Friendly Weekend

I socialized twice this weekend, though with the same people both days.  

Amanda has been working and back in school and our time together the last few months has been quick texts at 2 a.m., occasional things our kids are at but not one of the other of us, and the infrequent afternoon chat via phone or messenger when she is supposed to be studying.  Once, she wrote an entire paper while chatting with me.  I think I may have managed to refill my water bottle during that same time frame.  

Katy has been up to her neck in soccer and swimming is about to get started again for both families, and though soccer ended just this past week, tryouts for the next season are tonight!  With our older kids getting older, our hang out time has become precious!  Alex and Emma are working this summer and so is Elan, Chandler and Ben are looking for jobs and Ben has music 3 times a week, Jake is at work 10 hours a day most days and Rho has already moved out.  

They, along with Gina and kids, all made it to what was supposed to have been Ben's last concert on Tuesday night (he's since been asked to do a solo performance next month and then the director asked him to stay on with the jazz band through the end of the year).  I think he did great!  Afterward, Gina had to head home (it did run a full hour over...) and our three families went to eat.  

I won't get into THAT fiasco, other than to say that Logan's Roadhouse tried to charge me $10 for a GRILLED CHEESE sandwich and a handful of soggy, cold fries.  They said they had no idea how to ring it up.  IT'S ON THE MENU.  I didn't make up a newfangled food, I just wasn't very hungry and it was after 9, a burger sounded about the same as eating cement and I didn't want to risk whatever might pass as a salad the last 45 minutes the place was open.  Anyway, some 30 minutes later, after they changed my ticket from 'club sandwich' to 'fried pickles', we left.  I won't be back.  It involved 3 of the wait staff AND the manager and was just short of rocket science to not charge $10 for 2 pieces of bread and a slice of cheese.  It wasn't even buttered.  Birdie ate the SAME THING and it was $5.  And that included his drink.

We enjoyed hanging out so much (despite the billing incompetence) that weekend plans were quickly changed around and Katy and family opted to camp on the lake and we met up Saturday for a couple miles of hiking topped off with a couple of hours of hanging in hammocks, chatting and snoozing topped off with dinner at a Mexican place that was super yummy.   A multitude of woes can be remedied with hot cheese dip. 

Sunday, we met up at Amanda's and swam for a long time, then Sammy's mom and dad took us all out on the pontoon near sunset, a thing I always enjoy.  Back at the house, we ate dip-based snacks and grilled and had a very eclectic variety of things.  Hot dogs and sausages, pilaf, baked beans, mac and beef... Everything was great, seasoned with copious amounts of earlier sun and lake water and shoveled in between loud board games, dancing children, dads sipping whiskey and talking music, moms plotting the next gathering, dogs splayed all over the deck.  Mosquitoes attacking everyone but me...

she jumped, I just missed it!

Ben jumped!  First time!

The boat limit was 14 and we had 17!  So Elan rode beside us and swapped passengers around to keep us legal.

April Hiking

My goal for the year has been a paltry 50 miles a month.  I thought I would knock that out easily.  So far, not the case, though April was the first month I utterly failed.

I got half my miles on the Cumberland Island trip between walking and biking on the island and then walking around at the springs and Disney Springs, it was easily 25 miles total.

I only walked about 8 miles before the island, so that left me with 17 miles to cover the last week of the month.

Matt and I knocked out 5 whole entire miles at the track (not all in one go though).  Gina and I did 8 on the Honeycomb trail.  So...I ended the month 5 miles shy of my goal

Met Amanda and walked 5+ miles at Duck River the weekend before the trip.  We got further out than I realized and ended up having to send Matt and Ben running back to the car to get to a community concert we had planned to see.  We totally missed it but were reunited at the Mexican place afterward, so it wasn't a tragedy.

Bluets

Not much growth for April!

It was Dogwood Winter that day and QUITE chilly!

That's a cold snap that happens annually around the time the dogwoods reach full bloom.

I spotted blackberry starting to bloom and remembered there's Blackberry Winter still left. 

I was suddenly very glad to be going to the beach.

Some cold-stunned dwarf irises.

It had dropped below freezing the night before.  

the start of a possible nest?

I really like a trail that heads off into the distance.

LOOK AT THE POLLEN

The next week, the oak trees started in.  Matt and I clogged up PDQ and I had to double my allergy meds.  Oak hits us both like a mule kick.  But not the kids.  To add to that, he and I both were in glasses by middle school.  The kids all have perfect vision.  But they all three needed braces, so there's that.

Clover

waxy buttercup

Plantain

I don't know

lyre-leaved sage

daisy fleabane

butterweed

squaw root

Phlox

The stretch under the power lines is not pretty.

It seems to be being used to dump stuff like mulch and dirt.  The piles skirt the trail and even though this is the 6th time I have walked here, I still had a few spots where I was unsure if we might have passed the Honeycomb Trail turnoff.

mullein

The trail squeezes behind that pile of mulch (and...cement chunks) right at the base of the hill.  

This is the next tricky spot, after passing above the campground and going back down the other side, the trail crosses a wide, very flat and usually very muddy spot.  Another trail meets up from the left, the HT goes to the right.  Within a minute or so, there's this junction.  Off to the left is blazed, straight is not.

The trail to the left circles Thompson Reservoir and becomes the trail that meets up at the muddy spot.

Taking this adds a mile, though not a hard one.  Or you could just walk it, retrace the path to the parking area and have a pretty easy 2-mile walk done. 

Going straight keeps you on the HT.

more butterweed

Little guy!

I really like this spot

The hill at Fern Gully. It's all green now!

And ferns are everywhere!

The big tree by the water just before the long climb

I'm going with a type of skullcap, though I am not sure and a totally open to any input.

Tickseed

Coreopsis

Poison oak

Yellow eyed grass

Lunch tree!

This is at the top of a hill in both directions and has nice, downed logs nearby and rocks just past it.

Rare panting shot, she's not a 'smiler'

The trail had trees down in 3-4 places and lots of branches and had started to get overgrown here and there.

Fire pink

This was a tree across the trail that was also COVERED in poison ivy!

After the hike, we went to Ghost Falls and Honeycomb Natural Bridge.

Nia was done for!
She had a limp the next day, I felt awful for wearing her out, but she rallied and was fine again by the afternoon.  Poor pupper!