Being Outdoors

             



        Yesterday was sunny and warm. A good day for the first long ride of the year.  We put the bikes on the back of the car and headed for our favourite trail.

        We decided it would be good to take it slow and enjoy the scenery. Since the trees and not fully leafed out we saw flowers growing along the trail. We saw birds and rabbits. While many of the small stream beds were dry, the Cannon River was flowing on one side of the trail. In a few weeks the river would be full of people tubing and canoeing.

        We stopped once for a water break. I watched the birds fly around in the trees. It felt good to be outside. We rode through the fields that were ready for planting. The grass on the side of the trail was neatly cut. The last time we had ridden it was a couple of feet high.

        We ate lunch at a coffee shop at the end of the trail. The food tasted fresh and seemed to satisfy a craving I didn't realize I had. We had some ice cream. They had carrot cake ice cream. I love carrot cake so I had to try it. It was an obnoxious orange color. I wasn't sure after the first bit our two. This may have been a big mistake. After a bit I grew to like it. There were chunks of walnuts coated with something that made them crunchy and tasty. It was definitely carrot cake like. I was glad that I tried it, but am not sure that I would get it again.

        The ride back seemed a lot shorter. We thought the wind would be at our backs, but it seemed to have change direction while we were at lunch. It was all right though. We loaded our bikes into the car and headed home happy with our rise.

        Today is garden day. We plan to clean out all the leaves and dead branches from the garden. The next job will be to dig out the chives that have become invasive. I will also look to see what is coming back up and where I can plant the seeds that I bought yesterday. 

        C will also be digging out chives. Then he will add fresh soil to the garden to level it out. One he gets that done I will plant carrot seeds. 

        I am looking forward to this. Now that it is warmer, I've wanted to get my hands into the dirt. I'm also curious to see what I coming up and eager to get rid of the nasty chives.

        Before that I'm hoping to get a glimpse of the Cardinals process into the Sistine Chapel. While there are a lot of drawbacks to technology, it does allow us to witness things in real time. 

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