A Nice Saturday

The morning started off right, with chocolate chip pancakes :-) Yum! Later, Ryan headed off to meet up with Jeremy for the first Maine Trash Run. The plan was to pick up trash along the roadside at the edge of the Commons in Brunswick. Ian, Kelly, Erik, Blaine and Erin also joined in on the fun. While he was gone, Sam and I played and she took a nice nap, which left me with enough time to get some laundry done, make the filling for our chicken enchilada dinner, have lunch, and even relax a bit :-) When she woke up, we joined up with the trash pickers at Frontier afterward. Turns out they filled 18 bags of trash in a 1-mile stretch. That's a lot of trash! Sam was fascinated by the fiddlers that were playing during the lunch hour. The music was lots of fun!

When we got home from Frontier, I headed out for my run. For something different, I drove over to Bowdoin and hit the trails in the Commons. It was sprinkling just slightly when I headed out, but regardless it was a nice afternoon to be out. I was curious to see how many ladyslippers I could find, as they were just starting to show up when I ran there 2 weeks ago. The forest floor had greened up, filled with false lily of the valley, starflowers, bluets, several nice patches of pink trailing arbutus and ladyslippers. I counted 102! I know Ryan does not believe that I could actually have seen 100+ ladyslippers along the trails, but I did. Conditions in the woods there must just be perfect for the ladyslippers. It's wonderful to see so many! The rhodora and blueberry bushes were also blooming among the pitch pine. I added a bit on at the end, along the Bowdoin fields, to get in 6 miles. Perfect!

And now, after a yummy enchilada and gaucamole dinner, Sam is asleep and we are relaxing on the couch. Ahhh :-)