It’s Finally Summer

      This past week we started back to school and now it's finally going to be summer. We had a bit of summer weather in June, and maybe a bit in July, but for the most part it has been a pretty mild summer. In my world that means it wasn't too hot (high 80's or over 90) or we had really low (for us) humidity. Or both. I have had my air conditioners on very little this summer. It has been glorious window weather. But that is all about to change. This week it is supposed to be all high 80s but mostly in the 90s. I am currently unclear on the expected level of humidity. This reminds me of last winter but in reverse. Last winter it was fairly mild for most of the winter, not too many days that weren't above freezing, or even well above freezing, but then right at the end we had a week or so of really frigid temperatures. I have never had seasonal depression as badly as I did this winter. I am thinking it was because it was so mild it always felt like the winter was almost over. And then, after months of that it became winter for real. And it was awful.   

     The good news is I would much rather be hot than cold. Not that I enjoy sweating for no reason, but with low(ish) humidity I can be comfortable in temperatures that a lot of people consider hot. So the fact that it is now summer, now that it's almost Fall, doesn't really bother me. Other than the fact that we do have 2 class periods outside of our air conditioned classroom and the hallways get soupy. I don't like soupy air. It is super hard for me to breathe. Today was not too bad, though there were some really humid feeling parts of the trail. But it was such a beautiful day. 

     As usual, I spent a lot of time looking at Travis's back because he prefers to walk way up ahead. So usually I am hiking kind of alone. But today, we were with my friend Jaime. Jaime likes to stop and look at cool stuff, like this really cool caterpillar. And not only that but Jaime is a photographer. The photo she got of this little guy was amazing!

    And look at the dedication to her art! She said normally she would have laid down flat on the ground but it seemed odd because we were there too. I told her about model horse photographers and what they do for their art. Then I told her the story of Little Elecktra's travels and some of the really cool photos people got of her. I love when people are into their art!

    Here's another great shot of Travis walking way ahead of us. We were hiking at one of the more remote gates to Quabbin reservoir. Which means sooner or later we were going to get an excellent view of the water. Travis got there first. 

    He is so tall that it is hard to get him in a selfie with me without him having to squint. That and the fact that he doesn't seem to like sunglasses (except the rollup ones from the eye doctor) means we get a lot of selfies like this on nice days. 

     Jaime and I are of a much similar height so this one was a lot easier to get. 

     There was someone else's art next to the water. I know that rock stacking is controversial, but I wonder if it is only frowned upon when it is in streams. Next to the water it doesn't seem that it will disrupt anything. But I could be wrong I guess. I do know that someone took the time, and patience, to stack these rocks. 

       I managed to get Travis to turn around so I could get a proper picture. I don't blame him for wanting to check out this amazing view! Quabbin is a really gorgeous place to hike, and this is a great spot to stop and enjoy the view. 

     I forgot to turn on Strava, and I wasn't wearing my Fitbit, so I am not entirely sure how far we hiked today. Jaime isn't positive either, but thinks it's about 6 miles the way we went. I know that I was fine, my ankle was fine, and then when we got back to Jaime's house my body had all stiffened up and getting out of the car was a challenge. But when I got home I decided since I was already sweaty and gross I would mow the lawn. It took me 12 minutes, lol! I guess that happens when you have a small lawn and don't let it go until it's too long. I might just be able to talk myself into mowing it more often with that information. And it's not like I will need to do it many more times before I won't need to do it again for the year. That's something. 

     So today was a really excellent day. I had a really great hike, in a really beautiful place, with a good friend. We talked about school (I know her from school, but she is at LHS now and I am still at Baird) and the kids we worked with together. I told her some stories from my first week and she told me some of her first week stories. Travis had a great time and even remembered Jaime's name without me having to tell him several times. He must really like her. Which makes sense, Jaime is a very likeable person. I'm glad to know we will stay friends even though we no longer work together.