The weather’s been so absolutely gorgeous that I hopped on my bike to take a ride through town today because soon enough we’ll be hunkered down against the winter winds so long I won’t even remember what a bike ride under a warm autumn sun feels like.

I haven’t been on a complete circuit of the lake in I don’t know how many weeks … lots and lots, I’m pretty sure. And as of today I still haven’t gone all the way around because riding through the neighborhoods along Atwood Avenue and Willy Street was way too enjoyable to just blow through it and keep on going. Sometimes the John Nolan causeway is sort of a letdown, you know? So when I got as far as Blair Street, where I stopped to have a good look around at the hyperexpensive two-wheelers in the aisles at Machinery Row Bicycles (a guy can dream, can’t he?) I turned around and headed back home on Jenifer Street, where golden leaves fell down on me like rain the whole way.