Labor Day Hike

Sean had to work today so it was just the girls and me. Since Quinn is used to getting up early we were all up before 6 even though I would have preferred to sleep in until 8. We had a nice breakfast of Zucchini bread (isn't everyone eating tons of Zucchini bread this time of year?) and headed down to Reservation road to Hike Pawtuckaway's Boulder field.

There are tons of caves, and the girls enjoyed some spelunking in them. The rocks are huge and of varying levels of difficulty for climbing. Most of the climbing is the free climbing sort - no ropes required. Quite a few, in fact I'd say all of the good rocks have chalk residue from previous climbers.

This is Ali on top of the Lower Slab (yup we New Englanders sure can pick romantic names for things can't we) Check out the next picture for some perspective. Ali's in the same spot, can you see her?
We turned around after these and did some more cave exploring, and then we came home. Next time we're taking Dad 'cause he'd be able to give Ali some boost up to better rocks and maybe free me up from Quinn carrying duty enough to pack a lunch and some drinks and we could picnic up there.

Pawtuckaway is such a neat place. There are so many glacial deposits, every trail is a winner. I love it there!

First hike of the year

Yesterday was glorious weather. I wanted to work in the yard. Sean not being around and Quinn having some massive roaming urges prompted me (after the umpteenth temper tantrum at not being allowed to walk down the road) to load the kids up in the car and take them out for a hike. Quinn loves hiking. It's truly her thing. Granted, she's 2, and her legs aren't that long so we don't usually go too far. But no matter how bad her day was, if she gets out into the woods for a little hike all becomes right in the world again. So off to the boat launch we went. I was sure the ground was dry enough after my visit last Saturday, and I thought Ali would like to climb that big boulder so that's where we went. The water was low, slow and unimpressive - so I didn't take any pictures of it, but I got some lovely shots of the girls in Quinn's element.

Ali's second sock

Well things have been progressing a little more slowly on the second sock. Not due to second sock syndrome or anything mundane like that but just that the weather has been sublime so we've been outside as much as possible. Yesterday we raked a wee bit, and then I went for a walk down to the boat launch at Pawtuckaway - that's about 41/2 miles away from my house. It was a gorgeous walk. I was reading the first few chapters of my newest book while I walked ($2.00 used Living the good life by the Nearings). I like it OK I suppose, but I think they're far more pompous than the author of Ten Acres Enough (same idea about 100 years earlier). In any event, it was a pleasant walk down and an even more pleasant sit down on the bridge at the boat launch. It's so beautiful there. The water was running fast but was about 5-7 feet lower than usual because they drained the lake (so it doesn't flood). I saw a couple of guys running the rapids in a canoe - that was a sight - and some kids were climbing a huge boulder at the trail head. It was a real pleasant pause. It was NOT a pleasant walk home. Something about my shoes I guess was not right and my feet hurt wicked bad, my calves were killing me and my hips were grinding the whole walk back from which I had to be rescued because it had already taken me twice as long to get half way home, the kids were crying for me and my hips couldn't take it anymore.

We went to the beach today to check out the tide pools. It was 40 degrees and windy but my family ditched their shoes and got their feet wet - and Quinn got her whole body wet when she fell down - Luckily I anticipated this and brought her a whole new outfit. We walked quite a ways but as I had different shoes on my hips felt fine. My feet still ache but not too bad. I didn't even think to bring the camera until Sean and Ali were way out in the tide pool and I thought how lovely a picture it would have been if I had thought to bring the camera - darn it.

So now about the second sock. I don't like the toe and heel on the first sock They just don't feel as luscious as the body, so on the second sock I switched yarn to something equally yummy, and once the pair have been completed I'll take out the first heel and toe and rework them in the better yarn. That's one of the reasons I like toe up socks and short row heels - you can just cut them off and redo the whole thing over new when they get worn. But I never wear those parts out. I always wear out the ball of the foot - wouldn't you know it?