A Return, The Purple Cow, Snow Shoes, and Corned Beef

Quite a mysterious title, no? Its basically a run down of what we did today. After about a seven month hiatus from Fairfield First Baptist Church, Amanda and I returned to the morning service today; it felt like going home. It was beautiful and spiritually satisfying . . .just what we have been needing. We joined some church friends for breakfast at The Purple Cow--Fairfield's own pancake house--after the service. I tried something new: a meatloaf omelet. Jay and the Reverend--did they have that at Zachary's?? We then drove over to Springpond, where we were invited for a corned beef and cabbage dinner. Sally and I brought our snowshoes, and we joined Brick for a jaunt through the backwoods of Mt. Vernon Maine. A trail leaves directly from Lynne and George's backyard that, about 300 yards later, connects to some wonderfully maintained snowmobile trails. These woods rate probably number 2 on my all time list of "most beautiful places in the world" (Acadia is number one, and the Jersey Turnpike is number 3).


Here we are, just departing on our hour long walk. Note the cool Carhartt vest and hat on Amanda. On me, note the Maine guide hat coupled with the throwback UNH rugby jersey. Compute this, sucker! And we have matching Sorell boots . . .how KA-YOOT!!!! Here, Amanda takes a rare shot of Brick looking at something else besides my butt. Kidding. Brick is just checking out the beautiful scenery as we approach a "Jerry bridge." This is a name of a type of simply rigged snowmobile bridge that goes over a small stream or brook. As opposed to a bridge that DOESNT go over something . . .idiot Jared . . .

As you can see, our bridge is about as good at math as I am. On a side note, as an English buff, I'm always amused by the signs you see before bridge crossings that read "Warning: Bridge freezes before roadway." I think this is adorable. The bridge must be shy, and/or have a crush on the roadway. I, often, find myself "frozen" and at a loss for words when I am trying to talk to someone on whom I have a crush . . .
And here's the brave and dauntless Sally Piles, negotiating the rough terrain of the modified wood pallets that make up the bridge. As you read this, Annie Bolger sits on her couch in Taunton, cursing at us out loud, for being stupid enough to cross this bridge, because we could have fallen in to the brook. But I assure you: it was perfectly safe.
Former "Ranger Rick" subscription holder and 4-H enthusiast Amanda explains some fresh deer tracks that lead from the trail deep into the woods. In addition to seeing MANY deer tracks, we also saw both Moose and Eight tracks. I wanted to follow Styx to see where it was going, but it started to get dark . . .