Oct 23 - 25, Zoom with Shilah & Serena, Lafayette trail

   I had a WONDERFUL Zoom call with Shilah and Serena on Friday evening.  I had realized that I never really get to chat with them, even on our family Zoom calls, so I asked if they wanted/would be willing to have a call with just us.  We did, and it was GREAT.  We actually talked for 1-1/4 hours!  They are very interesting and active young ladies.  I think I would love to do this with all the grandkids, one at a time.  You learn a lot more about them that way.

Since I finally got a working DVD drive in our computers, I finally got a chance to watch Shilah's Dance recital DVD's of Marry Poppins and The Nutcracker ballet.  I was VERY impressed.  While the ballet was very nice, I was more attracted to the dancing style in Mary Poppins.  She is a natural.  I'm sure she gets her love of dancing from MY side of the family!

  Today we went to Bolton, MA, to a mansion built in the 1700's, on a highest ridge between the western mountains and Boston.  In 1824 it was owned by a Mr. Wilder, who was an international merchant.  It was a 600 acre farm and orchard, with a beautiful view.  During that time, General Lafayette stayed there on his farewell tour around the States, on his way to Boston.  Our young French friend, Julian Icher, has created a Lafayette Trail website, and has visited all of the places Lafayette went on his 2 year tour.  He is working with various places to erect "Lafayette was here" landmarks, all along the trail.  Today was an unveiling of one landmark at the Wilder mansion.  The current owners of the house are history buffs and were willing to have it put up.  It was nice to visit with some of the Lafayette Society friends we have made over the years of Peter's involvement.  

  We took a longer route home, along the Wachusetts Dam, erected in the early 1900's, creating a huge water reservoir.  We ate our picnic lunches overlooking the lake.  Since it was a cool day, we didn't hang out for too long.

Wilder mansion & Lafayette Landmark photos:

Wachusetts Dam photos:

Oct 19 - Oct 22, Douglas State Forest, Mid-State Trail

   While it is still nice weather, Peter & I decided that we need to go hiking out to a nature preserve of some sort, at least once a week.  So today is sunny and warm.  We decided to go hike at the Mid-State Trail, which is the trail that we used to do the trail maintenance on.  It was really nice hiking it without all of our trail maintenance gear.  And we could just hike, and not stop to deal with the trail.  We hiked almost 3 miles, round trip.  A very good hike.  It was really quiet, and you could hear the sound of the crunching of yellow leaves as we walked.  

  I was sitting outside yesterday, and was delighted that I could actually hear the falling of the yellow leaves in the forest behind our condo.  They fall continuously, and make a delightfully quiet sound.  The colors are just beautiful this fall.  We can definitely tell we are back home in New England.

 Douglas State Forest, Mid-State Trail photos:

Leaves in my backyard photos

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Oct 6 - 18, home, family, and Mt. Wachusetts in Princeton, MA

      The last couple weeks have been "same 'ole, same 'ole" --hiking a few miles daily around the condo, grocery shopping, and a few other errands.  We have decided to do some condo re-arranging/clean up/toss-out since Claire & Ian have moved to their own place.  Peter has moved his computer work back downstairs into our old office space.  I am sorting and rearranging all of the books/CD's & DVD's on the bookshelves, moving many downstairs to recently freed-up shelves.  I am also rearranging our clothes from our bedroom closet and spreading out a bit into the guest room closet and the downstairs closet.  Putting our non-current clothes there.  

  A BIG effort has been to take ALL of our computers/chrome books to Best Buy Geek Squad and have them tuned-up, updated with Windows 10 and WebRoot virus protection, and remove all old passwords (many of which were forgotten).  Also, to decide which were just too old to bother with anymore.  We recently upgraded our Geek Squad service agreement to cover unlimited computers and devices.  We actually took in 6 computers and they are coming to the house to upgrade and install a 7th.  One of those computers was Orion's, but WHY do we need 7 computers/devices (plus 2 that had already been upgraded)?  

  Anica & Aaron, Quin & Owen, Claire & Ian all came over for a visit.  Since Quinn will be starting back to hybrid school this week, we all feel very uncomfortable getting together in person until this Covid is no longer an issue.  Same with Tamara's family.  Up until now, we have all been very self-isolated, so getting together in person hasn't been an issue.  Claire, Ian, Aaron & Peter all played Magic downstairs, and Anica, myself and the kids all played together upstairs and outside.  Fun was had by all.  

  On a beautiful sunny day, Peter and I drove over to Mt. Wachusetts State Park.  This is the highest mountain nearby.  There is a nice loop road circling the summit, with several waystops along the way.  It also has an observation tower at the summit, and many miles of hiking trails.  We mostly did the drive, and then we did a mile round-trip hike through the woods to the balancing rock.  Nice day, and a nice way to get out of the house.  I think both Peter and I are starting to get antsy, so we've agreed to do our daily hike somewhere away from home, at least once a week while the weather holds.

Family visit photos:

Mt. Wachusetts photos:

More family photos that are just sweet, but not in person:

Siena

Savannah

Cheyenne

Tamara & Mike

Gabe & Andrea's 15th anniversary

Gabe & Andrea, Emory & Lily

Oct 5 - The Basin and Echo Lake, Franconia Notch State Park, and Concord, NH

   Another beautiful day, and we drove back up to the Franconia Notch State Park.  This time, to the northern end.  On the way, we stopped at The Basin.  This was a short walk over to a river, that over the eons has carved out a sweet little basin in the rocks.  Then, we did a longer hike on a trail that took us up the stream, along sweet cascades tumbling down huge, broad, rocks.  We got to climb on them, and sat for a while, looking at the incredible view downstream and downhill.  Walking further up the trail, took us to Kinsman Falls.  Altogether, a very invigorating, beautiful place.  There's nothing like sitting out by a waterfalls, on comfortable rocks, breathing the amazingly fresh air and looking at a view of the mountain vista.

  We stopped for a few minutes at the roadside Boise Rock, for a view of the Franconia Notch itself.

  Our final destination for the day was Echo Lake.  A small lake surrounded by mountains.  By this time, it was late afternoon and getting cool, with great clouds forming over the mountains.  This is also a ski slope during the winter.  Nice.

  On the way back to the RV campgrounds, we stopped in downtown Concord, NH.  We walked around the town square, and I was surprised to see some really nice architecture, and some interesting history.  Peter tuned into his Ingress game for some fun. 

The Basin photos:

  The Notch photo:

Echo Lake photos:

Downtown Concord, NH photos: