A Darn Fine Day

Don't you just love those days where you get to run from one fun event to another? Like there's so much great in the day that you barely fit it in?

Here's what my idea of a darn fine day looks like:

The alarm went off at 6:00 am. Not just any 6:00 am, but the Sunday morning of the first day of daylight savings time 6:00 am, which if not for Benjamin Franklin's clever idea would be 5:00 am. Yes, it's a little painful when the alarm goes off, but on a darn fine day it pays to get an early start.

7:30 am and it's time to meet Mark Thomas, Bob Brudvik, Vinny Muoneke and John Pearch at Starbucks for a 100 km permanent from Clearview up to Arlington and back. After a cup of coffee and the usual pre-ride smack talk we rolled out for a beautiful ramble up through the Snohomish valley, past Lake Stevens and on to the Centennial Trail for the last bit to Arlington. The return route stayed on the Centennial Trail all the way to Snohomish and then followed quiet rural roads back to Clearview. The sky was ugly, but against all odds we managed to make the round trip without seeing a single raindrop. One flat tire came between us and randonneuring perfection. When I pointed out that the flat tire came at the right time, after a long climb when we all needed a bit of a breather any way, Vinny quoted Benjamin the Donkey in Animal Farm. "God gave me a tail to keep off the flies," said Vinny quoting Benjamin, "but I'd rather have had no tail and no flies." Touché. Everyone was riding strong but Mark was pulling us uphill and into the wind like a locomotive. Someone should test that guy. There's no way he's doing that without performance enhancing drugs. Just sayin'.

I would have loved to hang out after the ride but I was supposed to meet Sarah, her parents and friends at Benroya Hall to see Emanuel Ax so off I raced. Now, I'm not a big classical music guy. To be honest I couldn't remember whether Mr. Ax played the piano or the cello until I arrived at the concert hall (it's piano in case you haven't already clicked the link above and you're a hick like me). But whenever I'm dragged along to the symphony or to see an amazing artist like Emanuel Ax I'm surprised by how much I enjoy it. The man's talent on the piano is astounding. Anyway, breaking speed limits and forgoing a shower, I was still 20 minutes late for the concert. Luckily I only missed the first piece which was really okay because Mr. Ax had decided to open the concert with a Copeland composition. I've never been too fond of Arron Copeland (I may not be much of a classical music guy but at least I know enough to be able to throw out a comment like that convincingly).

The perfect end to a darn fine day for me is an evening at home with my family and my dog, the dog watching my every move adoringly, the family asking when dinner will be ready.