be precise. I felt as if the town, the hills I climbed on my way in, the roads and the world were mine, all mine. OK, I shared--with a few other cyclists I saw.
I don't normally boast (really!). But I couldn't help but to tell everyone about the ride I took--140 kilometers (about 85 miles) round-trip.
The food was great. And I felt absolutely no guilt about how much of it I ate. I'll be eating some of it today-- there were leftovers for everyone--and I'll get to re-live, for a moment, a fine Thanksgiving Day.
