The Years To Remember

Driving north with the first mountain views in sunshine.   I had quite a mental struggle to make the effort to go hiking Wednesday. It involved waking at 5 am for a 6:30 am meet up time, then a 2 hour drive to Mt. Van Hovenberg near Lake Placid. As usual, I did not regret the effort. I have never visited this Olympic Training Center before and the little I saw of it was impressive.  The Nordic Ski tracks and Bobsled runs were busy even in the frigid 20's F when we arrived. It was nice to gear up in the comfort of the beautiful lodge facility.  A couple of inches of new snow made the hike very pretty. One of many frozen features caused by the constant freeze/thaw of this warmish winter. The hiking crew except for me as I took the picture. Algonquin on the right, and Mt. Colden on the left. I won't forget the long 14+ mile hike up Colden I did a few years ago. I'm not sure I'll ever do such an ambitious hike again.   A chilly stop at the 2nd overlook. We did not bother t

  It's been a long 5 days of not doing much. All my rest after last weeks hiking has healed pretty much everything, except both of my shoulders which are still a bit sore. I hear my hiking companions talk of rotator cuff injuries and wonder. I really don't want another failing body part - the knee is enough! I'm trying my best to give them both rest, but it's hard when there is work to be done.  Saturday, Annette and I went to the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market. It's been 5 years since I went to the winter market, and as I remember it was really small and disappointing. It has really changed for the better! There were at least a hundred vendors on two floors, and even some live music. We were there about an hour; it was enjoyable and of course I did not need that coconut rum cake I bought. Apples, mushrooms, and root veggies on offer. Troy Waterfront Farmers Market - Winter Venue I've spent a lot time consuming media - I'm trying to read my way through A Gen

 I'm glad I did not tack this hike onto my last post - such a wonderful day deserves its own story.  I awoke at 5 am to drive north and meet AmyJean for the journey up to the Adirondacks. We were entertained by a beautiful sunrise and noted the lack of snow. It was forecast to be in the 40's today. We met our group at the Adirondack Loj parking lot and were advised that snowshoes were required and $150 fines were being handed out to non-compliers. We complied. From the parking lot on, the trail was soft wet snow to mostly ice where the cleats on the snow shoes were easily able to provide traction. Walking a narrow trail in snowshoes is a lot harder than just boots, so we got quite a workout in the ungainly footwear. Once the trail got steeper, the ice got harder to navigate, and we were all thinking about how the decent would go... Carolyn helping Ellen and me up a particularly icy spot. I did the same for people behind. We made it to the top of Mt. Jo without incident even tho

 2/14/23 What a sweet day for me. I did an energetic yoga practice to start things off. I finished painting the closet and got rid of lots of excess paint cans in the cleanup process.  I finally got tired of ignoring the abundance of arugula and lemons languishing in the fridge, so I tried a recipe for lemon arugula pesto and it was delicious - I put it on some excess cucumbers for lunch. I made enough to share with pesto loving friends.  I'm trying to waste less and use up the foods in the refrigerator and freezer this month. It is going well as I've only shopped once and don't plan to again until next week. That will just be for a bit of produce as there is so much other food in the freezer and the pantry.  Pesto is one way to add more greens to my diet.  The temperature outside was rising and I almost put the bike on the car to head off for a bike trail, but I just didn't feel like driving. Instead I set off on the bike out of the driveway for a town ride and it was

 A long walk just to stretch my legs yields a pretty sky. Some tiny early daffodils are poking their way up due to the warming temps. The tiniest hint of spring. Tremela Mesenterica (yellow brain fungus). A nice pop of color in the woods. As a person with zero interest in professional sports, I opted for an outdoor adventure on SuperBowl  Sunday. At first Ann Marie and I were just going to walk a few miles on the bike trail - very tame. But then AmyJean texted and proposed a forest walk at the Plotter Kill Preserve. We all quickly agreed. Well, it was NOT just a woods walk. We picked the red path that went from one end of the Preserve to the other for 5 miles, which would not have been too bad if we hadn't had to deal with four icy stream crossings. In the summer they are not a problem - plenty of rocks and low water flow. But it's been warm and the water was flowing fast and high. There was still a lot of ice covering the stream, but it was in the process of melting so each cr

Monday 2/6/23   An old lock along the towpath under the nearly full moon. My nudge word of the year is 'forward' and this week will hopefully exemplify that idea. Today started off slowly due to the worst insomnia I've ever had. I could not fall asleep, despite all my strategies, until nearly 6am which is more like my wake up time. I slept til noon then went about my abbreviated day.  I had a moon light hike on the calendar, so I set off to the meeting point at 4 pm, only to discover the hike started at 6 pm. Luckily my friend AJ was willing to meet at Panera for a bowl of soup and a chat until hike time. The hike was lovely - about 3.5 miles along the Mohawk Canal towpath and into the woods. The moon rose in a nearly clear sky as we walked, then paused to look at the stars and the steady line of 30+ StarLink satellites that were in low orbit overhead. While I've heard of them in the news as related to the Ukraine's internet needs, I didn't realize they were so