Unusual Ride Home

Chimney Swift (or flying cigar)

I went for a bike ride on Sunday.  As long as I was moving, it wasn't too hot. If I had to stop at a light or a stop sign, I just about cooked myself inside my jacket, boots, long pants, gloves, and helmet with a face shield.  We had lunch at Mai Village - a very cool Vietnamese restaurant in St. Paul on University and Western Avenues.  I had #68-spicy mock duck with lemon grass and it was really good.  When you enter this restaurant, you might be awed by the attractive lobby with beautiful furniture, rich wood carvings, and the real orchids blooming on the tables.  When you are led to your table, you cross a koi pond on a wooded bridge.  If you linger to stare at the koi, they start thrashing together to get closer because they think you might feed them.  You are led to your booth or table.  The furnishings are luxurious and extravagant.  Even the menus are beautiful.  I had a taste of the mock duck noodle salad and that was also delicious.  I was given a gift at this lunch - an antique punch bowl - not the easiest thing to transport on a motorcycle.  Lucky for me it came in a box and I brought enough bungee cords to get it attached securely behind me.  Unfortunately I spent too much time visiting on the way home and once the punchbowl and I got to Coon Rapids, rain started to fall.  I quickly pulled into a funeral home because it had a vehicle overhang (I suppose they load and unload caskets there).  No one was using the funeral home today. I pulled a plastic bag out of my backpack to protect the punch bowl.  By the time I covered the box with plastic the rain had stopped.  As I stopped a red light on Main Street in Anoka, I saw a half dozen chimney swifts flying around the intersection.  There must be enough old buildings with very tall chimneys for the swifts to call Anoka their home.  We made it home safe.  The punch bowl and all the cups were unbroken.