Today was a near-ideal day for riding. When I left at noon, in bright sunshine, it was 65°, and when I finished, 3 hours later, it had climbed to 70°. There was a little wind, but nothing daunting—10 mph from the east when I started, and 13 mph from the east when I finished. Ah, these are the kind of days I looked forward to and longed for back in January, when I was toughing out the cold miles! (Most years I could add "and February"—but this year February was exceptionally mild, and almost springlike ... March, however, was quite wintry overall.)
I did three round trips to Marsh Park, but coming back from each of them I cut through the Silo Ridge subdivision, which increased my mileage just ever so slightly, and allowed me to rack up my 26 miles (and a little extra) without my usual concluding lap within our condominium complex.
I took a couple of pictures to show the lovely spring foliage unfolding now. The flowering purple was the favorite color of my maternal grandmother (1897-1999). Grandma Fida (as she came to be known later in life) was a remarkable woman. Widowed during the Depression in 1934, at age 36, with 7 young children, she managed to raise them all (except one who died as a child) to become successful adults.
Grandma was also a pianist all her life, playing for the silent movies when she was in high school, back around 1914, and playing for dances all her life. In her later years, in the nursing home, she'd amuse me when I came to visit by grinning, putting the back of her hand beside her mouth, and saying in a stage whisper, "I've been playing piano for the old folks." This, when she was 95+ herself!
Grandma was extremely proud of her grandson the music professor, and I am delighted to have been close to her my whole life. An indelible memory is of playing duets with her—she could play most any popular song you could name, in any key you wanted, by ear, and I would sit at the upper (treble) end of the piano bench and improvise around her playing.
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