jimsjournal

In the Catskills -- 10/21/02

No, I'm not in the Catskills today... My department at work is moving from the second floor down to the first floor in about two and a half weeks so I am busy packing up stuff in my desk, etc. in preparation for the move. (I've got to do as much as I can this week because I'm going to be in Dallas next week.) Among the stuff in my desk were some pictures taken when my daughter and I hiked to the top of Wittenberg Mt. in the summer of '98. This picture, taken from the top is looking down on another mountain (don't remember which one). The water you see is the Ashokan Reservoir, one of New York City's prime sources of water. The view just goes on and on for miles and miles.

Actually, the mountain pictures were in a drawer, but this picture of my daughter was in a collection of photographs on the wall of my cube above my monitor. She had red hair that summer; as long-time readers know, her hair can be (and has been) red (anything from auburn to ManicPanic bright red), blue, green, brown, blonde. (This month it is blue; this past summer it was blonde.)

She was only sixteen when we hiked this mountain; now she's twenty. (Yes, time does fly!)

As you can see from the picture, it was not all hiking on trails... there were spots where we really were climbing more than hiking... she's not posing on rocks at the side of the trail, that is the trail.

I had gone out yesterday (Sunday) to take some fall foliage pictures. It is definitely looking like autumn around here, although there is still more green to be seen than reds and yellows. I've been wanting to take some pictures of the Saugatucket River, especially where it cuts through Wakefield

I did get some pictures and took them into CVS for one hour processing so I could scan them and put up an entry last night. The colors came out weird, I mean really strange. I fiddled with them until it was time for Sopranos and then gave up. I think I'm going to go back and tell them to take the negatives and make me new prints because the ones they did on Sunday are no good. (Yeah, I know, I really need to get a good digital camera. Never fear... I have heard that Santa Claus might bring one.) Well, anyway, while we are looking at the Catskill Mountains, here's one of the Old Man of the Mountain.

Hmmm, I'm only fifty-five in that picture. Ah, my younger days!

We hiked to the top of Slide Mountain (the highest in the Catskills, 200 feet higher than neighboring Wittenberg) two years later with two of her friends. That was not quite as successful a hike because her friends were not in shape for it. Fortunately it was an easier trail (and shorter) because her friends could never have made it otherwise. I'm hoping Jennifer and I can get a chance for another good hike next summer, either in the Catskills again or maybe up in Vermont or New Hampshire.

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