But in other news, it FINALLY felt like spring later in the week this week, which is super exciting and I finally wore shorts on my first run this season 😆😉
Monday: A quiet work and school day, except for the news that one of my co-workers is moving on to work with another larger agency. 😢 She's my closest work friend, and I will truly miss working with her, although I know this is a good step for her career-wise.
Sam and I wrapped up the day with a nice afternoon walk. Overcast and a bit windy, but warm and not raining like predicted at least! (1.6 miles walked)
Downhill fun!
These delicate wild oats are so pretty!
Tuesday: Nice, crisp, sunny morning for a run on the cart paths and around the Heath. Goldthread, wood anenome and bluets blooming, plus lots of bird song including the resident Towhee and a number of goldfinch flitting about on the powerlines. (7.0 miles)
Went into work for the day, and time got away from me so by the time I got home, we didn't get out for a walk until around 4:30. Thankfully it was a lovely evening, even if that wind is STILL chilly! Ryan joined us and we had a nice walk and talk out through the woods and back around Mt. Ararat. (2.5 miles walked)
Trailing arbutus is still blooming
Wind is whipping and the sun is in Sam's eyes 😂
Wednesday: Wasn't feeling super energetic but enjoyed a crisp morning meander out on the trails in the farther reaches of the Cathance. Quiet except for lots of bird song. Wood anemone, bluets, tiny white violets, goldthread and some dwarf ginseng blooming. Ferns are really starting to unfurl, and although there is a patch of trout lilies in the hardwoods along the slope of the 6th hole, I haven't found any flowers there yet. (7.0 miles)
Worked at home for the day, with all of us busy! Sam had two zoom classes and then we finally wrapped up around 4:00 and she and I got out for a walk. Incredibly windy, which is apparently the theme for this spring, but bright and sunshiney at least! Just a nice walk in the woods. (1.5 miles walked)
School is planning a virtual 5th grade celebration for the end of the year, and we had to choose some pictures to send in for a slide show of all the students. Sam and I had fun looking through toddler photos and photos from the past few months before choosing the ones she liked best. Such a great idea!
Sam's choices...
Then...💗
And now... 💖
Thursday: Blergh, didn't feel great as I got my period, so instead of getting out for a run, I crawled back into bed for a bit more sleep after getting up to feed the cats at 4:30 am. Ronnie had already woken Sam up, and I stepped on Gigi's tail in the darkness, so it was a bit of a mess 😂 but we all fell back to sleep, cats included! Then it was off to office for the morning and to deliver lunches for the shelter before coming home for lunch and an afternoon of work at the kitchen table.
Wrapped up the day with a walk outside with Sam. It was so lovely out! Warm and sunny and no cold wind - hurray! Really felt incredibly nice! Perfect afternoon to get outside. Trailing arbutus still in bloom along with strawberry flowers along the powerlines in the sunshine, blueberry bells out and wood anemone fully open. SO NICE! (2.0 miles walked)
Friday: Hit the roads early to start off the day. Felt good to get push the pace a bit, although Ryan suggested that I wasn't going about speed quite the right way 😉 Ha! Oh well. Still happy with it and felt good. Nice and warm, probably the warmest morning this spring so far! I still haven't worn shorts but I did wear the capris today 😂 Saw two rowers along the Androscoggin, but only saw one person along my run route. The bird highlight was seeing a Northern Flicker flush up from the ground over by the swinging bridge. (8.0 miles)
The rest of the day was filled with a trip to the farmer's market, Target and Hannaford, plus cleaning and laundry, and a lunchtime game of Cribbage. Finally sat down to relax around 4:30. In the back yard, the cat birds are back, and saw a brown thrasher too, which was an exciting sighting!
Saturday: Didn't rush out the door and glad I didn't, as we had an Indigo Bunting visitor out back! What a lovely sighting! Non-breeding male based on his coloration but still blue enough to be quite distinguishable as a bunting!
😍😍
Headed out around 7:30, and meandered out in the woods for a fun, humid, soggy trail run. Flora sightings included bluets, violets, wild oat, false lily of the valley, trailing arbutus, wood anemone, one purple trillium, and some lovely patches of goldthread. Fauna highlights were one big bullfrog sitting still as a statue on a bog bridge, one red eft in the middle of the sidewalk (used a leaf to pick him up and put him out of harm's way in the grasses), one turkey vulture soaring and one hermit thrush out in the woods. First time out in the shorts this season! (8.5 miles)
After lunch, the three of us set off on another adventure. This time to Florida Lake in Freeport, which I had never heard of until a few weeks ago, and which, interestingly enough, we got two recommendations for in the past week! It must mean it was meant to be 😃
Very cool place, a large pond with marshy areas along its shoreline, and some interesting woods to meander through. We did the orange loop, which went around the perimeter of the pond. A whole lot of wildflowers and bird sightings - this would be a great area for birdwatching, especially at this time of year with the warblers moving through. We saw skunk cabbage, goldthread, wood anemone, bluets, violets, one lone ladyslipper emerging, several jack in the pulpits still twirling up and getting ready to emerge, wild oats, a lot of cinnamon fern fiddleheads unfurling, along with some great beaver activity, one cat bird, a common yellowthroat, one black and white warbler, a pair of canada geese, red winged blackbirds, peepers peeping, one snake, a mallard and a flock of ducklings, what I am pretty sure was a Solitary Sandpiper, shadbush blooming, one big area of snow fleas - there were so many if you kept quiet you could hear them! They were almost fizzing it sounded like! Fascinating! - and only a few people. The black flies were also definitely out, although it was mostly windy enough to keep them at bay, and there was so much standing water that this is definitely a place I would not want to be visiting late May and into early summer, as I think it will be swarming with biting insects! Still, a really neat spot and I think it will be worth a return visit. (2.7 miles walked)
Beaver activity
Common Yellowthroat hiding in the scrub
Many neat bog bridges
Wood anemone
Goldthread
Wild oat
Huge patch of snow fleas
Cinnamon fern fiddleheads
💗💗
Lone ladyslipper emerging
Mallard with a whole lot of ducklings
Solitary Sandpiper
So many goldthreads!
Sunday: Drove over to the field house for a run out through the Commons to Simpson's Point and Coleman Farm. Nice, crisp, sunny morning complete with ocean views, shad bush blooming, lots of wildflowers, bobolinks chattering in the fields, swallows swooping and red winged blackbirds calling. Lovely. (15.0 miles)
Shad bush blooming
Simpson's Point vista
Coleman Farm daffodils
Coleman Farm tidal river view
After lunch, the three of us set out for a mellow meander to explore the Riverside trails down along the Androscoggin River by the Topsham playing fields. I had never been on these trails before and it was a fun, albeit flat, trail along the river banks with a beaver dam a bit further inland, and a nice quiet walk for the afteroon. (1.8 miles walked)
I finished up the week with 45.5 miles running, and Sam and I walked 12.1 miles over 6 days this week! If nothing else, this quarantine time has made for some great time spent walking and exploring together!
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