Reading Lately

The Witch and Other Tales Retold by Jean Thompson
This book is a retelling of fairy tales in modern times. It made me wonder if the originals were based in truth as well. The very first story "The Witch" is so well done you will feel the emotions of the children. The reader will quickly realize that this is a modern day Hansel and Gretel. Instead of a witch in a candy cottage in the woods, she is an evil foster mother. I enjoyed figuring out which fairy tale was being retold. You will recognize “Little Red Riding Hood” but with a twist. I loved the last story "Prince" about how an unusual Prince Charming of sorts comes to the heroine’s rescue.  Every story was thoroughly enjoyable and some stayed with me for a while.

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
This book is about Jason Dessen, an average type college physics professor, husband and father, who is kidnapped, drugged, and wakes up in an alternate universe.  He is still Jason Dessen, but now he is a world famous quantum physicist, who has invented a machine that can transport people to other worlds. Who kidnapped him, and why? Will Jason be able to return to his old life?  It reminded me of the movie “The Family Man” with Nicolas Cage and Tea Leoni - except Nic’s character started out successful and woke up as the middling family guy. This is fast paced and I liked it until the end when it got more and more outlandish.

Little Sister by Barbara Gowdy
Another supernatural book!  This book is about Rose, who runs the family’s indie theater which her late father adored, while trying to look after her mother, who is in the early stages of dementia. Rose’s entertainment is suffering through dinner dates with her boring boyfriend Victor. During a summer lightning storm, Rose is somehow transported into the body of Harriet. Harriet is the complete opposite of Rose, and also bears an uncanny resemblance to someone from Rose's past.  Basically there are two stories going on at once, as the story follows Rose’s life and Rose gets drawn into Harriet's exciting life. I liked this book but it ended abruptly and never explained how Rose ended up inside someone else’s head (or how she got out).

Pilgrims by Elizabeth Gilbert
This was another book of short stories. They’re all real life; nothing supernatural going on here. These are the type of stories that are snippets of different people’s somewhat ordinary lives. The author was adept at creating characters who were all a little downtrodden, yet Gilbert always seemed d to convey an optimism that things would turn out okay. My favorites were “The Many Things That Denny Brown Did Not Know” about a few summer weeks in 15 year old Denny’s world, “At The Bronx Vegetable Terminal Market” which is just one thought provoking night in Jimmy Moran’s life, and “The Famous Torn and Restored Lit Cigarette Trick” which is just a little bit about magicians but ends up magical. Every story was a little gem to read.

Happy Reading!

Attitude Adjustment

In June I got a new job and I was extremely excited to be leaving the old one which was very toxic to me and caused me undue stress. Here it is only two and a half months later and the honeymoon period at the new place is over. 

I don't want to be a complainypants. This job is everything I wanted - which was basically good management.  My managers are amazing.  For example, a big stressor at the old job was the hoops everyone had to jump through to get even one day off. Here, we are encouraged to take as much time off as we would like!

The old job was a busy, fast paced environment where the work was nonstop.  On top of that, the bad managers were always having us change and redo things because their procedures and expectations were constantly changing.

In contrast, the work volume at the new job is significantly less. The managers like things done the way they always have been done, so once something is complete, that's it. The pace is slow and I'm not used to that. I started to feel dread in the sense that I am the kind of person who wants to always be busy. Years of school and decades of work train you to always be productive.

Last week I went to Lake Placid and only worked three days. There was a lot of good stuff going on after work and this past weekend which I will write about below. 

Lake Placid is my happy place

The problem was that instead of being fully present enjoying my time off in the evening and this past weekend, I was mentally and verbally complaining about work. I decided yesterday that it is time for an attitude adjustment. I have to embrace a new mindset that a laid back work environment is not bad, and maybe even good. Hey I can work on my blog so that is good!

This weekend my husband and I had two barbecues to go to which were both amazing with good food and good conversation. On Sunday we both volunteered at the Thacher Park Trail Running Festival. I didn't take pictures, but if you click on the link you can see how pretty it is. Summer finally got a long overdue professional grooming!

Last Week's Workouts: On Tuesday I hiked Hurricane Mountain, on Thursday I did a 3 mile trail run, on Saturday I ran 3 miles and on Sunday I ran 3 miles (after the trail running festival).

