Birthdays!

So I headed north for a bit of birthday celebration.  Some small walks, some games of Upwords, some nice meals, and family togetherness.  Ruth furnished a cake which, as she described it, seemed to be the product of a strange alchemy.  Apparently, you pour the chocolate cake batter in to the mold, and then pour the dulce de leche flan batter on top.  But during the baking process, the chocolate cake portion rises up through the flan to the top!  Of course, when it's done, and you turn over the mold, the chocolate cake becomes the base.  It was quite nice, especially the flan part.  

in person, the sleek lines of the little boat
in the foreground were quite appealing

as the sailboat tacked and moved along, the sail color seemed to change with the angle of the light;
at first, it looked like a solid dusky silver-grey, while later the white was almost blindingly pure

 a nice bold striation, there

an attractive arrangement of daisies

The teenagers were certainly missed, but I was feeling a little unnecessary extra pang initially, when I mistakenly thought I hadn't seen them in an entire year.  (In fact, it's only been one-third of a year.)  I mean, it would be great to see them more often, but given the pandemic and the frenetic pace of their high school activities, I can content myself.  In the mean time, I'm certainly glad I seized on pretty much every excuse to go see them in the early days, when they were more readily portable!  I'm so proud of them, and so curious to see the paths they will choose.

Today's Walk

I caught the train up to Cold Spring today two hours later than I'd intended, but at least an hour earlier than last weekend.  The subway was far less crowded (thank goodness!) and there didn't seem to be huge crowds of hikers exiting the train with me, so I went ahead with the classic 5.5 mile loop, taking Washburn up and over Bull Hill, then returning on Notch, Brook, and Cornish.

It was perfect weather.  Saw a paper wasp nest, the usual variety of fungi (including one that looked a little like a cross section of a tree branch) a low-flying turkey vulture overhead at the summit, two caterpillars (one on the trail and one on a Pepsi machine at the station), a very pale spider (also at the station). 

Had to push myself a bit, and stopped for several water breaks to catch my breath on the way up, but it felt really good.  (This is all very unlike last weekend, when I'd gone up the gentler Nelsonville trail to avoid the crowds – doing Washburn as a descent – and remained in the grip of lethargy and a sense of pointlessness all the way.)

Supported the local economy by buying some gelato afterward (flavor: cookies and cream).

paper wasp nest to the left of the trail on the ascent

ungathered mushrooms

¡si, oruga!

shy little spider on railing