Today’s ride took me up the hill to Hampden to the coffee shoppe for some afternoon writing. I was pretty tired from a marathon day yesterday and some ill-advised late night TV viewing and it all made the uphill-in-the-wind feel unnecessarily hard. I got myself in an easy gear and let myself spin along until I got to the top. It was downhill on the way home, so I just let myself fly in the sunshine over to the park to do some laps. It was just beautiful out–sunny, brilliant blue sky–and tons of folks had the same idea. I stopped three fourths of the way around on my first lap to snap this picture of an island poking up through the exceedingly low water levels. Why are they so low? Where does reservoir water come from? It’s made by people, right? So it doesn’t just fill up by itself. Or does it? And how do all the birds find out when a new reservoir opens, since every one I’ve ever seen turns into a rookery in about two seconds? I did my laps and watched the park fill up with people. My report: every kid needs one of those scooters; if you set up a boom box and start dancing a crowd will gather, and by the fourth lap, you won’t be the only one dancing; and the more dogs the better. Oh, and every neighborhood needs a good park–we’ll use it.