In Bloom

Monday afternoon was a swim practice walk on the streets of Bath. Bright and sunny but cooler and with less humidity, which meant I was fairly comfortable, even in pants and a sweatshirt. Nice to move for a bit at the end of the day! (2.0 miles)

Tuesday afternoon, I snuck in a run between the regular workday and an evening board meeting. Blustery with the wind whipping up the dust and pollen, but otherwise a nice afternoon. The forest is greening up nicely but we could definitely use some rain! (6.1 miles)

Wednesday morning I got up and out on the cart paths for a run. Felt a bit flat, but it was a gorgeous morning to be out. One deer seen. (6.0 miles)

 

Came home to find the iris out front starting to bloom 😍

Thursday was a rough work day. We found out that one of our longtime board members and her husband had been killed in a car accident on Wednesday afternoon. It was a direct impact and they were dead on the scene. Wow. I had worked with Judy for 8 years, and know she was a wonderful woman doing so much for the community. I recognize fully that we are all going to die of something, and have no illusions that a really long life is the best thing; a prolonged illness or disease is often incredibly painful and can cause sorrow for so many. However, just the fact that they were gone in an instant, during the course of their day, things unsaid, tasks unfinished, mundane things half complete, wow, it was jarring and unsettling and just so sad to think about. Whew. I think we were all in a bit of a fog for the day. 

Needless to say, I was a bit emotionally drained and even though I had made plans to meet Val over at Brad on Friday, I almost ended up just bagging the whole thing, but I'm so glad I didn't! It was a beautiful morning, crisp and cool, felt so nice after the recent heat and humidity! Ended up running into Bill in the parking lot and joining him on the start of his run for 3.5 miles. It was great to see him and to have a chance to catch up! Once he headed of for the rest of his miles, I did another few minutes solo out and back on Northern Loop, enjoying the patch of lily of the valley and seeing a few ladyslippers, before joining up with Val, who had new runner Dana with her. Val led us on a nice loop on the east side, and we chatted the whole way. Felt good, and so nice to run with friends! 💗 (10.7 miles)

Got a few things done around town and at home after lunch and then, while Sam was at swim practice, took a nice walk around Bath. So much in bloom! 🌸(2.0 miles)

Rain started overnight on Friday. Now, I know we need the rain, but all weekend long? And with temps down to the low 40s on Saturday morning? Gah. Needless to say, I did not rush out for my run 😂 Brr. Suited up in tights, raincoat and gloves, I finally headed out around 9:15 and ran a loop out in the Cathance. It was cold, rainy and windy. Funny enough, I didn't see anyone else out there 😉 (7.2 miles)

The rain stopped before noon and while the sky cleared a bit, it was still damp and cool. Still, it was supposed to be the best afternoon of the long weekend, so we donned warm clothes and headed over to the Commons for our annual ladyslipper count. It is amazing how many there are hidden out in the woods, and how many we were able to find with 5 sets of eyes looking! Sam was our official counter, and we had our highest count yet - 1,107! 😍 Of those, three were true white flowers, and there were many different shades of pink. Saw a few patches of rhodora, bunchberry and starflowers as well, but the ladyslippers were the stars of the walk, for sure! (2.3 miles walked)

😂

The rain held off until Sunday afternoon to start back up again, so the morning was a dry, but weirdly both cold and humid morning for a powerlines run. Numerous towhees, catbirds, one cardinal pair and a hairy woodpecker. A few nice patches of bunchberry and the sheep laurel is starting to bloom! (7.0 miles)

Later in the afternoon, we headed down to Harpswell to have dinner with Anne and family and to drop Sam off for a sleepover. Despite the nasty weather, it was fun to hang out, and the girls even got in the pool. Crazy kids swimming in the rain 😂 And I think we are all happy that Monday is a holiday so that means the weekend is not quite over yet 😀

And just for fun, while this didn't last long, it was cute 😻

Spring Flowers (And A Few Trolls Too)

Things are really greening up and blooming this week! I love the new neon green hues of the new leaves and seeing what is coming up in the woods. It is always a treat, even with the pollen making me sneeze and my eyes water 😁😂

Monday, Ryan and I got out for a nice late morning walk on the powerlines. Lovely out there and nice to take a break from the computer (1.9 miles walked)

On Tuesday, Sam started a two week session of daily 1-hour swim practices. So instead of worrying about getting up and running in the morning, I just decided to run during practice. Seemed like a better use of time. And so, I headed out around 3:10 onto the streets of Bath. It was sunny and quite warm - definitely felt like summer! I headed up High Street to the viewpoint at Thorne Head and then did a short loop on the trails before heading back on the roads the way I came. A solid afternoon run. (6.0 miles)

Wednesday turned into a very sedentary day, but that's OK, so on Thursday morning I headed out a little after 5:00 am for a run on the powerlines. Nice, soft morning light and a layer of low fog sitting atop the bushes. So pretty. Rhodora was blooming, and even found one small bush that had white flowers. Neat! Multiple catbirds and towhees calling. (6.0 miles)

Towhee!

