Rest of the Week

After dropping Sam at school on Friday, I headed over to the Commons for a run. Decided to check out all the side trails, thinking that perhaps the mountain bikers had managed to link up some of the singletrack trails along the perimeter of the woods on the Rt. 123 side. Alas, it was not to be. There is one nice little lollypop out there that I've run before, which gets regular use and is a fun addition, but most of the other inviting looking side trails were dead ends. Still, made for a fun variation on my typical Commons run. Leaves are changing for sure, and lots of mushrooms too! (7.0 miles)

After the run, I did a few errands around town and then walked over to pick Sam up after school. She really didn't need me though; both of the neighborhood girls who are going to be walking home with her were there as well, and the three of them trailed behind me, chattering away as we walked along, all seemingly having had a good second day of school. Happy to them all happy and feeling good about the start of school! (1.6 miles walked)

The cats woke me up early and I finally got out of bed around 5:30 on Saturday, but then spent a few hours relaxing before I finally headed out for a run around 7:30 am. A beautiful, bright and crisp morning. Ran roads around town. Felt good. And cool enough to wear sleeves! (10.1 miles)

After lunch, Mom and Dad joined us for a walk out at Skofield Shores. It really was a glorious afternoon and it's always fun to get down along the water's edge. (1.7 miles walked)

Ghost pipe

Cool coral mushroom

Such a pretty view 😎

We saw multiple egrets out along the water's edge

And we found several shed shells from some of the baby horseshoe crabs that no doubt were spawned here! So cool!

Sunday was yet another beautiful, clear, crisp morning. I headed out around 7:00 am for a run, looping around the Heath and then heading down the powerlines to run the entirety of the Gone Fishing mountain bike trails. Saw one group of turkeys, and a group of mountain bikers out doing some maintenance, but otherwise the trails were quiet. A good meander to wrap up the weekend. (15.0 miles)

After lunch, we went over to help Mom and Dad find a few things in their storage unit, and Sam had fun running around in the aisles. The storage units fill an entire floor of the old mill. Truly incredible, and really a good, creative use of the space. 

We got home early enough and it was such a nice afternoon that we decided to get out for a walk across the street. Dad joined us. Brisk and sunny. The low lying foliage along the powerlines is turning brown, but the asters and goldenrod are still providing some nice hints of color. (1.9 miles walked)

We wrapped up the day with sushi take out. Yum!

First Day of School!

Facebook has been showing a lot of first day of school memories lately. Looking back on all the images of Sam heading off to school through the years makes me smile and shows me that, wow! she really has grown up! No longer is the backpack as big as her whole torso 😉 We're super proud of the girl she's become and of her attitude as she headed into her first day of 6th grade, at a middle school she had only had the chance to step into one time, wearing a mask and with a whole lot of unknowns ahead of her. She really is a good kid 💗

Wednesday afternoon, she wrapped up her summer with a swim in the hotel pool with Mom and Dad, a walk around Bath and an end of the summer ice cream. Sounds pretty good to me!

I snuck in a run in the pre-dawn darkness on Thursday morning. A misty, muggy, moonless morning out along the cart paths. (6.1 miles)

                                            

And then it was time for the 6:30 am first day of school wake-up! So much for a gentle re-entry 😂 But she was all smiles as she headed off to school...

...and all smiles when we picked her up to walk home together 😃 First (half) day of school was a success! (1.7 miles walked)

And so, of course, we celebrated with ice cream! 🍦🍦

Sam then proceeded to spend rest of the afternoon biking around the neighborhood with Abby. She wrapped up the day exhausted but happy. Here's hoping it stays that way! 

Labor Day Fun

We found out late last week that Sam wouldn't be starting school remotely on Tuesday this week as we had originally understood. As cohort B, doing in-person learning on Thursday and Friday, her first day of school would be that first in-school day on Thursday. Honestly, that made more sense! And so it was that she gained a few more days of summer, even if it still felt like Monday, as a the Labor Day holiday, was that last day to really soak it all in.

I decided to head over to the Chase Reserve for a morning run, knowing that I didn't have to rush and that we had nothing on the schedule for the day except an afternoon hike! The rooty, technical trails wind their way through the deep woods and while there are no grand views, there is a quiet, subtle beauty to just running amongst the pine trees and through the ferns. Things were a bit overgrown here and there, and although a cool morning, it was quite muggy! Still, it was fun to do something different. (7.2 miles)

Just in case you needed a rest out there 😉

Neat purple mushroom!

Came home and did a few things around the house, including baking up some chocolate chip cookie bars (yum! 😋🍪) and using the big tomatoes Val had given me after our run on Friday to make some homemade pasta sauce. I didn't want to have to blanch the tomatoes so found a recipe that avoided that. The sauce cooked up pretty quickly and was quite tasty!

