Training Log Archive: bl

Nottingcook with Beth & Willow. Farewell August to the merry-go-round:

12 months
January is bright and white,
February lingers but ends with longer light.
March, tis said, roars in, but by end is largely dead.
April lifts her skirts and too soon runs away.
Along comes May but she won’t stay.
Soon there’ll be June but who knows her tune.
July can’t be a lie, just look around.
August indeed is august in the aging year.
Of September, many songs feature “remember”.
Of October, the year in flame is her game.
Dark November is always sad to remember.
And December, at year’s depth, is beyond remember.

With Willow. NW breezy, cool, dry. Downright windy at top. Met a Bob & his labradoodle Bella. The dogs had a good go round. What a fine day, August about to pass.

With Willow after a lot of rain.

PT at Prescott Park in Portsmouth. Spent night on the boat.

C • How many .... 2

With Beth & W. at WTF. Started up snowmobile trail which climbed alot - & then down. And where was it going...ended contouring along bottom, returning to parking & using the road. W. had a ball getting dirty in the puddles.

In Nttingcook with W. Didn't have Strava. Good walk, early, cool. Came upon two new MTB trails in the woods. Big no - no given town of Bow trails committee etc. MTBer's need the new, flashy and exciting. This trail had a banked curve that was particularly galling.

Back to the morning trails but from the end of Hope La. Found more than before, seemingly all for mountain biking. A lot of work was put into their construction.

Hammond NP, Eagle Tr and Life Tr. with Beth and Willow - overcast, cool enough, no bugs. 3 bikers and their dog pssed us on the field, Beth put W on a leash. They disappear, I figure it's ok to take her off. 10" later off she flies to catchup to the dog-bikers, disappearing around a wrinkle in the tree line. Less than another 10" later, a lone lady runner comes from exactly that point of disappearance with W now backtracking full speed to play with her. Good luck!

At brush dump with Willow around 6pm. Cut short by line of dark cloud delivering wind and rain which was fun to observe evolving.

In Nttingcook with W. Didn't have Strava. Good walk, early, cool. Came upon two new MTB trails in the woods. Big no - no given town of Bow trails committee etc. MTBer's need the new, flashy and exciting. This trail had a banked curve that was particularly galling.

Walk across Nottingcook from Great Hill w/ W. As fine a morning as we've had all summer, bright, dry, cool. Not one bug. Took it in stride - most was on snow mobile paths.

at the brush dump with Willow interspersed with retrieving the ball.

Great Hill with W. Dry, sunny, late start, some breeze at top. Yellow and brown leaves in the trees and on the path. Met two ladies about my age, chatted for awhile - they were charmed by Willow.

Visit to Madison, NH to see Madison Boulder, known as the biggest glacial erratic in North America. It was nice to get away from home base, seeing some of the North Country towns. Stopped at Tuthills' coming home.

Great Hill with W. Gray, drizzly, cool - a treat. Fun to come back a different way. Trails I mapped in '06-7, not used then and not since. Still navigable for the most part.

Two days, good stuff for balance, not taken for granted.

With Beth and Willow, 6pm - finally cooled sufficiently. 4th day around 90F. Generally in shade with a nice breeze. A good deep summer walk w/o insects. Incorporated PT as I went along.

After yesterday's FF visit, I had to find a copy of the map. Found two, printing was April-Sept.,1998. Of course, the walk we took would have been trivial in terms of where we were versus the forest service map we got at the kiosk. What fun to look at an orienteering map with all its "knowledge".

The biggest surprise was seeing that the Gearry cemetery which we came upon as we reached Concord End Road (and had a sure fix as to where we were on the walk - there'd been a bunch of guessing) was the very center of the April, 2000 Billy Goat start triangle. A random walk, a random encounter. I'd been thinking the start may have been on Jones Rd but could see that was too far a walk from headquarters. Memory reminds me (and map shows it) we entered the woods there for #4 & 5.

Yesterday's walk is overdrawn in green. At the northernmost point of it is the cemetery. A close look reveals the BG start triangle from 20 years ago.

C • cemetery 2

Fox Forest - it had been years and was a walk back thru time. Parked at headquarters. We took Ridge Tr., to Valley Road and back on Concord End Rd. Attended so many O events there then came logging and the park went out of favor.

Dove north thru East Washington, onto Bradford, 89 and home. A lovely summer evening in yellow, green and blue.

Concentrated more than usual, behind Bow CC which has become a new place for grass and shade and little used.

Carlisle Cranberry Bog w/ Beth coming back fm New Bedford. Brief visit at the bog, walked into the past to the point where we once threw the ball for Devon and Paddington, some 35 years ago. Change of course but recognizable. Also, again looking at 251 Fiske as I did a bit more than 2 months ago coming back from Roslindale.

NB expectations dampened by Isiasis. We'd gone to see Doug & Helen on Sunday with expectation of a sail on Buzzards bay, maybe to the Vineyard even. Yesterday was a fine day but the mentality was prepare for wind. Great to be aboard in any event. Visited Jim and Colleen first. Such forays include exposure to the the 'Coronasphere'. Caution, if not thrown to the wind, is compromised in ways unforeseen-unexpected.

Per goes back more than thirty years, maybe even to forty. We were casual friends, he living in NC, me living in Massachusetts. His being a half generation older meant we competed on different courses as well. Per was involved in orienteering at a national and even international level, my involvement was with a few local Boston-area clubs. I left orienteering from 1984-1991, formative years for the sport.

Wherever there was an O meet on the eastern seaboard, it was likely Per would be there. He’d come in a rented car, stay at a motel, socialize and be gone. In those days, he was working for Ciba-Geigy in an environment affairs directorship position and living in North Carolina but his work demanded travel.

In later years, he lived in New Hampshire which became my state as well. At one time, I worked in New London and visited him at his home there. At some point in time, also long ago, Beth and I (with Jim and Mil Plant of NEOC) visited Per and Eva at their beloved blueberry farm in Maine.

A few years ago, I learned from his son Per Olla that Per was in assisted living in Concord, right next door to us. I visited him on several occasions the second half of 2018 and the first part of 2019. I would usually take O maps and related magazines and photographs to engage his memory. On my last few visits, he didn’t know who I was but on one when I showed him the WOC ’93 map and related old photos, he lit up. It was a particularly nice visit, reminiscing about mutual orienteering history Per didn’t really recall but had a feeling for, enough so that it brought tears to his eyes, on which he commented.

The last time I went, Per looked at me with no sign of recognition.

“Memorabilia”

It could be said ‘Heaven’ is the woods, with map and compass for guidance.

"See you in the woods, Per".

August 1st...Great Hill traverse if it may be called that - hardly great but new. Beth (with Roo) dropped Willow and me off and then drove to the WH side to pick me up. I was wary that W might return to trail head start since Beth wouldn't let Roo accompany us. I thought I was far enough along the trail (some 200m), let W off the leash and in 5 seconds, she was off, back to trail head. I've never really been angry at W but was then. No Beth, Roo or car back at start W was to learn. I set her straight and we then had a good traverse. The south side, a proper trail and the north, open and selectively logged woods - nothing like 2006-7 when I first became acquainted with that side. Cut trees and get "weeds" and then wait 25-50 or more years for palatable or better forest.

C • Palatable 3