Today is a day for bicycling around town, if it will just get a bit warmer.

Wednesday night, we were kept awake most of the night by the crashing of marble-sized hail balls against the roof and the constant brightness of lightning flashes though the window. Yesterday, it rained all day (Mema built a fire to warm us from the cold.), and the sky cleared up just in time for us to go out.

After eating at Avo's yesterday evening (Tempeh Taco Thursday, hooray!), we walked around downtown to see what was the same and what had changed. We scored our first freebie: a fancy, cream-colored lamp shade in near perfect condition sitting on top of a dumpster.

 

We've noticed the alleyways in the downtown area have been beautified with cobblestone-style walkways and old-timey street lamps ("No longer the smell of vomit and urine," says Snark. "We have hoited the toited.").

We were greeted by mind-boggling, window-shopping advertisements announced by some of the new establishments in downtown.

Every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, there are free bands playing in the old town square. We stayed to listen to a reggae, Sublimesque-sounding band called Soul Criminal, and ate cupcakes from the cupcakery to celebrate Snark's mom's birthday, which was yesterday. Happy Birthday, Cindy!

 

I woke up to a note on my blog from my friends at OBR; hearing from them made my morning! I miss knowing about their lives, and hearing the updates on a regular basis. So glad to hear from them!