Oh beautiful day!

Finally, sunshine! After almost ten days of overcast skies and dreary rain, Ann Arbor finally got a blast of good strong Vitamin D today, and Ann Arborites reciprocated the gesture by crawling out of the woodwork and having a jolly good time. It was a day of outdoor adventures- Jude and I started the day by finally clearing our little garden patches in front and behind our house that had been so overgrown with weeds, it isn't even funny (yes, in our household, gardening is an adventure in and of itself...). One of my lavender plants is on the verge of being choked to death, but we have hope that it will prevail. With the help of our neighbor Audrey (who pragmatically declared to me, "I'll do anything if you have candy."), we basically obliterated all visible weed life and its roots, and turned the soil to prepare it for flowers and plants we're probably going to get next week. Well actually, I couldn't bear to put Audrey to work- she helped me pick out the rocks and stomp on the soil; after that, I plonked her in front of the TV where Cartoon Network and half a bag of Hershey Kisses promptly took over...

That was when the real adventure began- Jude and I went canoeing! We just had to do as much as we could in the sun today- it's going to be in the 40s tomorrow and there is no way we were going to squander today's gorgeous weather by staying indoors. We met our friend Rachel at Gallup Park and rented a canoe to ride up and down the river. Ok, FYI, this was Serene Koh's FIRST ever paddling experience. I'll definitely do it again, but not until my arms can feel anything again. I'm not sure which hurt more- my arm muscles or my self-esteem. We were doing great rowing with the current; coming back up against the current, another story altogether. At one point, we were paddling our guts out, but which direction were we moving? Backwards! Trust me, it was infinitely more distressing than I can make it sound...

But we survived and decided that after all that exertion, only one thing could salve our aching bodies and bruised egos. Food of course! And not just anywhere- Rachel needed a drink, and we wanted it outdoors. Decision: Cafe Felix, where we had drinks and tapas while sitting along Main Street. It was puurfect... I could almost imagine how life should always be: me sitting on the sidewalk on a beautiful Spring day, nursing a pretty drink, a bowl of strawberries in front of me, writing a novel on love, life and loss; then someone would come up to me and say, "I love your prose.", and I would smile and thank them graciously before hopping onto my Vespa parked nearby with a French baguette and a bouquet of fresh flowers...

[Serene ends reverie.]

*Sigh*... see what happens when you've been deprived of sunshine too long? The first sunny day will do strange things to your mind... :)