Then after lunch it was off for a hike with Mom and Dad to enjoy the beautiful day. Sam wanted to show them Long Reach Preserve out in Harpswell. We hiked there twice in the spring at the start of the pandemic and it is one of our favorites from our local explorations, with some lovely woods, a deep colorful bog and pretty views on the trail down along Long Reach. And such a nice afternoon to be out and a great way to wrap up an extra long weekend! 💗(2.4 miles walked)

Love the red in the boggy area!

Indian wild cucumber - such pretty deep purple berries!

Ghost pipe

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Last Week of Summer

It's always bittersweet, the last free and easy summer days before school starts. Despite the restrictions and challenges due to Covid-19, we had a lot of fun local explorations, good adventures and some great camping trips here in Maine. Was summer what we were planning for? No. But we're living in crazy times, and just did the best we could and tried to enjoy things as much as possible. And now we are on the verge of the unknown with Sam starting middle school and jumping into hybrid schooling in the midst of an ongoing global pandemic. Cross your fingers for us! 

On the Mom and Dad front, it has been so nice having them around and enjoying dinners together, and Sam has had the chance to get out with them a number of time since they've arrived for some fun, which has been really nice! And even better, they signed a contract on a new condo at the end of this week! It's all very exciting, although it is still going to be a little while until they can move in. That part remains slightly stressful, but we are so happy they've found a place that they really like and that is a good fit! 💗

Monday: A rest day with a lot of time spent at the computer and on the phone. The three of us finally got out around 4:30 pm for a walk around the block. We wanted to give Sam a chance to walk her route to school and confirm how far it would be, so we walked the roads. We stopped at the front door of the middle school to take a look in and as we were walking away, a man came running after us, asking us if we had wanted to enter the building. We told him that no, we were just checking things out as Sam was starting at the school next week and he introduced himself as the principal and asked us if we wanted to come in for a quick tour. Wow! Such a truly nice gesture, and we so appreciated it. It was really great to get inside the building and see the space and let Sam have the chance to envision herself there. Dr. Ottow was just so nice and made us all feel so welcome, and with so much uncertainly surrounding how this school year is going to start and how it is all going to go, that went a long way to easing our anxiety about things.  (2.0 miles walked)

Tuesday: Up and out onto the cart paths and around the Heath in the early morning light. Really pretty sky. Saw two turkeys and a few frogs. (7.0 miles)

Cotton sedge and sunrise over the Heath 😍😍

I headed into work for the day and Sam went for a swim in the hotel pool with Mom during the afternoon. Fun! And even better, the underwater lights changed color, which seemed to be quite exciting! 🎉

Wednesday: Up early for a road run around town. Cool temps but still quite humid. Stopped to pick a few blackberries at a roadside patch as berry season is winding down and I never want to miss out on an opportunity for trailside snacks! (7.2 miles)

Thursday: Mom and Dad took Sam and Anne up to Reid State Park for a beach day complete with a stop at Fielder's Choice for ice cream before coming home. Ryan worked all day, while I worked most the day and then did the grocery shopping before coming home. I think the girls and the grandparents got the better end of the deal! 

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Friday: Frosty's reopened for the first time since closing back in March, so of course I got out of the house early to stand in line for donuts! There was just no question 😃🍩😋💛 Yum!

Then it was off to Bradbury to meet up with the ladies for a run! So much fun to catch up and see everyone. I've missed our Friday miles together 💖 (7.0 miles)

Saturday: Late start this morning after being woken up around 1:00 am by Gigi puking on the bed 🙀 and not being able to go back to sleep. Gah. Beautiful morning though for a road run around town. Felt good. (9.0 miles)

Later in the day, Ryan and I finally got his car unpacked of all the summer camping stuff (nothing like procrastinating!) and cleaned out and organized the shed, while Sam spent a few hours riding and playing around the neighborhood with Emma and Abby, even getting to help release of the last monarchs that Emma's family had been raising this summer. So cool!

Sunday: Out early for the Sunday long run. Beautiful morning. Nice and cool although still humid. Ran out to Head of Tides and then finished up with a loop on the powerlines. Lots of color out there - red cardinal flowers, white turtlehead, purple aster, neon yellow spindle-shaped yellow coral fungi and a fair number of other mushrooms as well. Saw one hare, one towhee, one osprey flying over Head of Tides and a group of 5 ATV riders. (15.0 miles)

Mom and Dad came over for lunch and then we all took a walk across the street so they could see the middle school. Warm out! (1.9 miles walked)

We finished up the day with a few games and an Indian food dinner. Yum!