Pack up all my care and woe, Here I go, Singing low, Bye bye blackbird, Where somebody waits for me, Sugar’s sweet, so is she, Bye bye Blackbird!

This lyrical interlude is prelude to the following picture.  It is an action shot.  It shows a pair of Red Winged Blackbirds trying to drive off a Snowy Egret.  The egret was just wading and fishing, but must have come too close to this pair’s nest.  Notice, while the male is all black except for its distinctive red epaulets, the female is a mottled brown color.  Egrets eat fish and crustaceans.  I wonder if they also eat eggs?

I biked in the morning by myself.  Anne was still in bed, so I thought that I could sneak out for a little me time, but those damn Sidi shoes with their noisy buckles got her up.  I promised her that I wouldn’t wear myself out and that I would ride with her later in the day.  Good to my word, I did just one turn through the Park and headed for home.

I mowed the lawn next.  Well actually I mowed only the front lawn.  So it was just a Potemkin lawn mowing.  My backyard neighbors know the ugly truth.  In truth though, I can’t mow the backyard, until the Spring Beauties wilt.

Anne and I launched towards the Park.  We did our requisite bird watching and then continued on to Tower Grove Park.  Kickball was all the rage there.  There must have been twenty games of kickball going on.  I remember kickball from parochial school.  I enjoyed it as a kid, but these players were no kids.  At least their choice of beverages would tend to indicate that.

We had lunch on South Grand at The Vine.  An interesting name choice for an establishment that bills itself as 100% Halal (Arabic: حلال, ḥalāl Halaal; means lawful or legal).  The term is used to designate food seen as permissible according to Islamic law.  Needless to say, no alcohol was served.  We had their appetizer sampler.  It came with humus, baba ghanoush, falafel and some sort of grape leaf wrapped delicacy.  But to die for were their mini-pitas.  They are nothing like the hockey pucks that are sold in most grocery stores.  Served warm and soft, it was almost a waste of their excellence to serve them with other dipping foods.  Almost.

After lunch, we stopped off at the Gardens, where it was all about Tulips and Azaleas.  Oh, I can hear the groans now, “We suffered through a month of Orchids in February.”  Wait folks, wait, the Irises are popping and then there are the Day Lilies.  It won’t be the same flower every week

Anne and I toured the Gardens in our bike duds.  From the security guard at the bike rack and onward, we were repeatedly approached about our attire.  Most of the people had heard of Team Kaldis before.  One guy’s team had an adjoining tent at last year’s MS-150.  Another gal worked for 97.1, where Kaldi’s promotes our involvement.

So, I had promised my wife that I won’t wear myself out.  Well, I lied.  I’m worn out.  Energizer Bunny Anne got eighteen miles.  I got thirty-one.  And no, she did not have to carry me out like the rest of the screaming children.  I had so much fun on Sunday, that I’ll be glad to go back to work on Monday.