The temperature at lunchtime yesterday was 30 degrees colder than the day before at the same hour. That’s fine with me – I love the cooling air. Now the rain this morning is a welcome guest. It is still a beautiful place, in any weather, though I hope it clears up before the big annual softball game in the club field this afternoon.
N and I took a 9 mile walk around the whole lake yesterday with my cousin, with whom we’re sharing a camp (the Adirondack term for anything from rustic four wall shell to a grand log home, if it’s where you go on the weekends). It has become an occasional ritual in the last decade or so, when I come for a visit up here. Lots of forest, moss, lake and pond views, and some long stretches of dirt road, all to mark the circumference of a beloved property.
Another ritual is an unavoidable and less attractive one, though it has its whimsical note. It is cleaning up after various rodent intruders in the kitchen.
Breads, fruits, and many other edibles are fair game for many mammalian species up here. First they ate through the English muffin package, then we found a previously saran wrapped loaf of fresh bread scratched and nibbled and strewn almost into oblivion, right in the middle of the kitchen table. The critter really went to town on that loaf of bread.
So we set a hav-a-hart trap and caught him- a very bold and curious chipmunk, who actually turned to look you in the eye when you went over to the cage. My cousin released him about a mile away, which is likely a futile exercise. We’ll be gone soon anyway, and the food supply will dry up. They’ll have to return to nature’s bounty, rather than bounty from Shaheen’s grocery store.
*****
This family cemetery in the woods is one of my favorite places to walk to. My sister the minister led a memorial service here for our uncle last week, which I missed. I heard it was quite lovely, with 100 people or so in attendance. It is a deeply peaceful and contemplative place.
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