A Sunny Saturday

When I awoke this morning, I had an agenda. That's not typical for me on a weekend. I usually know what I need to do, but do not organize my thoughts into an agenda. In recent weeks, especially when the weather is iffy, I also have sometimes ended up procrastinating to the point that I get no chores done AND don't even leave the house until it is time to meet up with friends.

The nice thing about having an agenda today is that it motivated me to get out of the house promptly to start my day. Thank goodness, since today was easily the most spectacular day we've had since I returned to NYC. I suppose that, technically, I accomplished only one or two things on my initial agenda, but that's not important right now. As a practical matter, my agenda kept changing throughout the day to provide maximum pleasure rather than chores.

First, I headed for the north end of Prospect Park and walked the 3.35 mile loop clockwise. Everyone else goes counter-clockwise, but it is so much more fun to see and be seen....

Afterward, I checked out the Farmers' Market, and immediately fell in love with a spider plant. Once I bought that, there was only room to carry one or two food items... so I didn't get all the groceries I was thinking about for my so-called agenda.

Brunch was at a local diner and featured steak and eggs ... something I never make at home.

After brunch, it was time for the day's main event: skating. (Also not on the agenda, but a worthy replacement for the shopping and cleaning I'd planned to do. An upgrade, if you will.) I took the subway in to Manhattan. After not skating for many months, it was thrilling to speed along under the glorious sunshine, in a summery skirt, for 11 miles -- some of it uphill on rough surfaces.

Skating route: I went up the Hudson River Bike Path from the southern tip of Manhattan all the way to 120th Street, where the path ends. (For the first time, I figured how to reconnect with the bike path after the 89th St. detour, which gets a bit messy. In all honesty, the path is much nicer in the southern half, because the traffic is much further away.) After reaching the end, I turned around and skated back down (against the wind) to 104th Street and kept cutting south and east (W. 97th turns out to have a somewhat gentler slope than some of the others) until I got to Central Park. I skated around the loop counterclockwise (i.e., with everyone else, this time) until I got to the Delacorte Theatre. I was going to skate down to the southern edge of the park, another 30+ blocks, but I realized I was getting tired and my ankles were getting wobbly. Not smart to keep skating. So I got some water, found a nice comfy rock, and settled down to read a book on Constitutional interpretation.

When I was done with that, I walked down to 59th Street to check out some wine glasses at Crate & Barrel. (One of my inspirations this morning was the thought that I would get a really fancy set of crystal stemware - but as it happens, C&B wasn't quite fancy enough for what I had in mind.) On the way to the subway, I checked out the 24-hour, 365-day Apple store at the southeast corner of the park, then went home feeling pretty darn pleased with myself.

On the way home, I bought three videos. (Also not on the agenda.) I just watched one: Mad Hot Ballroom. It was brilliant.