Sun on Sunday

Sunday - what an awesome day! My alarm went off at 7 am, but it was actually 8 am because of daylight savings time change. Fine with me - the sun was shining brightly through my bedroom curtains and I couldn't wait to get out into it. The sun rarely makes an appearance during Rochester winters, so a day like that is definitely one requiring taking advantage of. I had already made plans to go sledding with a friend of mine who had never gone before...in her life...she's from Texas, so it's ok. I made coffee and had some of mom's homemade apple cake (an amazingly delicious outcome of having mom snowed in at my place). Played with the dogs in the yard, got dressed in my "snow suit", loaded up the sleds into El Fuego and waited for Julie to arrive. By the time she came over, my mom and my roommate were up. It was kind of reminiscent of growing up having so many people crowded into the small kitchen, drinking coffee, eating, chatting, all the while with the dogs underfoot. What a great way to start the morning.

Next on the agenda - sledding! Julie and I get to the top of Cobb's Hill - only the best sledding spot in all of Rochester (next to 'Suicide Hill' of course - but S.H. most certainly would not have been appropriate for a rookie run. Can you imagine the call to her folks in Texas? 'Um, hi, yes, there's been a sledding accident involving your daughter...'). The wind was howling right up the front of the hill - so blustery and cold - any exposed skin was accosted by it to the point of numbness. We simply bundled up our hoods and scarves, and looking like two overgrown kids (I am 5'9" and she is almost 6') we set off with our purple and red sleds to conquer the omnipotent hill in front of us. Julie gets in her sled. Remember she has never done this before. With a squeal she sets off - only to fall over maybe 1/4 of the way down. (Light bulb) Perhaps if you lie down on your belly and go down face first rather than sitting upright, your center of gravity will be lower to the ground thus displacing your weight evenly giving you more momentum...brilliant! Ok, so I scammed the idea from the kid next to us - I do have several science degrees, yet I have to learn the physics of proper sled mechanics from an 8-year-old. Whatever, it worked and we flew! I think we went down maybe 4-5 times before the quad burn set in. This is the burn you get in your thighs from running back up the hill - and you are running because the thought of getting down again has you so excited. Man, we are out of shape, I think to myself. Regardless, it was amazing fun!

Finally conceding to the quad burn we take our last runs and set off to get some sushi. But first we decided to hit up some bike shops. Julie is in the market for a bike and I was recruited as aide in the search (such a burden, I know :). We only actually went to one bike shop because the rest were closed on Sundays - so Wednesday we will go again - the torture, again :). I love eye candy and bike shops are full of them. Pretty, shiny, colourful eye candy. Makes a girl all weak in the knees...I do need a commuter to ride to work...hmmmm. Realising that I need to bring, Chekhov (my Trek) in for a tune-up (I messed up his derailleur - poor guy), I smiled knowing I would be forced to come back and get to drool over the all the beautiful frames. MMMM shiny, frames....off to the sushi bar.

After gorging on many a delicious roll, I ran home grabbed Chekhov, the dogs, my snowshoes and set off again. I dropped the Trek off for his tune-up, drooled some more, finally peeled myself out of the shop and took off for Mendon for a shoe with the pups. We arrive to a crowded trail, no worries, I love crowds (blah, not really). We take off down Quaker Pond Trail - the sun is so bright I start to realise that I have way too many layers on. Deciding it was too late to turn back I kept trekking all the while sweating like a Spitzer call girl in church. The hike was gorgeous, the people were chatty and friendly, the dogs were so happy (as was I). I find that in Rochester when the sun makes its semi-annual winter appearance the people become more friendly. As if their scowls are slowly thawed by the warm rays, if only temporarily, as when the permacloud returns so do their expressions of disgust. I also find that when with my dogs people find it easier to talk to me or they remember me (my dogs) from previous sightings. When alone, I am an invisible being. When with the pups I am an old familiar face - the husky girl or the girl with the beautiful Siberians, or the girl who needs to be on a sled, or....well, you get the picture. I have actually met some really cool people thanks to the dogs, so I have no complaints there.

We finish our hike, head home, eat dinner, shower and fall into a vegatative state on the couch while watching the Simpsons. All three of us (well four of us, the cat wanted in on the vegging-on-the-couch thing). What an awesome end to an awesome day!