Thanks for reading!

Hurricane Mountain

We have been going to Lake Placid in the Adirondacks since my older son was a baby so that is over 30 years. It is my happy place on this Earth. I am lucky I get to visit often because my husband has to go up there for his work. I took off work Monday and Tuesday to go with him. 

Monday was a work day for him - after he finished working, we checked into our favorite little hotel which is the Quality Inn. It isn't fancy, but they have canoes, rowboats and pedalboats that you can take out on Lake Placid at no charge. They also have an indoor pool, hot tub and free hot breakfast in the morning. We took a canoe out for an hour or so, then we went into town to look in the shops and have dinner. We like to get salad and pizza at Ere's Italian restaurant overlooking Mirror Lake.

Tuesday we hiked Hurricane Mountain in Keene. Hurricane is a fire tower peak, so I can check that off if I ever officially decide to work on the ADK fire tower challenge. This mountain has three trailheads, and we started from the one off Route 9N.  We were the first car there at 9 a.m. and the first to sign the trail register.

Hurricane Mountain has an elevation of 3,694 feet and the trail we took was 6.8 miles round trip. The 9N trail was rerouted in 2015 to bypass eroded areas and make the pitch less steep, which added 0.8 miles each way. The red trail markers were new and easy to follow. It took us 2 hours and 20 minutes to get to the summit, which was a leisurely pace.

Sun dappled trail

At the summit, there was one other group who had hiked up one of the other trails. We climbed the fire tower, which was also replaced in 2015. For a relatively short hike, the 360 views were very rewarding.

My favorite picture from the summit

After 40 minutes eating lunch and relaxing at the summit, it was time to head down. By then, there were at least half a dozen groups at the summit and we passed many more on their way up as we were going down. We decided to pick up the pace for our descent which took us 1 hour and 50 minutes. Although not a long hike, the 85 degree heat on a perfectly cloudless day - in the Adirondacks! - made it feel tough.


Last Week's Workouts: On Tuesday I did HIIT, on Thursday I did a 2.5 mile trail run, on Saturday I did Zumba with Tammy, and on Sunday I did a 1 hour 15 minute bike ride.


I finally bought trail running shoes which I tested out on Thursday - the little grippies make them a great improvement when trail running (versus regular running shoes). Now I am all set with my new running shoes that I got in July and new trail running shoes.

Yard Work Thoughts

The other evening I was out toiling in my yard edging along the gardens, back patio and driveway. Meanwhile, the lawn service guys were parked in front of my house working on three houses at once - both of my next door neighbors and my diagonal-across neighbor.

While I was happily thinking about how much money I was saving doing my own yard work, I remembered that earlier in the summer I signed up for the Frugalwoods Uber Frugal Month challenge. I wrote a post Goodbye June Hello July where I mentioned that. Here it is the middle of August and I am finally getting a chance to follow up.

With that being said, I have to say that I enjoyed many of the 31 articles that I read last month. Liz aka Mrs. Frugalwoods is an excellent writer, and really makes some great points. Plus her two little girls are adorable! I decided to go back and look at my inbox and find a post that was most relevant to my yard work.

In the post “Empower Yourself “, Liz talks about the pervasiveness in our culture that we can't do anything for ourselves. Some examples: cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, shoveling or snowblowing the driveway, learning to cook and fix things, even making your own coffee. Obviously, the benefits of doing for oneself are multi-faceted: saving money, learning and honing skills, and the pride and satisfaction of doing it yourself. I have another one: free exercise!

So here was my real life example. The head lawn service guy said "Want to come work for us?" which is kind of his tag line since he's said that to my husband as well. 

My husband and I are a good team - he likes big work with big results, like mowing. I do the detail work - like edging and flowers and getting that manicured look. I think our house looks as good as the neighbors (the head guy must think so since he keeps offering us jobs) and we can proudly say we did it ourselves.

Not my garden; this is from the park next to work 

I have to mention Summer of course. Our yard is not fenced but I can let her out; as long as I hang with her she won't run away. She was just being too friendly with the lawn care workers aka: bothering them, so I had to tie her to her lead at the top of the driveway. She can go in and out of the garage, play with her toys and watch the activity all at the same time. She especially loves watching the neighbor kids come out and play soccer on their front lawn.

