Lift Up Your Hearts!

I thought our Sunday was exciting, until I read about the Daleys'!

It was Sunny on Sunday here, too, at least for the morning.  Porter put our bikes on the back of the car and the skies were blue and clear as we headed out for 8:00 church.  The service was glorious, with lots of great hymns—we needed to double up on the hymn board!  The 8:00 service at Messiah rocks!  (Though not literally.)  Afterwards there's always a great breakfast, at which we fortified ourselves for our adventure.

After changing into cooler clothes, we hopped on our bikes and headed to the West Orange Trail.  It was our first time on this trail, and covering new ground is always fun.  The day was hot, but not unpleasantly so as long as we kept moving.  Our plan had been to travel about five miles westward to the beginning of the trail, and return to the eastern leg at another time.  You will not be surprised to learn that we got sidetracked.

The first diversion came when we decided to drop in on some friends we hadn't seen since before we moved to Boston.  They used to host a wonderful bed and breakfast place, and it's now for sale.  It would be a great place to live for someone who could afford it, i.e. had won the lottery or else had recently sold a small shack in California or Boston.  In any case, they were very gracious about receiving unplanned guests this morning, and it was great to see them again and catch up a bit.  I'm still sorry they no longer run the B&B, though.  :(

On the road trail again, we thoroughly enjoyed the breeze, the sun, the shade from the giant oaks, passing field and forest, cute buildings, tiny towns, dirt roads, and major highways.  And many other travelers, enjoying the trail by bike, skates, foot, and stroller.  We came all too soon to our goal, and the conspicuous "End of Trail" sign.  But it wasn't!  Feeling a little like the Swallows passing the Beach End buoy, we continued on the paved trail with no end in sight.  It turns out that only a few days ago the South Lake Trail had been completed, linking the West Orange with the Lake Minneola Scenic Trail in Lake County.  We pedaled on for another couple of miles before reluctantly turning back, not without making definite plans to return.  As it was, we stayed out longer than we had planned, and perhaps made a little too much vitamin D.  We should have stopped somewhere and put on sunscreen, but we survived with only a very mild sunburn in a few places.  It was a good reminder that we've entered the season when the Florida midday sun is not to be trifled with.  And that haircuts leave vulnerable skin that had previously been protected.

As we drove home, hot, tired, and happy, we noticed that the once-blue sky had turned grey, and not the sky only but the air all around was shrouded in a smoky cloud.  This happens occasionally in the dry season, when smoke from a Central Florida wildfire spreads our way.  We wondered if this might have been from Wekiva Springs Park, where they keep the occurance wildfires down with controlled burning, but sometimes they happen anyway.  Turns out this smoke was from just a little further away—the Okefenokee Swamp!  I hope Pogo and Porky Pine are being careful....

We topped off the day by having a friend for dinner.  I don't mean that quite the way it sounds.  We had lasagne, salad, cheese bread, and fruit (apple/blueberry/peach/rhubarb) crisp, accompanied by good conversation.

I commented this morning that I should have pre-cooked the fruit a bit, because the apples and rhubarb were not fully cooked.  It was still good, I added, but I like my crisp a little softer. We laughed almost as much as we did over the "It's only a little wet" incident.