The warm front the first part of last week brought out the early-blooming magnolias; the chill this weekend knocked the blossoms all down. They made splashes of color, pale pools of pink-ish purple petals on the bare ground. As if to make up for that, the redbuds are coming out and there's a few dogwoods blooming, about a month ahead of Easter.


That was the nice part of this morning's ride. On the other hand, it started to rain as I left the house, a cold rain, knocking the temperature down 9 degrees on a 10 mile ride. The clouds kept the air warm overnight, until the rain hit. If I could order weather a la carte, I'd have taken clear skies, cooler temps, and why couldn't the rain hold off until I got to work??