Making Plans

 

Susan, AJ, and Ann Marie on Thirteenth Lake.

After trying to get together for a month, we finally managed it. Ann Marie, Amyjean, Susan, and I headed up to Thirteenth Lake for a kayak adventure. It was a breezy day but we had fine weather as we circumnavigated the lake. We saw a group of loons, a heron, and several other nice people boating the undeveloped lake. 

We had a good laugh at how we all spontaneously spaced ourselves.
Susan, me, Ann Marie, Amyjean

We stopped at the Garnet Lodge's private beach for a snack and a swim (not me) before the wind picked up and practically blew us back to the put in. We were lucky that the wind was at our backs! One guy who was also taking out his boat commented that we must be very tough women to be on the lake in all the wind. We all agreed.
We stopped at the Docksider on Glen Lake for dinner in order to keep the lake vibe going. We had a fine day.

The Docksider for burgers.

Glen Lake

I finally pulled the trigger and rented a condo in California in October for the purpose of spending a week with my daughter. It's the same place we stayed last year, right on the ocean in a very peaceful setting. I've booked my flight and now just need a car rental which I'm in no hurry to book. I'm looking forward to the  Wild Animal Park, walking on the beach, and just enjoying chats with my girl. Our plan to travel to Scotland fell through due to her work schedule, so we hope to do that in the spring instead.

All the caterpillars have successfully chysalised and I'm waiting for their emergence as butterflies. I'm glad I’m done cleaning out their jar and picking milkweed for them each day. It's quite a bit of responsibility to rear them.

Enjoying a fire while tidying the yard.

This weekend is a quiet one with no outings planned, so I got some yard work done. The red squirrel still has a plethora of pinecones to feast on, so I’m clearing them out. I just want the squirrel to go back to live in the woods and not my shed. I have a stack of old firewood that really needs to be burned, so while I raked and bagged pine cones, I had a nice fire to sit near on my rest breaks. A rainstorm came through just as the last logs burned down and drenched the yard, putting an end to the work day.

So much for the quiet weekend - I was just asked to go biking Sunday and dinner afterwards.  Not such a quiet weekend after all.

The last couple of winters have been tough on my mental state with not much to do and too many cold, dreary days, so I’m being proactive about winter plans this year. .  I’ve signed up to volunteer with ORDA, the Regional Olympic Development Authority in Lake Placid. Peggy has done it for years and she gets free lift tickets to ski resorts as a perk. Another friend and I are going to join her to make volunteering a more fun event, then we can ski together as well. The events we'll be working are ski competitions, bobsledding, and skating championships. It should be interesting.
Now I want to plan a 2 week getaway to somewhere warm for January which, along with the March Norway trip, should make winter somewhat tolerable.

I just finished reading The Cider House Rules by John Irving. Wow. What a story. I swear I watched the movie when it came out in 1999, but I can remember none of it. My small and serious book club is doing an author study on Irving and I can't wait to discuss this one. We may also include a watch party for the movie afterwards. I went from never belonging to a book club, to joining two of them. I love that I'm reading so much more now. 

I found this photo of our July Ireland bike tour group on a photo sharing website, so I'm
popping it in here. Better late than never.

Janice and I rode 30 miles from Schenectady to Amsterdam and back yesterday, stopping for a 
decadent Italian dinner at Lorenzo's midway. Life is good!


Comments

  1. MargaretSeptember 8, 2025 at 12:21 PM

    I love how you make travel plans; I need to be more like that. I talk about going to Ireland but am hesitant to commit due to the grandsons, the cat, etc. The lake day looks beautiful; that blue sky is so pretty. 30 miles! That's amazing. I feel like 20 miles is more than enough for my rear end. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  2. MargaretSeptember 8, 2025 at 12:22 PM

    I'm still not good at putting in my new blog address. :(

    ReplyDelete

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