birthdays.

growing another year older...it is what we make it, yes?
i try hard to not engage in negative age talk about myself, but it certainly can be challenging. some days the less empowering effects of aging seem so much more obvious, rather than the knowledge and experience it brings.
i think about this now because it is time for two birthdays; my own 34th birthday and this blog's 2nd birthday.
here's to a new year of wisdom, growth and peace! and here's a link to find out some interesting but non-life changing information about your own birthday.

(click the photo for source)

hurricane mountain.

it's winter in the adirondack mountains!

we discovered this when hiking hurricane mountain today.


i got a very slow start, worsened by the fact that while short, the hike up hurricane is quite steep in parts.


there was more snow on the ground as the elevation got higher, and beyond about 3,000 ft there were patches of pretty thick ice. nothing a little careful stepping couldn't handle...it's not snowshoe season just yet.


at least not for another week or two...

one of my favorite things.

even though it signals the end of summer weather, flip flops and eating dinner on the porch, i look forward to going to the orchard to pick apples every fall. it's more than just a tradition. it makes me happy. maybe it's the sugar high from eating more apples in one day than i do the rest of the year, or maybe it's the fresh, hot and delicious cider donuts, but i love the annual trip to hick's orchard.

i never quite understand the folks that drive all the way out to granville just to go into the apple barn and grab an already picked bag of apples. there is nothing quite like going out into the orchard and picking them yourself.

when pulling into the orchard and after you sign the safety waiver, the orchard keepers always ask what type of apple you have come to pick in order to send you in the right direction. i usually say northern spy, but i know full well that we will be walking throughout the orchard to pick multiple different types. this apple variety indecision gets me into trouble because i never seem to be able to distinguish the different types of apples once i get walking around and eat a few. now, i can tell the difference between the easy ones, like red delicious (yuck!) and the green varieties, but the others all start to blend together. i kick myself every year for not bringing a little apple cheat sheet (something like this, except easily printable).

anyone have a resource they can direct me to?

wish i brought my mittens.

a quick trip up to the summit of black mountain on a chilly fall day.


the camera isn't doing the colors justice.

some folks choose to stay up here forever.

the windmill was unusually silent.

my hands were freezing.

adam holding up the finished sketch.

fall gardening.

it is officially the end of the growing season here in my backyard. i say that because today we cleared out the vegetable bed and prepped the soil for next years plantings. all of the compost we have been making for the last year went into the garden.
we also planted garlic for the 2010 harvest. this year i decided to skip the softneck varieties altogether. i find hardneck varieties to be much tastier and easier to peel. i have heard that hardneck garlic is more cold hearty than softneck garlic, although i have never noticed much of a difference.
adam made his annual round of leaf gathering. as our yard is predominantly surrounded by cedar trees, we need to "borrow" our neighbors fallen leaves for composting and mulching. not surprisingly, our neighbors don't seem much to mind.
a peek into my gardening journal...

gripe.

things have not exactly been copacetic in my corner of the world lately.

i have been letting some things slide; the biggest example being my gym attendance. for over a month i've been able to justify once weekly visits being "good enough". i will have to call my own bluff to stop this slow descent into lassitude.

in additon, ella's illnesses continue. to clarify, i'm speaking of her recent, seemingly minor upper respiratory infection not her unclarified and looming ailment necessitating weekly steroids. we took her to the vet immediately and she was given a time release antibiotic shot which lasts for two weeks. after almost three weeks she is still stuffy and sneezy. it's pretty terrible to watch; especially because there is little we can do. yet another trip to the vet is in order. i think adirondack animal hospital can name a wing after me or something by now.

to top it off, i seem to have picked up a little virus myself.
just in time for the weekend, of course.

grumble, grumble, grumble...

can't wait.

a little information.

they say that a little information can be dangerous. i agree. you know when you learn something and you wish you had never found out about it? then you can't stop thinking about it...
what...just me?
okay, whatever.
anyway, this is what happened to me earlier this week when i read this article on treehugger. mercury in mascara? really?!?
and to those of you who don't wear mascara, please stay with me. the article links to skin deep, a site maintained by the environmental working group. skin deep is a database of cosmetics and their safety based on the known (i.e. listed) ingredients of the product. the products listed vary from eyeshadow to baby care items to toothpaste and shampoo.
those that know me would understand that i am not a big cosmetics freak. my makeup regimen is limited to a little mascara, but i do have a minor obsession with lip balm. there is a whole section of lip balm listings and most of it is NOT pretty!
the site is easy to navigate. you can search by typing in the items you currently use or you can just browse the database. be careful though, you may wind up throwing out the contents of your bathroom!

you can't predict the weather.

we hiked big slide and the brothers today. we didn't originally plan on it, but wound up taking the loop; going up big slide from john's brook and back down the three brothers.


















the weather was perfect until shortly before we summitted big slide. of course. it was sort of like standing in a cloud on top of big slide.



on the way down the brothers the weather improved and the sky cleared affording us the views that this hike is so known for.

a big surprise.

seven years ago adam and i hiked our first adirondack high peak together. as it was adam's first high peak, i chose cascade mtn. i think cascade is a great "intro to the high peaks" hike. at less than three miles up and with a full 360 degree view, it's an awesome pay-off for a smaller amount of effort.

so when adam chose cascade mtn for a day hike yesterday, almost exactly seven years later, i thought it was sentimental and sweet.

little did i know that he had bigger plans!
once at the top, adam got down on his knees (in shorts! on the granite top of an adirondack mountain!). trying not to choke up and simultaneously trying to keep crosbi in control on the leash, he pulled out a blue bandana and unwrapped a little black box. words were a blur, but there was a proposal and there was an affirmation (albeit a bit delayed from shock).

what an awesome day!

whattcha been up to?

so you've probably been noticing that i've been kinda callin' it in for the last two weeks. let me give you an abridged version of what's been going on.

•my vegetable garden has been crapping the bed. it never really took off this year, mostly because of our wet and cool summer. my eggplants are only now starting to really set fruit and the tomatoes all "caught the blight". the flowers haven't really fared much better. it's most obvious with the sage and snapdragons. everything just stayed pretty small and hasn't been very spectacular. it's not a total failure as any gardener knows, because this year's failures have taught me many lessons for future gardens.

•i've been recently obsessed with cooking with eggs. it started with this article from the kitchn, then it just took on a life of it's own. frittatas, carbonaras (sans bacon), etc.

•i picked up working on my family tree. i added a little more than a hundred people, bringing the total tree to more than one thousand people. a few years back i got stuck and had given up the researching. recently, i found an error in my tree around 1800 which had caused the problem. my great (x4) grandfather, edward had three wives (a double widower) and i had listed the wrong wife in my tree. fixing this has brought me back to the 16th century, which is where i'm stuck again.

•hosting a garage sale is a great way to people watch. especially since the people come right to your house.

•i am particularly finicky about jewelery, but recently found a very awesome beach glass "cairn" necklace on etsy. it was hand made by sarah schneider in california. you can see her work here.

•we FINALLY got to bring home our new "child", louie blu yesterday. he's adjusting pretty well; especially since he's never met a dog before. it will be a few weeks for everyone to find their niches but it will all work out.
here is a gratuitous kitty shot:

not much going on around here.