Charles Island, Milford

Today, Robinson Crusoe and I ventured out to Charles Island in Milford CT. We were impatient for low tide, sloshing through the water wearing old sneakers (a good choice). Now I have the recipe for foot fungus.   We discovered the altar, a remnant from a religious retreat in the 1930's. We knew it was time to head back when two boys warned us that the tide was coming in.

Charles Island is a haven for migrating shorebirds, so the interior of the island is closed during the summer. It is one of the three largest migrating shorebird habitats in CT. At low tide a tombolo connects the island to Silver Sands Beach, making it possible to walk there. If you don't return in time, the tide can reach five to six feet and it's entirely possible to get stuck on the island. The island has a lot of history connected to it.  Legend has it that Captain Kidd's treasure is buried there.

Lately, I've been increasing my social network, but I wonder about that sometimes. Facebook is a broad quilt tied together with common thread, but it's hardly thick enough to keep a person warm. Tomorrow, we meet and I should have time to get started on another outline.

Ragweed is rearing its ugly yellow head. Every now and then I let out a loud sneeze that makes the cats jump. Today, I was happy to finish an 8.8 mile run, longer than anything I've done in a while. While on the trail I was mulling over what to work on next. I am hoping I can put the package together quickly now that I'm familiar with the story. Tomorrow, we're off to do a very interesting short hike--but if we don't return quick enough we could get trapped. More on that later.....

I just reread portions of a package of stuff I submitted earlier in the year. I have every bit of confidence in what I wrote. It's a good story. Unfortunately, if nothing materializes, I don't know what to fix. Usually I can figure out what's wrong. Haven't I made every mistake there is to make? But this time, I don't see it. I fear the chess board may flip on this one.

I found this very unusual, but attractive dragonfruit at the grocery store so yesterday, it turned into a breakfast of exploration. How does one eat this thing? I could have cheated and gone on the internet and looked it up like I do everything else, but it was more fun to figure it out. First I tried peeling it, but that didn't work. Then I sliced into it and ended up with two speckled eggs with fuschia shells. The shells easily peeled off. Despite its flare, the fruit was rather bland, like a kiwi soaked in water. You have to admit, that is one neat looking fruit with a cool name.

On the writing front, we're finally narrowing down a crit date, hopefully next week. I've signed up to help with the Connecticut Children's Book Fair held at Uconn November 14-15 from 8:30-5PM. Currently, I'm reading some interesting recently published nonfiction written as a story.

I smell something sour. Bracing for the fall......I cranked up the music to drown out my thoughts. The mop is out and soon the floor will shine. I've got to believe that it won't go unnoticed.

Several things are hinged together. A breath of sour air could easily topple the dominoes.

Bolton Notch, Bolton - part 2

I posted more photographs of yesterday's hike at Bolton Notch, CT. This flag was visible from the highway below. Today, I tried to snap a photograph of the flag rock from the highway. Hah, easier said than done. For safety's sake, I ditched the idea. The rock had more paint on it than any other rock I can remember seeing. The trail to the cave at the notch started right before this tunnel on the left.

When I was training for a half marathon last year, I ran through that eerie tunnel. Water trickled down the side of the damp, dark walls.

My article is again "with editor." What's next? Unknown.

Bolton Notch, Bolton - part 1

We found some very interesting things while exploring today. This cave has a legend about an Indian Princess that the Hartford Courant wrote about in more detail. Veins of marble are layered in the cliffs. While searching for a big open rock with an American Flag painted on it, we came across some interesting dwellings. The first lean-to skeleton I thought might have been the remnants of a scouting sleep-over. But upon finding the second "dwelling" I wondered if it was a homeless shelter. The last picture is what it looks like behind all those sticks--empty can of soup--kind of sad and creepy at the same time.

Eight-five words left to pick away at with tweezers. Ugh.

Soapstone Mountain, Somers

Today was another perfect day with great visibility. Walt and I ventured up to the tower on Soapstone Mountain in Somers, CT. It should have been named Soapstone Hill because it was a cakewalk, flip-flop hike of about 6/10 of a mile uphill on pavement. The initials "NF" carved in the tower made me think of nonfiction. There was a cornucopia of visitors today. We saw four people on horseback. We also encountered four Harley motorcyclists. None were wearing helmets, so I would have to conclude they liked the loud noise coming from their spitting, sputtering engines. We also talked with a lady from Holland.

I now have 121 words left to cut out of the article I've been working on and I've been doing my best to avoid the impossible.

