So today my friend M. took me up Alander Mountain. 6 miles round trip. A good percentage of the tract is uphill and good percentage of that tract is *steep* and uphill. Today was also hot and humid. And the trail was still damp from the last rains we had so it was buggy. I also felt a hot-spot forming on my heel (underneath the moleskin I'd applied before the hike). Joy!
Then we got to the peak. The reward. Panoramic views of NY, MA, and CT all in one shot.
The next reward?: A really good avocado. Then an orange. Then half a Cliff Bar. And some half-melted dark chocolate. Then water, water, water. Then...M., a berry expert, picked me a handful of wild blueberries, tiny and sweet. And I ate them two at a time staring out at the Catskills.
After the descent, a big and healthy lunch. A good day all in all. I feel tired and worked in the best way possible. If I hadn't been taking my walks the past 6 weeks, I'd have suffered going up that hill. As it was, I was challenged, but not embarrassed. :)
My legs felt strong. And my body able.
Nothing else inspiring to say today. The pictures tell the tale.
1 comment:
Ah, sadness, my oldest friend and the one that I feel most echoing in your great battles with it, too.
I feel such a kinship to these posts, Dear Laura. Such a sense of what it means to be an attentive person and to have that sensitivity work for or against us: we choose. (Except when we don't, except when it's like any other illness and we have to get up the will to get up the will to get through it.)
You do and you do it so gorgeously. I've seen you and it's a thing to behold all that strength and glow.
What I'm trying to say is thanks for sharing such a simple, pure view from the top of the hill. And thanks for reminding me what lovely, quiet work it can be to stay away from the long slide down (as it were.)
I am raising tree frogs--happily, accidentally and now I will also think of you.
Be well.
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