According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the autumnal equinox brings the fall season to the northern hemisphere tonight at 10:29 pm EDT. (Meanwhile as I write this on Sunday, it is nearly 80 degrees outside.) On Saturday, when we started our hike, it was a brisk 42 degrees. Fall, much like its pal on the opposite side of the calendar, Spring, can’t seem to figure out who it wants to be. Cold? Hot? Rainy? Dry? I can relate to Fall’s inability to decide who or what it really wants to be.
On Saturday, Derek completed his checklist of the Belknap mountain range by reaching the summits of Whiteface and Piper. This means he gets to send in said checklist, along with a check for $5 and in return he will receive a patch. Could he have lied and skipped a few peaks? Sure. But if you know Derek, that’s just not his style. I joined him on the hike and as you’ll see in the photos below, it was a bit of a gloomy day, but the views were still quite nice. I am no where near finishing my checklist–to be fair, I don’t really have one–and will likely live out the rest of my days without the satisfaction of possessing a patch that says I’ve hiked all the Belknaps. I have other priorities, like summoning the necessary will power to not eat all of the chocolate chip cookies that Derek made on Saturday night.
We also went to the grocery store and bought provisions for the week and supplies to make chicken tortilla soup for dinner. And we rented Captain America: The Winter Soldier, so all in all it was a pretty sweet night. Sunday was not photo worthy as it involved homework, vacuuming and steam cleaning the floors. Which reminds me there are still some cookies left and I deserve to eat more since I cleaned all those surfaces.
The Derek Janiak Hepatobiliary Forum 