I was out on my bike and thought for a moment I had ridden into my all-time favorite scene from "The Simpsons."

Seemingly everywhere I looked, kids were running around and enjoying being outdoors. Such a happy sight.

I thought about that "Simpsons" episode, not for the first time in such moments.

In it, all the kids of Springfield turn off the TV. They turn off their computers. They put down their devices.

And they get up and go outside, rubbing their eyes as they behold the splendor of the sunlit outdoors. The scene shows them engaging in one form of classic childhood frolic after another. It's all pretty sweet. But the thing that makes it special is the music.

As we see the children playing, we hear Beethoven's stirring Pastoral Symphony. It is a cultural pairing from across the centuries that still strikes me as magic.

Not all that long ago, a friend asked me to name my favorite piece of Beethoven's. I said it would be the Pastoral Symphony. I can't remember if I admitted it might be because of that uplifting scene in "The Simpsons."

But there's no sense kidding anybody. Much of what I know about classical music was learned from watching Bugs Bunny.

I came home and found the "Simpsons" snippet on YouTube. It made me want to go back outside.

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