I like being able to easily find things that happen in the past. It reminds me to describe things so that I can find them later.
This morning I worked in the wee hours on a work project. But I still woke up early and ate toasted rice and skim milk. I took Beatrice for a morning walk. Though the forecast was favorable, I saw clouds setting in, coming down from the north. Soon after we arrived home it began to rain. As my wife slept in, I sat on the dry part of our back patio and watched it rain. Beatrice poked her head out the doggie door to see what I was doing. She did not see the virtue in sitting in a patio chair and watching the rain. But I did.
By 10:45, I put on my bicycle helmet and headed out on my bicycle. Everything was pleasant and the birds were singing. I had one problem in the wet aftermath of the rain. I pedal slowly. But as I crossed a small wooden bridge on the bike path, I put on my brakes. My bicycle hydro-planed (at a stunning speed of six miles an hour). I slid down on the ground. I got a couple of small bruises. I was not hurt. I did get a little muddy. I consider it a mudpack of courage. A nice man walking the trail asked me if I was okay. I told him that I was, and thanked him for this concern.
I did notice that the stick I had put in years ago to fill in for a missing bolt was dislodged. Providentially, another stick appeared, which fit perfectly in the bolt hole. I hope it also lasts for years. Perhaps someday I'll get a proper nut and bolt instead.
I rode the Watters Branch Trail and both of the Urban Centre Loop Trails. I figured out how to loop back on both loop trails, and concluded perhaps their names were not misnomers after all. My android fitness app told me that I rode 8 miles at the stunning speed of 6 miles an hour for something over 87 minutes. I really liked some of the things I saw--a Cooper's Hawk, a male Painted Bunting, and a fox squirrel dangling from a tree, tenuously holding the huge fruit of the Bois d'Arc tree. I wanted to take a picture of the Painted Bunting, but it flew to another tree. I heard its trilling song. I watched a rambunctious Carolina Wren instead.
My wife and I went to El Pollo Loco, where I had white meat chicken, corn tortillas and broccoli. Then my wife went to the Sephora store in J.C. Penney. The women helping customers wore garlands in their hair, a bit like an episode of Star Trek (the original series) or a hypothetical Merchant/Ivory film about a remote Kentish girls' school.
In the afternoon, I worked some more, which made me happy. Then we drove to Plano to see a movie. First we went to a sandwich shop called East Hampton. I had a great turkey sandwich on wheat with great potato chips. My wife had the same on a neat roll.
We went to see Brett Haley's movie "The Hero", a vehicle for and homage to character actor Sam Elliott. We really enjoyed this film. In addition to being a showcase role for Sam Elliott, I thought that Laura Prepon did a great job--a real step forward for her career. Also, Krysten Ridder got a chance to effectively play someone a good bit different then the range of characters she usually plays. Nick Offerman was also a lot of fun in this movie. I liked that though the movie was about a different, higher tier (but relatively not-high tier) of the entertainment business than that of my few friends who were in that business, I could recognize the places and the feel of things. Though the plot had some well-traveled themes, the understated way the players played their roles plus the sense of heart in the script made it all great fun and yet a reflective film.
At home again, I called Beatrice in from the back yard. She lies on her Mississippi bed beside me now. I ate a Skinny Cow fudge bar and all its right with the world
(cross-posted to DW because life is silly)