Happy New Year! As I’m sure I’ve mentioned in my last column of previous years, I want nothing to do with New Year’s Eve parties or staying up several hours past my bedtime to make sure the new year really does arrive. As I’m sure I’ve also mentioned, however, I do love the concept of each new year as a chance to begin anew and try to do a few things better, or at least differently
As I’m writing this on Sunday, I still have a few days to think about what my new year’s resolutions for 2022 will be, but I’m sure they will include the usual promises to myself about exercise, healthy eating, and becoming more organized. Who else is making resolutions?
On this day after Christmas, I’ve just returned from one of the longer hikes I’ve taken recently. Will, Eli the Wonder Pup, and I decided to hike the Long Mountain trail, off Vernon Street this afternoon. It was our first time up since the opening of the new trail that loops around the summit, which adds a little over a mile to the previous up-and-back hike to the South Ledge, making it a nearly six-mile round trip.
The new section of trail continues on from the South Ledge and leads to the North Ledge, and a great view we had never seen before. Even better, although it had been cloudy all day, there was a glorious orange sunset, visible through the bare hardwood trees, as we hiked down from the North Ledge. Even though we were a little nervous about getting back to the car before dark, we couldn’t help stopping every few hundred yards to admire the brilliant color in the sky and the way it was reflecting on the fresh snow, turning it into orange sherbet all along the trail.
Our round-trip took two hours and 45 minutes, and we made it back to the car about a half-hour after sunset, just before it got too dark for me to feel completely comfortable in the woods. I did have my trusty headlamp in my backpack, but I didn’t quite need it.
We spent Friday afternoon and evening in Portland with eldest daughter, Katie, and granddaughter, Lila. Tony has established a tradition of reading “The Night Before Christmas” to Lila each year on Christmas Eve, and this was the first year that he finally got to read it in person, instead of via FaceTime. She opened her gifts from us and was gratifyingly excited about the Elsa dress I had made, as well as matching flannel pajamas with hedgehogs on them for her and her two favorite dolls.
Tony has been talking with Lila about tapping our maple trees and making maple syrup in the spring, so he put together a themed gift of maple syrup (not our own yet, but some from Velvet Hollow Sugarworks at the Dunham Farm, right here in Greenwood), pancake mix, and a couple of picture books about grandpas and their grandchildren making syrup together.
If you have events you’d like listed here, or news to share, please contact me at amy.w.chapman@gmail.com or call 207-890-4812.
“What the new year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the new year.” – Vern McLellan
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