Jessica’s surprise birthday present for me was, by the way, dinner and tickets to a performance of Bach’s Mass in B Minor. Fabulous! The performance was inside an Episcopalian cathedral and the sound was heavenly. It was a wonderful evening, but it’s not my birthday yet. I’m not 40 for a few more days.

On the way back from town on Saturday we decided to pull off the beaten path and bounce down to the river in the Jeep. It’s springtime already anyway (note the scarcity of snow on the mountain, and kids sans coats) so we thought we’d throw a few rocks in the river and take some pix. The kids discovered coon tracks, how to skip rocks, and what happens if you follow a muddy estuary too far upstream while wearing nice clothes. The dogs re-discovered that they are four-legged fish. I discovered the luscious mix of bare branches, mountains, and reflections that may turn into a graphite painting one of these days.

The rocks are green because they’re covered with algae. There’s a dam upstream that controls the water output of the river, which fluctuates throughout the day depending on demand for electricity. So when enough city dwellers switch on their TVs to watch their football games, it lowers the water in our river,  exposing the slimy rocks, and making our poor doggies have to run further before they hit the water.

I like to take little side trips like this occasionally. Our lives are so ridiculously busy that if not for spontaneous jaunts, I wouldn’t get to spend a lot of time with the kids. And they’re more important than most anything else I do.