What's Next?: Late May

Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Late May

Beautiful week this week! It is getting green out there 🍃

Monday, Ryan and I got out for a late afternoon walk around the school block just for a bit of movement. (1.7 miles walked)

And then Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, I actually made it out of the house in the mornings for some early morning running! Woohoo. Honestly, I just haven't had this happen in so long that I'll take it as a win! 🎉Tuesday, I got out at 5:30 am for a run on the cart paths. Pretty morning, and nice and cool. (6.0 miles)

Wild sarsaparilla are in bloom!

Another beautiful cool and bright morning on Wednesday morning. Headed out on the powerlines for a nice loop. The air smelled of hay scented ferns and lilacs, with the sound of catbirds and towhees calling. I don't normally see ladyslippers along the powerlines so was thrilled to find two of them in a slightly shaded spot. (7.0 miles)

Friday, I met up with Anne, Val and Mindy for a run at Brad. We met at Lawrence Road and headed out on the connector, looping back on the powerlines and the Royal River trail before tacking on a small loop up at the quarry on Tryon. It was a beautiful morning and so nice to catch up with everyone for a run! It had been a while.

The powerlines started out nice and mowed, it became a tick haven and we EACH found 15-20 dog ticks on us. Ewww! So gross! I would most definitely not recommend heading out that way for a while. It was nasty! We even stopped and all took off our shoes at Elmwood Road to get rid of the remaining creepy crawlies, but despite that, I still found one climbing up the back of my leg as we ran along the road up to the Royal River trailhead. 😱😱

On the plus side, we saw a very tiny smooth green snake at the edge of the trail as we started our run along with an adorable toad the size of my thumbnail, along with several ladyslippers out along the corridor along with some blooming indian wild cucumber and a lovely carpet of starflower and false lily of the valley, and then on our short jaunt up to Tryon, we saw dozens of ladyslippers but the mosquitos were too bad to stop and take photos! (5.25 miles)

Cute green snake

Indian wild cucumber

Hi cutie!

Cinnamon ferns along the brook

Came home and showered right away, and then did a bit of cleaning and household chores before taking Sam up to the Y for swim practice. It was too nice of an afternoon to sit inside, so I took a walk before watching the second half of practice. The smell of honeysuckle and lilac permeated the air. So lovely. (2.0 miles walked)

Saturday morning, I had a mellow morning and waited for the showers to abate before heading out around 8:00 am for my run. Ran out on the powerlines and then finished up and over Mt. A. Very muggy and humid, and I was definitely soaked by the end. Ladyslippers, bluebead lilies, starflowers, the first few painted trillium of the season, bunchberry and false lily of the valley seen. So much beauty on the forest floor. A few oak gall on the ground too. Plus the sweet scent of hay scented ferns and the chokeberry bushes in bloom and abundant birdsong in the air. It truly is a wonderful time of year to be outside and to be amazed by the resilience and beauty of nature. (10.0 miles)

So much chokeberry and such a sweet smell

Oak gall

Blue bead lily

Although the rest of the day turned out to be nicer than forecast, we stuck with our plan of a mellow afternoon anyway, which was kind of nice.

Sunday morning, I headed out at 7:00 am for my long run. Looped around town, running into the Highlands to get onto the trail system there for a short bit and then made my way over to the short trail along the Androscoggin before continuing via roads up to Homeplace and getting on the powerlines there, hitting some Gone Fishing trails out that way too. Then via the back road up to the Cathance and out to Head of Tides, before looping back on the roads to the powerlines and finishing up with a few miles around the schools and neighborhood. A fair amount of road but fun to mix in all the different trails systems enroute. Beautiful morning. One great blue heron, two turtles, and fish jumping at the bottom of the dam at Head of Tides. Plus a multitude of late spring/early summer flowers and the smell of hay scented ferns and lilacs in the air. Felt fairly decent although I did have to bargain with myself several times to keep going 😂 First 20 miler since Hamsterwheel! (20.0 miles)

Along the Andro

Dame's rocket

Carpet of lily of valley in the woods out at Head of Tides

Then it was home to relax on the couch for a bit, under the watchful eye of Gigi 😹 before we headed out to the coast to spend the afternoon and early evening with the Dostie's at the Point.

It was a very breezy but beautiful afternoon to be outside. Abby came out with us, and Kristen's friends Lindsey and Nick came out with their kids, and there was much laughter, time in the water for the kids, and fun chatting and eating and drinking together. Always great to get to visit! Thanks for the invite, guys!