On Friday, I ended up deciding to run the shorter of my back-to-back runs instead of tackling the 20 miler. Felt tired, and honestly, I often just feel better when I know I am going to have time to get some of the other non-run related items crossed off my to-do list. So I dropped Sam off at school, stopped at the farmer's market to pick up first of the season rhubarb to make strawberry rhubarb pie this weekend - yum! 😋 - and then parked at the field house to head out through the Commons & Coleman Farm for a ladyslipper status update! Soggy with high humidity and very sniffly due to all the pollen, but otherwise enjoyed the miles. All the purples and pinks were on display with fringed polygala, violets, lilacs and rhodora blooming. And I counted 119 ladyslippers! (10.0 miles)

 

Then it was off to fill the car with mulch and mulch the garden beds. Had to go back to the store for a few more bags. Note to self: you always need more mulch than you expect! Hot and sunny and dirty and sweaty by the time I finished, but the beds look good! Mom and Dad planted some extra hostas in the back of the back bed for us earlier in the week and it is nice to have that space filled in!

After a quick lunch and house clean, it was off to get Sam up to the Y for swim practice. It was just too nice to sit in the car for an hour+, so I took a nice 30 minute walk around town and then relaxed the rest of the time. (1.8 miles walked)

And of course, we stopped at Fielder's Choice for a "hurray, it's the weekend" ice cream on the way home 😋🍦

Between running, mulching, cleaning and walking, I had like 30,000 steps showing on my Coros - oops, perhaps a bit much for a day I woke up feeling tired?! 😁 - so I was in bed early! HA!

Up and out a little before 7:00 am on Saturday for my long run. Ran out into the Cathance and looped around on the trails out there before heading out onto the powerlines and Gone Fishing trails. It was quiet on the trails except for five deer and one fox seen, plus some lovely wildflower sightings. Trails are very dry, but I was not. 100% humidity out there and I really need to start carrying a buff again to wipe the sweat, and bugs, from my eyes! So gross 😂😂 Didn't feel super duper and did make a fair number of stops for photos, etc, but overall, it was a decent run and glad to have gotten it in. (20.0 miles)

After Ryan got in his run and we all had lunch, we headed over to Lawrence Road for an afternoon walk. We hiked the Wiggles and then took one of the side paths up to Tryon and around the quarries before heading back down to the parking lot. It was a nice loop but holy moly, the mosquitos were horrid and man, there was no air movement in the woods and it was incredibly humid. Still, we counted 172 ladyslippers and saw two cute toads, and stopped for a second to take a family photo before succumbing to batting at all the mosquitos again 😂 (2.1 miles walked)

Then we came home and ate dinner and sat on the couch and watched like 3 hours worth of Survivor episode 40 together 😂 It's all about balance, people 😉 

Ryan was heading over to Bradbury for the Sunday group run, so I needed to be up and out and get in my miles before he left at 8:30. I might have cut it a little bit close, but managed to get back by 8:28, so I'm still calling it good! Warm and muggy, with heavy legs and oh so sweaty. Ran a road loop around town. (8.0 miles)

I book our flights for No Business at the start of the week, so it was time to crank it up a notch, and feel happy to have gotten in a solid 3-day block of 10/20/8 miles and my first 50 mile week in a long time. Onward! 

While Ryan was out running, I got a few things done around the house and then Sam and I baked up a strawberry rhubarb pie for dinner, plus some sauce with the extra fruit. Yum! 

And then after lunch it was off to Boothbay to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens for the afternoon! Their Guardians of the Seed troll sculpture exhibit officially opens next week but these works of art are so complex and large that they of course have already been installed. Although I would have gladly gone up to the gardens even without the trolls as an enticement, they were pretty cool and really neat to see in person. There were five of them spread throughout the garden.

Shortly after we arrived, the wind picked up and a small rain squall passed through. Temperatures dropped and the winds kept most of the bugs away, making for a very lovely afternoon spent wandering the gardens, taking way too many photos of flowers and enjoying the trolls. (2.5 miles walked)

All the blooming trees smelled so lovely

Yellow ladyslipper 😍

Such cool jack in the pulpits!

This guy even had hair in his armpits! 😂

Ooommmmm

We timed it just right for the rhododendron gardens - so many of the flowers were in bloom. Beautiful!

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Love these helleborous

Can't stop taking rhodie photos... 

Look at that hair!

😎😎

Such fun! After a few hours wandering the grounds, we were all hungry and tired, so we headed home for Frontier take-out and finished up the day with pie! Delish! 🍓