Yesterday I took my first solo hike, 4 miles (probably a little more). I took Bandit, so not completely solo, but he doesn’t talk back so mostly solo.

It was an overcast day and ending up lightly raining, but the temp was nice 60’s and I was itching to get out there, so off we went. A backpack full of water for both of us, light lunch for both of us, rain jacket, first aid kit, hat, gloves, headlamp—-just in case this 4 miler hit a snag.

You know what I forgot? My trekking poles. Note to self: make a checklist for hikes!

The trail was well-marked and had several water crossings since the trail criss-crossed the brook multiple times. The trees were mostly bare and we are now in “stick season” so the ground was a carpet of leaves. Lovely to look at but requiring much attention (for me, maybe not for more seasoned hikers) since the rocks and roots were hidden—-this is where trekking poles would be very useful……

The winding trail led to an alpine forest and the pine smell was amazing. I stopped for several minutes just smelling the air. The lovely alpine forest led to an alpine lake where we stopped for water and lunch and enjoyed the view.

From the lake we hiked up to an overlook—which was my goal for the hike. It did not disappoint.

We headed back down and about a half mile from the trail head my heel caught some leaves and I went down. My right knee (history of multiple surgeries and a bone graft) was the injured party. This. This is why you bring poles. I was somehow able to slow my descent and landed near a rock I could boost myself up on to take stock of what the damage was. After a brief pity part, I pulled out my big girl pants and took a drink of water, collected myself and realized I was able to bear weight. PHEW! We took the remainder of the trail ever so gingerly, with 5 senior citizens passing us (the only people we saw all day). I’ll take the next few days, icing, Advilling, stretching and elevating as much as possible. Don’t forget praying that my ski season isn’t derailed!

Overall, beautiful day with a little speed bump, but that’s life, isn’t it? It could have been so much worse, so I feel like that was a useful (although painful—lit and fig) lesson!

Peace.

My grandmother is gone. It’s taken me a week to put this in words. It still won’t be adequate.

Alzheimer’s robbed my sweet Mimi of her memory this past year, although it was picking at her memory for a few years, the COVID lockdowns escalated her memory loss to a level requiring continuous monitoring in a nursing home. My grandfather faithfully visited every single day, bringing her coffee from home just the way she liked it. She had regular visits from one of her brothers, her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, a great niece—she was dearly loved! Visits with her were bittersweet; I might have to introduce myself at the start of the visit and we’d have a “normal” conversation where should would be cognizant of who I was but would repeat herself or speak about random events, other times she would recognize me on entering her room and then ask my grandfather mid-visit who I was.

Last year, during the holidays, my grandfather was able to take my grandmother out of the nursing home for excursions and they joined us at Thanksgiving and Christmas for our family get-together. My grandmother loved her children and us, her grandchildren but there was a special delight in her great-grandchildren and her eyes lit up whenever they were around. I often wondered if she saw them at their current ages or as toddlers and young adolescents when we’d visit for our annual “Birthday party for Jesus” or maybe our many Friday night happy hours while they kids swam in the pool and the adults chatted and enjoyed a relaxing end of the week cocktail. Her joy was contagious and she treasured family time.

Growing up, my grandparents were always a huge part of our lives. We had sleepovers, went fishing, had crab boils, and family reunions where we were always entertained by the lively card games of my grandmother and her siblings and their families. My grandmother had a strong faith and after many years of prayer, my grandfather came back to the church and they were able to have their marriage blessed. She was the confirmation sponsor for our sons. She remembered every birthday, followed up on life events to see how everyone made out at whatever they were working on at the time and always, always had a prayer for us, a blessing for every occasion and we knew without a doubt she regularly covered her family in prayerful intercession.

I mourned my grandmother’s passing last year the first time she didn’t recognize me on a visit. Since then, my visits have been more for my grandfather, encouraging him and being a small and occasional part of his daily routine. I didn’t think I’d take it so hard when she physically passed away because I felt her loss so acutely a year ago. But I did. The air left my lungs. I actually sensed when she passed several minutes before I read my mother’s text. The fact that I wouldn’t get to hug her or hold her soft hand again was a shock to my soul.

Having had the great blessing of having my grandparents for so long in my life and in my children’s lives is a tremendous gift, one I know that so many are deprived of. My grandmother absolutely helped shape and grow my faith life, encouraged me throughout every stage of my life, provided unconditional love, and taught me that life is hard and to love throughout the struggles. Faith and love persevere.

Without a doubt, I know that our family has a powerful intercessor in heaven, that she has been made whole and I will see Mimi again one day. Until that day, I hope to carry on her legacy of faith and prayer in our family and to share that same love and strength she shared with us.

Rest In Peace.

If home is where your heart is, my home (and heart) are split: 1/2 in Florida with our kiddos and fam and 1/2 in New Hampshire with the Hubs.

For the past few days I’ve been in Florida with the kids getting an in-person overview of the house post-hurricane demolition and to coordinate repairs and order supplies for said repairs.

Pictures, videos and media coverage only partially prepared me. The devastation is far and wide and up close and personal and the return to normal will be a lengthy process. I was brought to tears more than once.

