Tuesday Trip

On Tuesdays and Fridays Callum goes to his grammy's for the day, and Amanda picks him up after work. Thus, I have a little bit of time after school to do things like meet friends for coffee, go for longer bike rides (when its not 8 out), and take advantage of the winter to do some snowshoeing. I love getting out in the snow, blazing a trail, and being the only one outside. Its very spiritual and fulfilling to be out in the woods, walking around, taking it all in. So, this afternoon, I took a little walk out on the trails across the street from us. Its kind of neat: You walk down the power line trails in back of Billy Marcoux's house, then you skirt around the Fairfield "little league" field complex, and THEN you find yourself on an expanse of fields, meadows, and trails. I see lots of evidence of snowmobiles, snowshoes, and cross country skis....but I've only ever seen anyone out there once. And I go out there quite a bit. Here's my self portrait. The beard is moving along nicely....

I dont know if you can make this out, but, if you look in the center of the photo, and then go over to the left, you can see a bare white "smudge." This is the trail skirting around the meadow. Soon, the trail leads you into the woods, and actually along the highway of Rt 95 for a while....kids in school tell me that there's a culvert that goes underneath the interstate (a culvert, they say, big enough so you fit two snowmobiles through it). It is my goal to find this culvert. Because if I do, I can connect with the snowmobile trails in Fairfield Center, and then Norrigewock, and then all the way to Canada....if I ever wanted, that is...

Here is a nice shot of the meadow. It was actually snowing out. But it was getting dark, so you cant really see the snow. But boy-oh-boy does the wind love to rip across this field! I feel like I'm on the set of "All Creatures Great and Small" when I'm over here....
I did a little "bush-whacking" this afternoon too. I guess its easy and safe to do on snowshoes, since you cant really get lost (you can see your tracks!). So this was kind of weird: I came across this strange "shack" kind of thing. I dont know if its a hunting cabin, Phi Beta Kappa initiation room, or Satan shack. But its weird. And, apparently, some of it is held together with duct tape....which makes it, inherently, a "Maine" cabin. You can see the duct tape on the right. And for all you middle school English fans who have fond memories of TREASURE ISLAND: I think this little structure looks like the "stockade" in which young Jim Hawkins and Doctor Livesey or however you spell it took refuge from the pirates. Did any of you see the movie?

A nice little trip. And there's supposed to be some REALLY cold weather moving in tonight. So I brought some wood in and, in the words of good old Senor Andresen, we're "hunkering down" by the stove. Have a great night.