Today, on this gorgeous day, I enjoyed the Connecticut River on the Quinnetukut II Riverboat at the Northfield Mountain Recreation and Environmental Center in MA. The speaker on the boat mentioned that Quinnetukut is another way of spelling Connecticut. I've posted some pictures of the landing area and the covered boat.

Around one bend in the river, the depth meter at the front of the boat soared from 25
to over 100 feet. In that one area of the river there is a deep hole that plunges into darkness where blood worms, sponges, and large fish live. The speaker passed around a dinosaur fossil that was found on the western bank of the river (my niece is holding the thing). I believe she said the first fossils found in this location were found around 1835 making them some of the earliest fossils ever found in the United States. These fossils were initially thought to be bird prints. Identification came years later. We also passed a solar device on a tiny island that was used to run the eagle cam. Since the eagle's nest was blown away by the wind and they relocated, it's no longer operational.

Across the street at the rec. and environmental center there are over 25 miles of hiking trails which will have to wait for another day. They also run moonlight snowshoe hikes which sounded like a lot of fun. Kayak and canoe rentals were nearby. The area is an outdoor playground.

Now I'm working slowly and painfully chiseling away at words to decrease the word count. This after spending quite a bit of time to increase it. Sigh. I think I need to get away from this for a while and breathe a breath of fresh air. This whole scene makes me feel like I'm stuck in a traffic jam.

I spent some time today thinking about and writing up a little blurb on potential markets for the work I just finished. The subject is challenging, but I think the market is huge and the need is there. Cryptic, I know. I need to move on to something new, but every time I step between projects, I fall into a writing rut. I'm trying to dig out and get moving again. Meanwhile this work awaits a crit.

On today's news I heard about the wolf slaughter in Idaho now that wolves are off the endangered species list. One guy that was interviewed said the wolves have decimated the elk population. Not according to the scientific research I've read. It's more like the wolves keep the elk population in balance. Without wolves, the elk population grows out of control and chews through aspen and willow trees. Songbirds and beavers use these trees so their populations decline. Check out the July 2008 issue of Highlights for more info.

The lake was tranquil at day's end. I had great fun tooling around in a whitewater kayak last night with my friend Emily. She was kind enough to model the George Jetsen inspired spray skirt which is absolutely hysterical when viewed from the back (think rhumba ruffles). The other lovely things we had to wear were noseplugs which were a big hit (cough). The three bottom photographs were taken as Emily did her first successful wet exit. Yeah! I learned something called a T-rescue. It's sort of a half of an eskimo roll. At one point I rolled over a bit too far and I was under the upside down kayak. I did not recall instructions on how to get back up so I bailed out with a wet exit. It was a little unnerving. I noticed this particular instructor ditched me after bringing my flooded kayak to shore so I guess I flunked that one. Oops.

The past few days I've been beefing up my Facebook account, but when I stop to think about it, I wonder why am I doing this.

I had great fun tooling around in whitewater kayaks last night with my friend Emily. She was kind enough to model the George Jetsen inspired spray skirt which is absolutely hysterical when viewed from the back (think rhumba ruffles). The other lovely thing we had to wear was noseplugs which were a big hit (cough). The three bottom photographs were taken as Emily did her first successful wet exit. I learned something called a T-rescue. It's sort of a half of an eskimo roll. At one point I rolled over a bit too far and I was under the kayak.

At 4AM, I felt sorry for the cat, curled up close to me. She was prowling around like a restless soul, searching. Then she held a vigil in the open window, waiting. But Melanie never came home.

I'm really happy to read that Congress will initiate a cash for clunkers appliance program this coming Fall. Since our fridge is old, leaking, and has a weak seal, I am definitely going to use the opportunity to trade it in for a new energy efficient model. We've been talking about replacing this clunker for quite a while and now I have a real incentive to be rid of it. The August 2009 issue of Consumer Reports has "Top Kitchen Appliances" on the cover and their refrigerator ratings include categories called "energy efficiency" and "energy cost/year." Dishwashers have a category called "energy use." All very helpful!

Today was college dropoff day--times two. They've been a part of my life for so long it feels like I left a piece of me behind.

Today, my son and I explored the Environmental Protection Agencies research vessel that navigates through the waters surrounding the United States and the Caribbean. It was a really interesting boat. They scoop up mud and water samples for analysis and dive to analyze coral. The first picture is the research vessel "Bold." The second picture is a cowfish (left), shark egg case (top black thing), and a puffer fish. The third picture is a submarine that we saw off the deck of the ship. The fourth picture is the lab. The top tv screen was displaying pictures of the underwater robot used to record the pictures under the sea in the left screen. The bottom right screen displayed google earth or an on top of the water view. The bottom photograph is where the scientists sleep aboard the vessel.