All of a sudden I look up from my yard work and there is Summer taking a potty break on the lawn.  Obviously I did a poor job attaching her lead to her leash! Well she didn't run off and I took that as a sign that we were both done for the night.

Cheers!

Hadley Mountain

On Sunday, my daughter and I decided to hike Hadley Mountain in the Southern Adirondacks. We took Summer the dog with us. It was the first - and possibly only - hike of the year for my daughter and Summer. My husband took a pass because he wanted to get a long bike ride in. We got off to a very late start but no worries - we got the last spot in the parking lot! Although it was definitely from someone who had already left.

We signed in at the trail register at 1:20 pm and five minutes later, we saw a trail running friend Jona coming down. That was a nice surprise. We had spoken before about hiking together and we are going to make a plan soon.

Summer checking that we are still there

Hadley has an elevation of 2,654 feet; and it is 3.6 miles round trip. It took us just over an hour to get to the summit. There is a fire tower as well. I don’t usually climb up the fire towers but I got my nerve up and went to the second to last level - I skipped the ladder at the very top.

Perfect day for a hike

We spent about 35 minutes at the top of Hadley, having a snack and enjoying the view. Summer found the one and only puddle and promptly lapped it up and lay down right in the little bit of mud remaining at the bottom. If there is water or mud she will find it!  Even the trail steward asked how she got muddy.

Summer enjoying the view

I have to mention that Summer loved this hike. She is a good hiker too.  We do let her off the leash (unless there is a sign specifically stating that dogs must be leashed). Strangely, when she hikes she has zero interest in the other hikers, even those who want to stop and "say hi".  She just likes to keep her pace.  She will get ahead of us but will backtrack if she gets to where she can't see us.
I have to remember to post my workouts.

Last week I worked out four times: Tuesday I did HIIT, on Thursday I ran 4.1 miles, on Saturday I ran 4 miles, and on Sunday I hiked.

The week before last I worked out four times: Tuesday I did HIIT, on Wednesday I did Zumba with Tammy, on Thursday I did a 3.8 mile trail run, and on Saturday I ran 3 miles.

Thanks for reading!

Reading Lately

Little Nothing by Marisa Silver
This is an unusual and intriguing story that is both a novel and a fairytale of sorts.  An older couple in an unnamed Eastern European village prays for a child. However, when their daughter Pavla is born, they are shocked and dismayed because she is a dwarf.  They grow to love her, of course, but still take her from one "doctor" to the next hoping for a "cure".  Along the way, she meets Danilo, who falls in love with her.  But this is not your ordinary story, because the treatment actually transforms Pavla, in multiple ways.  Danilo never stops loving Pavla; when they part ways, he never gives up searching for her. Parts of this book are dark and disturbing, but that's how most fairy tales are, after all. I don't want to give anything away. The ending was surprising and satisfying as things came full circle. I really enjoyed this book and was eager to return to it each evening.

Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday
This book is very popular right now and has won many book awards.  The novel has three distinct sections.  In Part 1, Mary Alice, a young editor and would-be writer becomes involved with Ezra, a world famous Nobel-prize winning author. Theirs is a May-December romance as Ezra is well into his 70's and obsessed with his health.  Part 2 is the story of Amar, a young American of Iraqi descent who is detained at Heathrow Airport for several days en route to visiting his brother. While reading, I had absolutely no idea of why or how these stories were connected. I was expecting Mary Alice to show up at Heathrow. Part 3 is a return to Ezra, and takes the form of him being interviewed for a radio program.  After I read Part 3 I was still confused and had to look online to figure out what the connection was between the three parts of the book.  I liked Part 1, did not like Part 2 and was confused after Part 3. I am the type of person who never hesitates to stop reading a book I don't like, and something about this kept me reading. It was like I wanted to understand the connection by myself, but couldn't.

