Cold & Windy

The calendar might say it's April at the end of this week, but it sure still feels like winter. It has been cold and windy, with some rain too, all week. I'm ready for the wind to head on out like the saying says. Isn't it supposed to be "out like a lamb"? Someone apparently did not get that memo! 😠💨💨

Left the kiddo at home for Monday's walk. It was cold and raw and frankly, just not that nice out, as Ryan and I walked up and over Mt. Ararat. I was freezing! Trails are mostly clear with one impressively thick ice shelf left in one typically wet spot. (2.3 miles walked)

Can you guess what happened on Tuesday? Yes, yet again I did not get up and out in the morning, so it was an afternoon run. And yet again, it was cold and windy. Ran the cart paths with Ryan. (6.0 miles)

Despite the fact that I've been finding it hard to get out in the early morning hours, we are quickly gaining back early morning light. Hurray! Got out Wednesday morning for a loop around the Highland Green block. Still cold but at least it wasn't windy. Nice, crisp morning. (6.0 miles)

Thankfully, things warmed up on Wednesday so by the time my parents came over for an afternoon walk, it was reasonably comfortable out! They joined Sam and I for a walk around the school block. (1.7 miles walked)

And when we got home, we were treated to an unusual feeder guest, a lone female turkey! Gigi was quite interested!

Despite the forecast, Thursday wasn't as bad a day as predicted, but I stuck with my plan for a full day off. Which meant that Friday morning, I was out running in the cold rain. Not a nice April Fool's Day joke, Mother Nature!! Headed out into the Cathance for an exploration and to see what I would find. Things were, as might have been predicted, quite wet, sloppy, slippery, soggy and still a bit icy. Still, the river was roaring nicely and on my way back on the powerlines, I saw the first blooming trailing arbutus patch of the season! Always a treat! 🌸💗(8.0 miles)

Busy beavers 😁

The river was roaring!

Love the spring blooms!

At school in STEM class, Sam had her car race to wrap up the class at the end of the quarter. She didn't win her round, but we thought her car, decorated with stars and planets, was pretty cool! Nice work, kiddo!

Anne was selling jewelry at a Woodside craft fair on Saturday, and Sam had helped her make some of the earrings and Anne asked her to come and help out and hang out at the book during the fair, so she also joined in on the booth set-up on Friday evening and spent the night. Which meant that, with a little bit of trepidation on my part, Ryan and I went out for a date night dinner for the first time in over two years. Crazy. Felt weird to be in a relatively busy restaurant eating and drinking as if the past two years hadn't happened, but it was also really lovely. Mom and Dad had been to Enoteca Athena a few months ago and had really enjoyed it, and I had told Ryan that if we were going to go out to dinner, I didn't want to just go anywhere. If we were making the effort and going out into this still-Covid world, it needed to be a good dinner, you know? So, we decided to try out the restaurant, which although it's been in town for probably like 5 years, we've never tried. I really wish Frontier was still serving food, as that is probably my most favorite place for a date night dinner, but I must admit that Enoteca Athena was wonderfully delicious, we had a great evening and we will definitely return there again for a special occasion. 

We sat at the bar and enjoyed chatting with the bartender and a few of the people sitting near us. A good glass of wine for me, a cocktail (or two 😉) for Ryan, a yummy lemon, fennel and ricotta bruschetta for appetizer and then this beautiful bowl of chicken ragu, which was much spicier due to all the black pepper than I would have anticipated, but delicious! Still, the star of the evening was the olive oil pistachio cake, which we got along with a piece of tiramisu, for desert. OMG, so good. I would go back just for that! 😋 All in all, a fun evening and even if being unmasked around other people still puts me a bit on edge, I did really enjoy it. 

The rain swept over in the evening on Friday, leaving behind, what else but cold temps and wind. Sigh. I was feeling tired and not super enthused, but I finally got myself out the door around 8:30 for a run on the powerlines. Still definitely a bit squishy out there! (9.0 miles)

Meanwhile, Sam and Anne were having fun at the craft fair! Look at all that colorful jewelry! 😍

Sunday dawned cool and crisp but also reasonably sunny and very calm, which was nice! I headed out around 8:15 for my long run. Decided to see how I could string together some of the small trails around town into one big loop. First up was the short trail that runs in the woods behind mom and dad's house. One of their neighbors obviously takes care of the trail, as it was swept clear of leaves and some additional plastic flowers and silly little odds and ends had been placed at various spots along the way. There was also some skunk cabbage emerging in a few of the wet spots.

Then it was back on the roads down to the Town Landing Trail off Green Street, for which I have passed the sign but never gone to explore. It's a short little trail that runs right along the edge of the Androscoggin, giving a neat perspective of the river and some pretty views. 

From there, I headed up into the Highlands to run along the trail that parallels the stream that traverses the ravine in the middle of the property. 

Then it was back to the roads for a bit to connect up to the Top of Foreside Trail and across the street to the trail beyond the playing fields along the river. I tiptoed across the stream by the beaver dam and connected up to the powerlines to see my alpaca buddies before veering back to the pavement to run up Tedford to the back dirt road in Highland Green and then connected via the golf course to the Heath and looped down to the river and back. The final stretch was hole #3 and the lower route through the Mt. Ararat trails. 

All told, I hit 8 different trail sections, with the Town Landing Trail being a new-to-me trail, and it was a fun way to mix things up and get in the miles! Felt decent overall, although definitely tired in the final few miles. But it's time to start working on making the long runs a bit longer, so this was a good start. (15.0 miles)

Later in the afternoon, Mom and Dad joined us for a walk down to DQ - Sam's choice for a walk today! - and then for dinner. First DQ of the season, and a good way to wrap up the weekend! 😁🍦(2.0 miles walked)