Have you ever done something perfectly?  It's a great feeling.  I spent yesterday perfectly. 

For sheer beauty, nothing tops the first week of October in the Twin Cities.  Especially when the sun is out and the temperatures top seventy and the Twins win their division in the last game of the season.

Yesterday was as good as it gets.  The sun was out, the temps hit the low eightes and the only clouds allowed in the sky looked like they'd been hand picked at central casting.

After I dropped Josie at school, I quickly painted a large Christmas stocking, fulfilling my self imposed daily quota.  I was done by 11:00, so I hopped on my bike and rode the chain of lakes.

It can't get any prettier than those lakes when the trees are mostly still full of leaves but the leaves vary in tone from bronze green to neon orange, gold and red.  The water is so blue it looks like it's lit from beneath.  The best part is that where I hook up with the bike path, I can choose to go in either direction.  Go left and I hit Lake Harriet, go right and I'm on the Minnehaha parkway.  I could go all the way to the falls and the Mississippi in one direction or toward Lake of the Isles and downtown in the other.  The path branches in other spots too, and you really can't make a bad choice.

When I got back home, my friend, Pam came by with a coffee table I'm going to refinish for her.  We had planned on going to lunch at a place in the neighborhood but because it was so gorgeous out we decided to head back to the lake and enjoy a fish sandwich at the Tin Fish on Lake Calhoun before they close thier doors for the winter.

I don't know if the food is great at the Tin Fish, I only know it always tastes fabulous, eating it there on the lake.
We sat in the sun and talked for two hours.  We'd still be there if we didn't have families who would've worried about us.

I got home in time to get Josie and haul her from school to karate.  After that, we drove home around the lakes.  There were a half a dozen sail boats on Lake Harriet at 6:30 last night.  The bouys come out some time in the next few weeks.

Today was supposed to be rainy, but it was still gorgeous at 3:00, so I hopped on my bike and did it again.  Everyone I saw down there had the same look on their face.  The look that says "Isn't this GREAT?"  As I got within a few blocks of home, I noticed some hazy clouds moving in from the west.  A half an hour later it smells like it might rain.

Perfect.