Inheritance by Dani Shapiro
This was the only non-fiction book of the bunch.  Dani Shapiro was 54 when she casually did an ancestry.com DNA test and discovered that the man who raised her was not her biological father. She recalled a conversation decades earlier where her mother mentioned that she was conceived in Philadelphia.  It took only a few days to find out that her mother had sought the help of the long closed Farris Institute on the UPenn campus.  Her biological dad was a medical student who donated sperm (now a retired doctor).  This revelation was shocking and of course life-changing. It also answered many questions that Dani had fielded her whole life, especially being told that she didn't look Jewish in her Orthodox family.  This is an excellent book that unfolded like a detective novel. Since her parents have both passed away, she cannot turn to them.  Instead, she goes on a personal quest interviewing family members, medical experts and religious leaders, looking for and finding answers.

Acadia National Park - Part 3

You can read the first installments of our trip to Acadia National Park Part 1 and Part 2 here.
For our last hike, we took the free buses that leave from Bar Harbor Village Green to the Jordan Park House.  The buses are sponsored by L.L. Bean and they are totally free and go everywhere. 

From the Jordan Park House we followed the carriage road trying to find the trail. I got a little lost, as usual, but a nice gentleman with a map pointed us toward a shortcut that led to Penobscot.  By sheer luck, I am sure this was the back trail that the family we met on the bike ride had told us about.  It was straight up with iron rungs and steep steps cut into the side of the mountain, kind of like rock climbing. It was fun!

View of Jordan Pond from Penobscot Mountain trail

We ate lunch at the summit of Penobscot Mountain, with a view of Jordan Pond. The elevation of Penobscot is 1,194 feet - not too high.  We debated continuing on to Sargent Mountain and ultimately we passed.  Shocker, right!  It was a good thing we did, because the trail we took back down was quite long and circuitous.  I'm not confident that it was the direct route to the trailhead, but it got us back.  This hike took just under 4 hours.

Thunder Hole - captivating to watch the waves crashing in

We went to Sand Beach at sunset and then back one morning to read and relax.  The Maine water is too cold for swimming but you can get in up to your knees!

Sand Beach at sunset

The unique thing about Acadia is that it's a package deal - hiking, biking, cute shops, lakes, the ocean - all in one place.  I would say the only negative for us was the drive.  It took 8 hours each way with stops only for gas, restrooms and switching drivers. In comparison, the Adirondacks are only 2 hours away for us! If I go back, we would stop for an overnight midway along the route.


Thanks for reading!

Acadia National Park - Part 2

You can read Part 1 here: Acadia National Park Part 1. The cold front and rain that ended the sweltering heat wave came in around dinner time of our second night in Acadia National Park.  This was good timing because the rain was winding down and it was only drizzling the next morning.  We grabbed umbrellas from the hotel lobby and headed over to Bar Island.  This is a little island north of the town of Bar Harbor.  At low tide, you can walk across the natural gravel bridge.

There are signs on both sides with low / high tides and a phone number to call if you get stuck on Bar Island when the tide comes in.  There is about 90 minutes both before and after low tide where you can walk across, so it is a solid 3 hour window. If you do get stuck, it will cost you $50 for a water taxi to come and rescue you.

Gravel road to Bar Island at low tide

View of Bar Harbor from Bar Island

We did the short hike to the peak of Bar Island and then strolled around town. By the time we got back to our hotel, we had logged 3.3 miles walking.

The sun was starting to come out, so we drove over to the Park Loop Road with our bicycles in tow. Acadia has miles of carriage roads that are closed to motor vehicles of all kinds, and are accessible for biking, walking and horse back riding only.  We rode our bikes around Eagle Lake and then up and around Witch Hole Pond.  We biked a total of 11.2 miles according to the carriage road map.

Taking a break to look at the views

Dappled sunlight on carriage road

Everyone we met was friendly, like a young dad who let us borrow his pump when our travel pump didn't work and our tires were low.  We met a family who were avid hikers and runners (we knew by each others' race shirts) who gave us a tip on where to hike the next day as well as what kind of ice cream to buy!


Once again, after a full day of activity, we got in some swimming at the hotel pool before heading out for something to eat.


I wanted to mention that we chose our hotel specifically for the pool and because it included a full hot breakfast.  We also brought bread, peanut butter and jelly from home to make lunches since we knew we would be out on the trails. I even remembered to bring aluminum foil!  Each day, my husband grabbed an  UBR Cinnamon Breakfast Cookie from the hotel breakfast as a snack. This is not an affiliate link, but he loved them and I figured they would be on Amazon.


Stay tuned for Part 3.