Saturday, August 26, 2017

An August Saturday

 About a month ago, I saw a listing for the Blackberry Festival at the White Silo Winery. We've visited many times before and enjoyed the fruit wine. We returned last Saturday.

Before we went to the Winery, we walked the Still River Greenway. I had read about it here in The New York Times shortly after I saw the notice about the Festival. It seemed like a good idea to combine the two.

On the drive up, we hit a detour, so it took us an extra 20 minutes or so to make the 45 minute ride. Lola was thrilled to get out of the car.

We started at the end of the trail near the police station; my reasoning was that it would be easier to find the police station than a random parking lot. The downside was that we were close to Route 7 with all the traffic noise. It got quieter as we continued. We saw several people on bikes and a few walkers. We didn't think we had enough time to walk the whole Greenway and make it to the winery. We walked one loop for about 35 minutes.

Dogs are no longer allowed in the tasting room at White Silo, so Lola and I secured a table outside. Jeff went in and got blackberry sangria, chips and hummus, and quinoa cakes with blackberry salsa. Unfortunately for Jeff, the quinoa cakes had cilantro in them--he's allergic--so Lola and I split them. As we ate and drank, we listened to singers and guitar players.

On our last visit we found a trail leading from the outdoor patio.



We weren't sure how long the trail was. On Saturday, we agreed to walk for 15 minutes and then return. Here are a few of the sights. 



It was humid and buggy, and a real hike: up an down hills, walking across tree roots, fallen logs and rocks.

We decided to have another glass of wine. Jeff bought a bottle of raspberry wine and had it opened. We took the rest home. We relaxed, listened to more music, but left when Lola got agitated. 

Overall, a nice summer day. 

Friday, August 18, 2017

Getting Back on the Horse

That is, posting on this blog. It's not the best analogy. I haven't had an experience comparable to falling off the horse.

It's been five weeks since my last post. It's not that I had nothing to say. It's not that I didn't have time. Time just gets away from us. I prioritized other things over posting, journaling and working out.

I taught a SAT class in July; ten classes and four tests. I hadn't taught a SAT class since last July. I did a lot of review for this class (one of the missed opportunities in June.) Before the SAT class ended, an ACT class started. Then I got two tutoring students, then another two.

I'm not complaining--I need and want work--but this kind of work requires several adjustments--from test-to-test, from morning-to-evening classes. I never really got into the morning class schedule because it ended after just three-and-a-half weeks. It's the same thing with the evening class. I have two sessions left and I'm glad. I don't like evening classes--they mess up my dinner and sleep schedules.

I've been thinking about the things that I haven't done in the past month-and-a-half: blogging, working out--at least I've walked a lot with Lola. I made her a priority after teaching/tutoring and associated prep. I've barely journaled. I've done minimal cleaning. (To be honest, I don't think I've ever done maximum cleaning.)

Summer's Almost Gone. I didn't even make my summer fun list. I guess I can work on last year's.

So, here I am, trying to figure things out. Let's see how it goes from here.