A day of mixed fortunes
Ah, joy! Once every 7 days (and every Wednesday) Sam has a 1 hour delayed start at school which means - tada! - a lie in. Nobody has told my body clock that and I more or less wake up at more or less the usual time. Still, it does mean a leisurely breakfast over the Asheville Citizen-Times (adv) which, unfortunately, was all about basketball and Trump this morning so it was a quick read.
The drive to school was very pleasant - the sun was out, nobody was driving like a moron and the conversation focused on literary contest we'd won (and the delightfully unfortunate way that Swhite had announced me as a winner.)
Despite the sub-40 degree temperature, I like to use the late starts to take a walk at Biltmore and that was again the plan this morning - walk up the walking trail to the house and back down through the gardens, past the bass pond and then about half a mile along the road back to the carpark. Right then. Park the car by the lake and head up the trail - no cross country stuff this time, stick to the path. I indulged in a seemingly intelligent conversation with the geese in the field by the lake: my attempts to imitate their conversation brought the occasional look of surprise - I hope I didn't say anything inappropriate. When I go to the top of the big hill (by the knuckle-eating gate), the weather gods decided it was time to play with the wind machine. With the sun on my right and the wind coming straight in my face, there was no doubt which direction was north. Thanks, Canada. Not turning back now. Striding manfully onwards, I was soon (but not soon enough) in the lea of the house and able to turn so the wind was behind me. I zoomed through the gardens - a bit less barren than last time with daffs and hyacinths in bloom (do they plant them that way? I'll swear this was bare dirt 2 weeks ago.) Time for a quick warm up in the tropical house. "Closed until 9:00." Glance at the watch said it was 9:35. Locked door said it wasn't. Bugger. On to the bass pond - I've always driven down here before so it was fun to investigate a new path that goes round the opposite side of the lake to the road. Gave a whole new perspective on the pond as well as a splendid view of the brick bridges. Best of all, the path went downhill and downhill was where my car was. Time to get back onto the road, though. Hmmm - someone has put a 10 foot wide river in here while I wasn't looking and I'm damned if I'm going to back track so I'll go round this way and see if there's another bridge (I'll save you the suspense - there isn't.) And now there is a sodding great 8' fence. Pretty easy to climb if I have to but probably not a good idea. So it's time to follow the fence to the knuckle-eating gate - 200 vertical feet above and into the wind. But first, cross this little foot wide stream. Should have learned at Lake Lure - now I have one squelchy shoe but at least I got across the stream. And, from said gate, it's downhill all the way to the sanctuary of the car.
Having overdone it just a touch, I felt I deserved a bath when I got home. It's probably the first bath I've had in 3 years but it was most refreshing to have a good scrub at the body parts I really can't get at in the shower like the soles of my feet. Taking the wireless speaker into the bathroom with me was a good move, too - nothing quite as relaxing as a bath to the tune of XM Radio's classical channel. Handel's Water Music would have been too much to ask for: instead I got a symphony by someone I've never heard of who had bought a job lot of triplets he wanted to unload, a Beethoven piano sonata and the start of Tchaikovski's 4th symphony by which time the bath was getting a bit tepid. So out I hopped and, being house trained, gave the bath a good scrub to remove the grime I'd plastered it with. Along with, I noticed as I toweled off, a large amount of leg hair.
The sparse leg hair has created an interesting effect in my track pants - the remaining hairs now get trapped in the material, giving the most disconcerting sensation of having pooped myself.
Enough adventure for one day - I think I'll just sit here and watch the birds for a while.
No I won't - the new memory card for my Raspberry Pi has arrived in the mail along with a survey from a republican group wanting my opinion on #45 and a summary of how much I'd have shelled out in November and December if I hadn't had health insurance. Makes me glad that Medicare exists and wonder why the republican party exists.
The drive to school was very pleasant - the sun was out, nobody was driving like a moron and the conversation focused on literary contest we'd won (and the delightfully unfortunate way that Swhite had announced me as a winner.)
Despite the sub-40 degree temperature, I like to use the late starts to take a walk at Biltmore and that was again the plan this morning - walk up the walking trail to the house and back down through the gardens, past the bass pond and then about half a mile along the road back to the carpark. Right then. Park the car by the lake and head up the trail - no cross country stuff this time, stick to the path. I indulged in a seemingly intelligent conversation with the geese in the field by the lake: my attempts to imitate their conversation brought the occasional look of surprise - I hope I didn't say anything inappropriate. When I go to the top of the big hill (by the knuckle-eating gate), the weather gods decided it was time to play with the wind machine. With the sun on my right and the wind coming straight in my face, there was no doubt which direction was north. Thanks, Canada. Not turning back now. Striding manfully onwards, I was soon (but not soon enough) in the lea of the house and able to turn so the wind was behind me. I zoomed through the gardens - a bit less barren than last time with daffs and hyacinths in bloom (do they plant them that way? I'll swear this was bare dirt 2 weeks ago.) Time for a quick warm up in the tropical house. "Closed until 9:00." Glance at the watch said it was 9:35. Locked door said it wasn't. Bugger. On to the bass pond - I've always driven down here before so it was fun to investigate a new path that goes round the opposite side of the lake to the road. Gave a whole new perspective on the pond as well as a splendid view of the brick bridges. Best of all, the path went downhill and downhill was where my car was. Time to get back onto the road, though. Hmmm - someone has put a 10 foot wide river in here while I wasn't looking and I'm damned if I'm going to back track so I'll go round this way and see if there's another bridge (I'll save you the suspense - there isn't.) And now there is a sodding great 8' fence. Pretty easy to climb if I have to but probably not a good idea. So it's time to follow the fence to the knuckle-eating gate - 200 vertical feet above and into the wind. But first, cross this little foot wide stream. Should have learned at Lake Lure - now I have one squelchy shoe but at least I got across the stream. And, from said gate, it's downhill all the way to the sanctuary of the car.
Having overdone it just a touch, I felt I deserved a bath when I got home. It's probably the first bath I've had in 3 years but it was most refreshing to have a good scrub at the body parts I really can't get at in the shower like the soles of my feet. Taking the wireless speaker into the bathroom with me was a good move, too - nothing quite as relaxing as a bath to the tune of XM Radio's classical channel. Handel's Water Music would have been too much to ask for: instead I got a symphony by someone I've never heard of who had bought a job lot of triplets he wanted to unload, a Beethoven piano sonata and the start of Tchaikovski's 4th symphony by which time the bath was getting a bit tepid. So out I hopped and, being house trained, gave the bath a good scrub to remove the grime I'd plastered it with. Along with, I noticed as I toweled off, a large amount of leg hair.
The sparse leg hair has created an interesting effect in my track pants - the remaining hairs now get trapped in the material, giving the most disconcerting sensation of having pooped myself.
Enough adventure for one day - I think I'll just sit here and watch the birds for a while.
No I won't - the new memory card for my Raspberry Pi has arrived in the mail along with a survey from a republican group wanting my opinion on #45 and a summary of how much I'd have shelled out in November and December if I hadn't had health insurance. Makes me glad that Medicare exists and wonder why the republican party exists.
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