Harvest Moon

Near pear season; pear jelly, pear jam, pear butter, pear compote, pear compost. 

It's also near time to hike the Bonds in an overnight; Bondcliff, Bond and West Bond.  This week the temperatures are forecasted to dip into the 40s at night.  The pears will have to wait, hanging on to the branches until the very last moment before frost.  Not yet, not yet!  I will hang on to the covers every morning, unwilling to let go of the warmth.

No fires are permitted in the White Mountain National Forest and I won't be carrying a stove.  Better pack along the down jacket and winter sleeping bag.  I will be thinking of chai delivered to my tent in the morning and holding on until the last moment.

911

The waxing Harvest Moon wedding and counter terrorist event began with a bagpiper and, of course, ended with a kiss.

After all the rain, the festivities were held in a remote-for-New England farm under a dry sky.

Hay bales draped with colorful blankets made for soft seating for the witnesses at the edge of a newly mown field.

Jim wore his all-purpose suit and I found my all-purpose dress.  I was sneezing before the toast, but the whisky dimmed both the allergens and the allergic.

 The latest fractal was in the form of the table setting.

 Big ivory balloons foretold the moon rising.

Beautiful.

9-10-11

 Time 7:33

 Mileage 73.3

These are some fractals found yesterday.  The effects of water on stone.

Cathedral stairways.

 In between up and down.

Lost part of my skin on the descent of this cliff. Don't know how I climbed it in the first place.

We are each the missing piece, the missing fractal.

Nine nine eleven

Gone on the hunt for fractals...

Sep 8

This is really going to make me squawk like a small Italian crested heron.

First, during a plane ride a couple of days ago, we saw a marina with the boat slips partially empty.  It reminded me of the little plastic parts of a model airplane just out of the box, ready to be pulled from the grid, assembled and glued.

I always kept the grid too, even after the pieces were removed, because of the perfect order, the T shapes, the empty places ready for the boats to move in.

And second, now that this Van Gogh jigsaw puzzle is coming together in beautiful order, you'd think one orange piece of ground would show up in a box full of blues and greens.  This 1500 piece puzzle was a gift from Gin (short for Virginia Anne Marie Paul Micucci, Italian by injection) who bought it at the downtown GoodWill and was sure all the pieces were there.

The squawk is about disorder.  I'm sure there's a fractal missing somewhere in the Universe.  And by walking the crest of the hill, like the crest of a heron, the boats will move into their slips, and the puzzle pieces will fall into place if the squawking is loud enough.

Sep 7

It is another day of rain and rubber shoes.
The two short hikes considered at different ski areas sport "ledges dangerous when wet".
Interval training requires sure footing.
Harrumph!  Looks like it will be breakfast and indoor paperwork.

Sep 6

The cost of loyalty; to a birthday, to a friend, to a pair of shoes, to a laundry detergent, to a roof in disrepair.  We get into a groove and walk it deeper and deeper into the psyche, 'round and 'round, wheat to the mill grinder, and call it loyalty, or some other lofty word, when all it is, really, is habit.
Pay attention.
Spend time.

What's it worth to you, buddy?
All money words, flowing out.  Cost, pay, spend. 
Switch focus to the inhalation and the words that bring money rushing in, cups overflowing, the abundance and comfort of having more than enough.

And that feels overwhelming, unmanageable, like a flash flood in the valleys, like the sorcerer's apprentice.

Happy Labor Day

Moisture in the sunrise.  A slow rumbling of distant thunder coming from the west.

Contemplating another hike, a fourth of the way through the peaks over 4,000 feet.
We watched an osprey catch a spiny ray fish yesterday after three other tries of throwing himself onto the water surface.  Which brings up contemplation, dharana, and pain, duhkha, and the rest of the Sanskrit glossary still waiting to be edited.

I fought for the right to keep from elimination jyotishmati, a word from my favorite verse in the Yoga Sutra.  Y.S 1:36  Vishoka va jyotishmati.  Bliss and divine light.  It's what you get when you meditate on the lotus of the heart.  I shall tell that to the osprey as he labors for his dinner.

Sep 4

My word for the day is irresistible.  This morning Daisy pooped, then vomited on the carpets in the living room and kitchen.  At first a martyred victim witnessed the event, as in, "Why does this always happen to me?", but then something irresistible happened. 
A voice whispered, "How attractive is this whining raging creature cleaning up poop?"  Not very.  Why would anyone want to spend time with such a one?  I didn't, but I was stuck and resisting being stuck.  And so I became irresistible.  Works for me.

This irresistible video, having nothing to do with the paragraph above, reminds me of my brother who makes me laugh without trying.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=htU6qYsLsEE

Sep 3

Labor Day weekend brings the end of the summer lake season.  Many people already pulled out their boats in preparation for the previous weekend of Irene.

