Veterans' Day! I taught violin lessons today in the afternoon and evening, but the rest of the day was all mine. I began by getting up at 6:45 instead of 5:45 (despite attempts by Bonita to get me to play with her, starting with Torture by Licking at 4 a.m.), cooking breakfast, and then going out back to finish digging my ditch and filling it up with brush. I'm making a sort of cross between a swale (a ditch on contour for water catchment) and a hugelkultur (a way of preparing a mound of branches, compost, and soil for planting). Pictures to come as I continue the project.
At 11:30 I started out on a walk/hike on trails in my neighborhood. The trail I took starts in back of the Unitarian church. Pictured here are the church canoes on their rack, ready for winter. It's a very Green [Party] church. This is the church I probably should be attending if I felt like going to church on purpose and if I weren't already committed to going to First Lutheran to play and sing.
After about 20 minutes I reached Oat Nuts Park, where the major trail starts. I discovered the tiny entrance to this huge preserve last year, soon after I had moved into my new house, when I was out exploring the neighborhood on foot. Portland Trails maintains miles of trails in and around Portland, and Oat Nuts Park abuts the Presumpscot River Preserve, which is where I walked today.
If I hadn't already been fortified with 2 deviled eggs (I am such a deviled egg addict), this sign would have made me hungry. :-)
The weather was beautiful and the trails were mostly deserted, and though I was sad that I didn't get my Fall Leaf Walk (almost all leaves are down now), it was still relaxing to walk along the river and through the forest. The whole trip took about 2 hours, giving me enough time to get cleaned up before my lessons and to placate Clingy Cat for a while.