OCTOBER 2018 – Climbing mountains has become an annual goal for me, regular readers of WaveGarden Arts will remember last year’s tackling of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, so where did this pull take me thus far in 2018? Well when my friends started talking of planning a trip to the Adirondack mountains to see the autumn leaves and escape the range of cell towers and email inboxes, I was completely on board. Reading about different trail systems and potential 4,000 footers to tackle, I was practically wearing my hiking boots to bed excited, haha.
Hiking in the Adirondacks worked out beautifully, as exhibited in the included photograph from the trail over Ausable lake. We stayed just outside of Lake Placid in upstate New York and the foliage and colors did not disappoint. It was gorgeous, with air that breathed life back into me after a long semester on campus. Reaching the lake felt like a moment out of a J.R.R. Tolkien story, it was that spectacular, certainly one of the most beautiful places that I have ever been to. Still feel very humbled by the experience as it was so moving. I could have sat by that water and watched the storms blow in from the North all day with ease. Just breathtaking.
Would very much like to return to the Adirondacks and take on one of the higher peaks, like Giant Mountain. As it was quite cold in late October for such events, with a dusting of snow having fallen the Saturday morning of our trip. Driving everyone close to the fire and to the table to play board games versus venturing outside (which is a very strong second place on my must’s for such adventures!).
Outside of hiking October has provided many opportunities for reading as I picked up a copy of ‘The Wise Man’s Fear’ by Patrick Rothfuss, which is the second book in his Kingkiller chronicles. Feels the perfect time of year to give it a read through and I know many evenings will turn in to late nights as his works are very difficult to put down once you’ve started them! Mighty curious to find what trouble finds Kvothe, as it always manages to, haha.
Have also started a larger scale draft version of the passive solar house design I’m working on. With the goal being to allow the bedrooms to have South facing windows, thus far it has worked out quite successfully. But moving the upstairs bathroom has caused a bit of a chain reaction necessitating other changes, haha. Whoops! But in a good way. Necessity can bring out the best solutions that otherwise could have gone unnoticed.
Take care and Happy Halloween everyone!
~ CS
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