A Day Mountain Saunter…

“Hiking - I don't like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains - not hike! Do you know the origin of that word 'saunter?' It's a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, "A la sainte terre,' 'To the Holy Land.' And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not 'hike' through them.”                   

                                      John Muir, quoted by Albert Palmer in A Parable of Sauntering

 

 

 

 

The kids asked to hike Day Mt this year…each time we have climbed it in August there have been lots of blueberries to pick along the way…This time however there weren’t any…I think that they ripened early.  Trail mix replaced the blueberries and the hike remained a success.

Hiking on Schoodic Point…

“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” 
-- John Muir  

With children ranging from 5 months to nearly 7 years we now look for fairly easy hikes when all the family and friends have gathered.  Schoodic Point is the only part of Acadia National Park that isn’t on Mt Desert and is a favorite place of ours to visit.  There is plenty of opportunities for rock hopping, tide pool searching, stone balancing, seal watching, and picnicking before and after our hike up Schoodic Point Trail. I spend most of my time taking photos but this time I only brought the G9 and the iPhone because I just didn’t want to carry anything heavy.  Although the G9 lens is scratched I can live with the photos for the most part.

When we arrived we discovered that someone had painstakingly decorated the parking lot with beach stones and tiny pinecones…

We had plenty of time for tidepooling…

 

and rock hopping…

…and picnicking.

And then we hiked the Schoodic Head Trail to the top of Schoodic Head with it’s views of Mt Desert and Cadillac Mt.  It was a little hot and challenging for the kids, and the adults who carried them, but fun.

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Climbing Mt Penobscot…

This year Mr O and I arrived in Maine a day earlier than our daughters and their families.  On our only day alone we choose to challenge ourselves with climbing Mt Penobscot in Acadia National Park as we knew it was too difficult to hike with the children.   We have hiked this trail every year since we started going to Maine each August.   It is difficult in places but if we take it slow and steady we don’t have any problems.  I think we are afraid that if we don’t hike it we will have to consider ourselves old or unfit…






The first reward of the hike are the views that surround you when you go above the treeline and the breeze that cools you off as you take the view in…




The second reward of the hike is jumping into the water of Sargent Mountain Pond, possibly the oldest lake in Maine,  at the summit.  We know enough to wear our bathing suits under our hiking clothes and because we are so hot and tired by the time we reach it, this is the best swim of the summer.  Fortunately, we have never seen the serpent that could live there according to lore.



The last reward of the hike is to stay at the Jordan Pond House for tea and popovers before going back to the car.  We have done this for so many years it doesn’t seem possible to break the tradition even if the restaurant is more crowded each year…and the popovers are worth it!



















Hopefully we will still be hiking this trail when our grandchildren are old enough to join us.

Another Maine Interlude 2012…

I have been taking a blogging break all summer so I will not say that I am taking a blogging break during my summer vacation .   Once again my family will be taking advantage of my in-laws kindness in letting us take over their house in Maine.  This time both of my daughters and their husbands will be there at least for part of the week and all three grandchildren will be there…including baby C.  Another new baby will be with us too because this year we will be towing our newly acquired but older Airstream up to Maine to use as an extra bedroom. 

Although she isn’t new this will be our maiden voyage with her and we are a bit excited and nervous.  I am hoping to have lots of photos of the trip to share when we return.   I am also hoping she will have a name by the time we return too.  Right now I am thinking she is Sylvie…This name meaning woods or forest and sounding so close to silver may be a perfect fit.

 

I won’t have internet connection during our vacation but I will certainly continue to feed my Instagram addiction and will hopefully be better at posting here when I return.  My fingers are crossed for safe travels and good weather!

My Final Project…

After completing a pre-requisite computer class I finally enrolled in the spring session of Photography I at RISD’s school of continuing ed.   Getting out on my own and meeting new people is something I haven’t been doing recently and I hadn’t realized how much I would enjoy it.  Getting inspired by the talent and creativity of my fellow students and instructor I did expect and received.  There were all levels of expertise among the students as it is one of the classes needed for the certificate program. I was comfortable there with the amount of work and the amount of pressure.

That is I felt comfortable until I had to decide on a final project.  The guidelines for the project were loose…we could present photos of anything we chose but the group of photos did need to be cohesive.  I found it almost impossible to narrow my choice of subject down, especially after seeing some incredibly creative examples from previous classes.  After discussing my difficultly getting focused with my instructor she advised that I just start taking pictures and see what happened.

Eventually,  I realized that I couldn’t be and didn’t have to be as creative as the examples seemed to be…it is after all Photography One…I relaxed and just took photos of the things I usually do.  My lawn had yet to be mowed and I had been taking pictures of the wildflowers in the yard and my series was started... 

     

My final grade is still pending…