Western Maine Weekend

Friday, after work, Em and I hit the trail.  It sure was a good way to end the week.  On the summit, miss Dixie came over and sat in my lap.  No joke.  She did this all on her own.  I had been sitting over there, yapping with EmJay (who was near my pack with my camera in it) and little miss Dix came over and plopped her bony bum on my crossed legs.  I love that dog.

Afternoon light on a golden dog.

More golden light.  The color of the trees sure is changing - nothing bright or red or orange, but yellowing, dulling.

Saturday Jim and I started building single-track mountain bike trails on his dad's property.  It is slooooooow going.  We worked 5 hours - so essentially 10, since there were two of us, and we maybe have about 45 seconds to a minute of riding.  BUT, we are finding some incredible features and believe these trails will be so worth it.  This rock is one of those features we are pretty stoked to incorporate into the trail.  The trail goes to the right of the tree he is leaning against and to the left of the big rock.  It's gonna be sweet.

A better view of the trail.  That little rock on the left, by the tree, will provide a nice challenge.  We have incorporated lots of nice, little challenges already.  The section we built Saturday will be technical.  Yay!

The cats were giving one another baths this morning.  

Stone Cold Stares

Dixie and I rode Mt. Blue State Park today.  We were out for two solid hours.  It is quite climby, so the speed was perfect for her.  There are a few downhills where she must have been pushing pretty hard, but all told, it's a good ride for her.  This picture is from Hedgehog Overlook.  It's about 15 minutes into the ride.  I took 15 minutes of my own and sat there loving the view.  The clouds were all over Old Blue in Andover, but they were off the little peaks in Weld.  Did not see a soul and relished that.  Love time alone.

No single-track, all double-track - but good riding nonetheless.  

A really good weekend.  Too quick, but okay.  Next weekend, I am looking forward to seeing my niece play soccer, hanging with my sister and helping our friend celebrate her 50th at Gritty's.  Life's good.  Working again feels good.  Getting to know my new students and loving them already feels good.  I have a great group of Advanced Frosh this year.  Read their letters this afternoon (lots of school work this afternoon -- funny how I leave that out) and was charmed.  It's going to be fun to work with them - and so nice they are a smaller group than 21 (like last year).  But the sadness surrounding our loss last spring still hangs heavy.  I cried all over myself today as I thought of him, thought about National Suicide Prevention week.  Many of his friends are taking AP Language with me - he was supposed to be there too.  And hanging out with, teaching, laughing with his friends reminds me of everything I loved about him.  His friends are hurting.  They are doing okay, but they miss him.  He was such a good kid.  I miss him.  A lot.