When you fly, one of the safety demonstrations is how to put your oxygen mask on BEFORE helping anyone else. These past few days, I was able to do that to some extent, metaphorically speaking of course! I was able to hug my babies (3 out of 4), spend time with my mom and grandmother, visit a sweet friend for a quick 30 minutes or so and help another friend and his family—small in comparison to their needs but I know from past experience little things mean a lot and can carry you through rough days.

Spending solid quality time with our kiddos was huge for all of us. They’ve been amazing rockstars these past few weeks but the daily chaos is wearing on them a bit, so hugs, talks, tears and grub warmed us all and I hope gave them a little extra strength to weather the weeks ahead—or at least until our next visit (2 weeks!).

I miss my mom and was happy to have some time with her and her hubby, they’ve been hugely helpful to us and our kiddos; it was a balm to my soul to be together. My grandmother (maternal) is in the end stages of Alzheimer’s and although painful to see her in this state, I was happy to be there to comfort my mom and be present with them, grateful for both of these beautiful women, their love, support, guidance and prayers throughout my life and the life of my children. I am truly blessed.

The hubs and I will both fly home in two weeks for an early Thanksgiving to spend time with fam and friends and I know we are all looking forward to that!! Short and sweet but I plan to soak up every moment.

That’s all for now. (This 12-hour shift brought to you by 4 hours of sleep and copious amounts of caffeine!)

Peace.

P.S. I’ve added a few basic travel pics just because I took them!

A few weeks ago, the Hubs and I hiked Mt. Cardigan. My first “big” mountain at 3,121 feet at the summit, a 3 mile “moderate” hike. The payoff: some self esteem for mama. Oh, and a little 360degree vista, but we’ll come back to that.

When we were making plans to move up here, I had grand visions of hiking all the hikes and mountains, taking in all the views and pics and checking off fire towers and 4,000 footers weekly. Ha.

Did I say, “ha”?

Ha.

A week or so prior to Mt. Cardigan, I had hiked Mt. Ascutney with a friend. It was hard. It was ridiculous. It was humbling. It was a big fat reality check and I blogged it HERE. Mt. Ascutney handed me a piece of humble pie, filled with rocks, gravel, bees, gnats and straight uphill for 2 hours. My mind was all, “this was supposed to be fun”, my legs were all, “WTF?”. I truly questioned if I would ever really be able to hike all the fire towers and 4,000 footers that I dreamed about way back in flat Florida. I needed a Win. I needed a boost. Hubby suggested Cardigan and off we went to find mama some self-esteem.

As a little side note, the interesting thing about New Hampshire is the North/South travel is fantastic—easy interstates, great roads, in between mountains and through valleys. East/West is a much more winding, rambling, twisting, OVER the mountains kind of travel, which generally doubles your travel time. Mt. Cardigan involved quite of bit of East/West and juuuuuuuuuuuuust as we were entering the park we encountered a “road closed” sign.

Apparently, we need to get in the habit of doing recon on our hikes PRIOR to our hikes for parking, weather and road closure notifications. Had we done that, we would have seen that a recent storm did a number on the road and DOT was repairing the roadway into the park.

Fortunately, we had just enough service to eek out the alternate entrance to the trail. Just a mere 45 min-ish through the winding and dirt roads. Did I mention it was around 3pm? A wee issue since it gets dark early ‘round these parts. So we were pushing it. And we did. Pushed it.

We finally found the park entrance and geared up for the hike. I had my new trekking poles, bear horn and appropriate clothing. Off we went.

You know what? It was GREAT!!!! Some challenging areas. Some rocks. Some water and a little bridge. Some easy areas. And we made it to the summit. Rock faced (similar to Mt. Kearsarge) and all glorious 360 degrees AND a fire tower! It was amazing. Except for the couple of minutes that Bandit got the zoomies and that kind of freaked me out but I was able to settle him down pretty quickly. Thank goodness. Zoomies at 3,000+ feet of rock face was a little scary. For me. Not for Bandit. Anyway………………

Self esteem repaired. More mountains and fire towers to come. Snowshoeing and skiing may come first, but we’ll play this New England weather as it comes.

Enjoy the pics!

Peace.

In my last post, I waxed on about my love for October and the gift of weather change. The downside to that (in Florida) is this time period is infamous for pretty strong weather, i.e. hurricanes. This year was Ian. Much like our first-born, this storm was a force.

Our neighborhood, like many, experienced historical flooding (in non-flood zone areas) and our home took on some water. We are fortunate enough that our home is livable and many in our neighborhood, town and state are not as fortunate. Our COVID reno of ‘20 is about to get an update with new flooring, replaced drywall, painting and some kitchen cabinet and counter top replacement. It will be interesting to see how long it takes, but again, so minor in comparison to so many who were hit so much harder.

Before we left for New Hampshire, we had a meeting with the kids reviewing all things “house-y” and “adult-y” and hurricane prep was among the many topics. I am so grateful for that conversation because those kids were prepped!

End of the day. It’s all stuff. I’m heading down for hugs and quality time with the kids and my fam for a few days. Assess the house, help formulate a plan for the next few months as the kids live among the renovation, order cabinets, flooring and carpet and move forward. It’s all good.

Peace.