Campers are polishing off the last of the liquor and frying their fish in beer batter.  Speaking of polish, how does this clerk in the convenience store keep his head so shiny?  Last night was relatively quiet.  It's in the 50s at night, so our windows were closed to the drunk laughter of bonfire attendees further up the lake. 
The evening news had a quick blurb about hunting man-eating grizzlies in Yellowstone Park.  On the way home from the most recent hike, as I pulled out of the Forest Service parking lot,

this fellow was making his way up to the base of the Cog Railway.

When the automatic window rolled down in the car, he ran away from the noise.  Further down the mountain, a mother bear and her cub ran across the road in front of my speeding car, too fast to take a picture.  Seeing bears makes me cold to the bone.

Louise Penny and Mt. Washington

Louise Penny attended her new murder mystery book launch last Tuesday in neighboring New Hampshire.  She was elegant, funny, engaging, tall, and draped in lots of loose moveable clothing.  A book signing was a brand new experience for me, like being a groupie.  Trick of the Light must be her seventh book.

Meanwhile, Mts Monroe and Washington also kept me entertained along with the new book.

Seventh book, seven hours hiking.

The signage was clear on the Amonoosuc Ravine Trail.  Just missed one turn.

Above treeline it was ankle-turning rocky and a missed turn here would mean, yikes.

Clouds pressed down on the tops of the mountains like one of those enclosed rooms that threatens to squeeze and crush James Bond.

But James Bond always prevails and reaches the most unlikely of summits.  The highest point in the east is said to have the worst weather on the open ridges.  On this day the wind was forecasted to be 15 mph, with gusts to 50 mph.  It was much quieter than that.

Sometimes, looking at these pictures, it is difficult to believe that I have been to these places.  But then again, I write fiction too.

Rabbit Rabbit

Electric's back on after two days.  We can return the borrowed generator to the neighbor up the lake.  The freezer and refrigerator food was saved!
All the main roads were closed into the White Mountain National Forest.  Barriers erected, bridges damanged, roads washed away, no hiking, forest closed.

Yesterday many of the roads opened, except the most convenient one to get to the mountains.  So today to reach the trailhead of Mts Monroe and Washington, it'll take 3 car hours to get there.  Better by car than by rabbit.  Best get started.

May your month be abundantly lucky.

New Harvest Moon

A glorious day dawned, though one without electricity.  We are fourth to last on the line that usually blows a fuse in any wind, of low priority to the power company.  The property is intact, plenty of water in the lake for use, ice cubes to be purchased in the generator-powered grocery stores.

The wind blasted down near us in minimicrobursts, just off shore about 200 feet.  The roof found a couple places to leak.  But all is well.  The storm evidence includes leaves and small branches littering the driveway as I made my way to McDonald's to use their WiFi.

Aug 28

A rainy day is for sorting and planning the next adventure.

An old friend came home yesterday.  I scrambled home to go to the dump, gather water, pick up the mail, and collect all the separate items that can blow away with the predicted wind.  The empty gas can gets put away, the concrete flamingoes stay. 
At the doorway a package waits on the porch.  It's been sitting for a couple days, judging by the collapsed corner and damp cardboard box.  It's from my brother!  Printed with black marker in his familiar neat hand.
During the planning of the hike for next week, a debate between hut vs tent came up.  And voila! a tent appears.  Not just any tent.  My friend!

It's the one that ripped during the last Colorado hike when I vigorously zipped open the door to escape.  Well, there was urgency to it.  My friend, the shelter and security in a dark night. 
It was surprising to find that it weighs more than the little black Walrus tent.  But only by 9 oz.  And it is my friend, dependable, familiar, comfortable, roomy, with a dry wit.

It's been raining lightly most of the night.  The wind is beginning to pick up from the east.  When it shifts to the southeast, we will be in the lee.  Until then, coffee and more planning.

Aug 27

Three hours of climbing, two hours of descending, and one hour of walking along a ridge.  Conditions: humid, foggy in the morning and beautiful sun in the afternoon.

Summit of Mt. Pierce, 4340'

The ridge to Mt. Jackson, 4052' 

The view from summit of Mt. Jackson including from left to right, Mt. Pierce, Mt. Eisenhower, and Mt. Washington.

From last week, right to left, Mt Tom (hee hee), Mt Field, and Mt. Willey as viewed from Mt. Jackson summit

Now we wait for the storm to come.  If it's as predicted, the brunt of the wind will come from our right, the ESE, as we look out on the lake.  The forecasted rainfall is 2-5 inches Sunday night.  With all this focus on the weather, I'm glad we don't have a big screen television to enlarge the anxiety.  And we're certainly grateful for our new roof.  Good luck to coastal areas in the conehead of uncertainty.