ROLLING THUNDER
5 May 2003
Nevermind that the clouds were starting to turn dark. Very dark.
Never mind that in the distance was a sound like rolling thunder (I love the sound
of rolling thunder.)
Never mind that I hadn't been on a bike or in the gym for a week (I've been busy, you
know)...
Never mind that I would have to borrow Olivia's bike, which is the heavy Specialized that
I traded in for my lovely Blue Angel.
I had packed my bike helmet all the way to Boise, and by God, I was going to go biking on
this fabled 26 mile bike path Olivia had been telling me about.
I had thought of going out earlier this morning, but the snow had fallen on the hills and
the rain was falling in town and by the time winter changed into spring, Olivia was ready
to go out and attempt to single-handedly cause an upswing in the Boise economy.
We hit all the biggies. First there was Mac's, a craft store to die for. I know a
certain "Crafty" person who would move into the store and never leave. Thank goodness I
am now into digital photography and slide shows, which are not big money pits. I could
easily have bought out half the craft store. Olivia did nearly buy out half the
frame part of the store, getting things framed.
One particular print that
needed framing was this one. She'd been looking for just the right frame for it and
since I love matching pictures with frames, while she was conferring with the frame
expert on getting new frames for her law degrees (the frames became water-damaged in her
last apartment), I went looking for a frame for this painting. When I saw this black and
gold frame, I knew this. was. the. one. I practically had to rush Olivia off to the
Depends aisle when she saw how beautifully the frame complemented the painting. The sale
was made instantly.
Oh. The artist? 12 year old soccer champion Tessie, when she was 6 years old.
After Mac's there was the bread store, where we spent a significant amount on snacks for
the kids (do you think that they're lucky to have Auntie Olivia move into town?)
On the way to the bread store, we stopped at the farmer's market for produce. The
complaint is that you can't get produce in Idaho like we get in California (I had to
point out that she was no longer a "we" in California, and that I was a "you" in
California; she had moved to Idaho and she was now an Idahoan and had better learn to
appreciate the produce that was available here.)
After the bread store was Fred Meyer, a huge "everything" store, where we bought a
little bit of everything (I mean, if you're going to an "everything" store, shouldn't you
buy everything?)
When we left Fred Meyer, the sun was shining on the snow on the mountains and it looked
so beautiful. The whole city gleamed below and my feet were just itching to get onto
bike pedals and begin biking.
I knew from yesterday that weather was very mercurial around here and I wanted to get
going while the sun was out, but we had a few chores to do first. By the time we got
those done and I got my helmet out of the backpack and we pumped up the tires, there was
that sound like rolling thunder.
Owell. I was going to do it anyway. I headed off in the direction of the fabled bike
path. I was not prepared to encounter a sand trap. Olivia assures me that when she rode
on it, the sand was all tamped down. Not so today. I shifted down. And down. And down
again. I was going 5 mph in 3rd gear and working harder than I do going up the overpass
formerly known as dreaded.
I decided that was entirely more work than I wanted to do (though I was enjoying the
lovely scent of the lilacs that were hanging over the fences that lined the path). I
backtracked, riding through the deep ruts I'd already made in the sand, to get back to
the main road. Then I rode off a bit on city streets and when I found an interesting
street, headed off onto that.
I found a lovely path (it was so narrow, I don't know if it was meant for bike, but I
rode on it anyway) that wound around a kind of a lagoon. By now it was raining, so it
didn't matter if bikes would compete with walkers. No sane person was out walking.
Eventually I came to an open area by a school. It was raining harder now and off in the
distance were wonderful black and white cumulus clouds. You know how when you were a kid
you'd lie on your back and look at clouds and find kitties and puppies and bunnies and
maybe a horse or two? I decided I've been in gynecology too long. All I could see was a
uterus with a perfect endometrial stripe!
