Solstice...

It was a great solstice celebration! Was able to spend time with friends that I have not seen in quite a while. With some coaching (and wine), I made my own floral crown for the first time and it added to the happy of the day... 

And thanks to my week at camp, I made our cheese for the first time and it was met with rave reviews! (and not just from people who are obligated to tell me that they like it) 

I got compliments from people who have been making this stuff for years – even got a “Mikey, likes it!” 

Ligo!

Just for today's celebration - one from the vaults!! (actually grandma's basement) 

Summer Wine...

Strawberries, cherries and an angel's kiss in spring....

Trail Pocket Dump...

Car Show!

A nice recovery day from hiking and a chance to explore the town a bit better.  


Of course there was a purple car.....

Trail Finds!

Colorful & aggressive - must be poisonous....

Turns out it's "only" a milk snake.....

It's still a freaking SNAKE!!!! 

Go get on a plane, snake!!

 A memorial right by Jimmy Dolan Notch

Views from Above...

View from the three points along the way...

Went up another part of Devil’s Path, stopped at the Notch!! and took the Jimmy Dolan Notch Trail back down. 

The humbling thing was meeting the trail grandma – she is part of the group that maintains the trail that we hiked down last weekend. She and her friends hike SUPER fast and probably had no problems with the corkscrew chimney portion…. 

Indian Head...

The Indian Head hike was quite a challenging climb!!! 

Really, it was a climb….there was a WALL to get up and over.   
You can see the trail marker on the bottom left and then again up on the right hand side… the only way to get up was to use the tree roots as stairs.

Nifty thing about this view - straight ahead is Overlook Mountain.  Was really neat to look at it and say "Hey, I have climbed that!"

Dragon!

I don't think that I will ever get sick of this view....

It was another great weekend under the watchful eye of the mountain.

Smiley!

This pinwheel is still making me smile two weeks later. Besides the obvious fact that it is smiling at me, the memory of how it came to me is the best part.

My friend's son won it for me - the purple is a happy coincidence. He made sure to test them all to get me the one that worked properly.

Yup - he's a great kid!!!

Must Come Down…

Bye Key Master!! 

More purple in the woods!

Becker Hollow on the way down was treacherous - my arms got quite a workout from making sure that I did not create or become a rockslide!! 

I’m glad that it was not what we hiked on the way up – it was one slippery rock after another.

Two hours of consistent downhill....

I had a moment where I stopped when I saw what was around the bend, shouted "Oh, come on!!", dragged for a few steps and then pulled it together to finish the hike.  And that felt really freaking awesome!!

Travels In Between…

BUNNY!!! (ok, it's really a hare but still - BUNNY!!)

Purple in the woods!!

View from the fire tower which happens to be at the highest elevation of any fire tower in NY state.  It was a reminder of what else is out there to climb!

And most importantly, we met the Key Master!! The blue-eyed hottie (seriously, blue enough to swim in!) told us that no one makes Ghostbusters jokes when they hear his title!! How can they not?!?!? 

We had quite the fun chat about knives - he instantly recognized my new little Spyderco. Interesting fact - he lives not too far from me! The world continues to get smaller and smaller...

What Goes Up....

Hiking up Devil's Path to get up Hunter Mountain 

Where There's Smoke...

The weekend was the usual mix that happens up in the hills – lots of laughs, power tools and fire.  It is always worth the drive!

This time there was a chainsaw, Spice Girls, butter, fruity drinks served in watermelon halves, bonfire demands at late hours, spilled wine, pet owl discussions and lots and lots of fire….. 

All Come True…

I start the car, open the sunroof and the song starts in….

She's making it all come true this time, She's making it all come true this time….

The late Sunday melancholy drive home always starts with World Party’s “All Come True”.

The song is just perfect for the start of the drive home and the return to reality.  The melody seems to fit in perfectly with the drive down the mountain.

I have been doing this since last august – it’s on the mix with the song that caused the singing. (which in turn caused a whole lot of other things).

I drive home exhausted but happy - it’s always the same…

And there really is NO substitute for the happy.