I finally finished fact-checking and now this proposal is ready to go! I think there is a real need for it.

While surfing the web, one website led me to another where I just happened to luck out and find something exciting to do on Thursday. I'll post photographs later this week.

Left a good job in the city,
Workin' for myself ev'ry night and day
......Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the water

Day Miserables:
After running 4 miles, I locked the keys in the car at the gas station and had to hike 2 miles home--all uphill of course. Apparently, it is too much effort to pick up a phone at home. There were 2 people home. Then I took my niece on a hike to a waterfall. Well, little did I realize that every trail was the blue trail and mosquitoes were starving. There's not much grosser then a dead body on your arm and your own blood to go along with it. Thought I'd salvage the day and go for ice cream only to find the ice cream wasn't available for another 4 hours. This, of course, was after I'd run over the glass milk bottle in the parking lot. Agggghghhhh. Needless to say it is a zero accomplishment day for me.

I made tons of progress today. I only have a few sentences left to verify and this proposal will be done. Rain certainly makes a worker bee out of me.

I posted photographs of today's visit to the new CT Science Center in Hartford. Each floor has a view of the Connecticut River. Most of the museum contains hands-on science exhibits that are quite elaborate. I thought about the layout and wondered if it was planned that the top floor contained the climate change exhibit so that when you leave that is what lingers on your mind.

The 3D movie with new satellite images of the sun was fascinating. The space suit is a replica of the first space suit. I'm pleased that my photograph shows how successful our marble track was. I clapped when the marble completed its journey!

I was really interested in this mud core exhibit in the first photograph. The viewer slides over any spot on the mud core. I clicked on CO2 and the red line shows how much CO2 there was at that time in history.

There were a lot of sophisticated free play areas, exhibits where you could race things (sailboats, cars) and slow motion videos to record. Cool stuff. I'd definitely go again.

Sometimes. Sometimes I wonder if I'll miss it if I stop for a week. But I never stop long enough to know.

Eight pages left to verify for scientific accuracy. This does not mean I've been cranking away today. It means I did some work last night and chose the shortest pages to conquer first so psychologically, it seems like less.

I emailed two CT senators this afternoon about proposed budget cuts to library services. Honestly, I don't know what I'm going to do if they cut ILL and Request book loans. I think I'd have to truck to all different parts of the state to get the resources I need thus chewing into my time and additional energy consumption. The end result will equate to chopping off a hand, the typing hand. And which hand would that be?

I am now really satisfied with this proposal. Time to verify everything. It's a big job and I'll have to cut it into manageable pieces or I'll never get moving. 1 page down, 10 to go.

Yesterday, I revised four pages from sunrise to sunset and beyond. It was 11:30PM before I put it down. When I post a photograph I like, I hate to see it disappear below view, so this post is short.

Yesterday evening, I was up at Waterfire in Providence Rhode Island . What a great event! I've posted a few photographs. Sitting on the banks of the river reminds me of having an empty beach to myself. Despite a crowd of people, you can get absorbed in the music and the mesmerizing flames.

During the day I added a couple of paragraphs to the project I'm working on, but it's still too short. Hm. What to add?

Yesterday, I did a little more work on my current project. It was neither the quality nor the quantity of what I wrote that was noteworthy, but it was the fixing of cracks in the foundation of an outline to create a stronger structure. Now I should be able to move a little quicker and put together the remainder of the first chapter. Later in the evening, under a perfect sky, I heard the sounds of a tribute band as beach balls bounced, floating on fingertips.

I would not want my success to come from playing someone elses music.

Rudbeckia (black-eyed Susans) and Echinacea (purple coneflower)

Yesterday, at a family party, I spoke to my aunt, an English Professor and also an aspiring writer. She asked me if I still get frustrated. I said "oh yeah." I suggested she reach further into more challenging markets. This morning I wondered whether my answer to her question was discouraging for her to hear knowing how long I've been writing. I hope not.

The book finally came in after 16 days. I was pretty eager to get it, driving there in a car with a wet seat on a gas tank of fumes with company due to arrive in two hours. The article has now been reviewed by two tech editors and is now "with editor." I hope I recognize it after it gets a major crew cut because I really like this article. The next step is the scientific review. Today I'm shipping off a submission to a new place I know little about, but it sounds very literary.