There are always a couple of days in spring in Portland that are incredibly nice and make us think we’ve turned the corner from winter. But really there’s no early break and we go back to cold and rainy most years. The bright sunny weather does bring out lots of people and also crowds the roads with bicyclists who have no business being out in traffic. I almost saw one crushed between two cars as she wove in and out of traffic and then rode between the world’s worst parallel parker and a parked car. The worst part for me, of course, is that it’s the start of hay fever season.

I spent most of this beautiful day indoors, in a dusty room, just shoveling my dad’s crap into boxes. It takes too long to sort through stuff and I really need to get the room cleared out by the end of the week. I’m not going to make it, I think. The dust doesn’t do much for my hay fever, either. Lifting the boxes didn’t do much for my arm. So really, this first really nice day of spring has been a joy all around.