Stuck in the middle with you

When Matt took this photo today on our bike ride, he mentioned that the cathedral was on one shoulder and the capitol on the other. I couldn't help but get the "stuck in the middle with you" song stuck in my head, although I don't mean to say either houses clowns or jokers. The song does have a nice line, though: "It's so hard to keep this smile from my face."

Seat cover to keep puddle water from going through the cutout.
Sleeves pushed up and jacket unzipped in all the many places.

Yes, it was hard to keep a smile from my face. It was in the low 50s today, sunny, and barely windy (unusual for spring). And I was on my bike, moving, moving, moving. Or rather dodging, dodging, dodging. The deep potholes all around the city require a fair amount of vigilance! In a short while, both sides of the river will be green and lush. Right now, though, the water is high and still has chunks of ice in it. 

I was really proud of us today. Our natural inclination is to plow through the water. Although we could see the yellow line all the way through the train bridge, the water was pouring rapidly from the Mississippi River onto the street and then swelling where it hit the water from the marshy area. We figured that if we tried to ride it, the current of the water, on the street, might be too strong and we'd have to put our feet squarely in it and walk.

Me, in shorts and knee-high socks. In the snow.

Little did we know that we'd need to walk a stretch between the fort and the falls. It seems that a bunch of snow from that last wave got plowed on to the path and has not yet quite melted due to the concrete barrier providing too much shade. 

Because I've raised over $500 for the MS Society, they are sending me these cool socks. Now *they'll* look good with shorts. And no snow!

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/GoMaggieGo