Cross country hiking

A mixed day - some frustrations over social plans gone awry, which meant a fair bit of time-wasting, but that's just life sometimes. At least both C & J each spent some time with friends.

On the upside, I managed to get in a hike at Pineridge. This is where we used to go cross country skiing. I had driven there many times but never in the summer - but I still managed to find my way there, despite the scenery looking completely different to how it is in winter. The trails, too, of course looked very different. The grass was long in places underfoot, so I tucked my trousers in my socks (against poison ivy and ticks). Hiking the trails, though generally slower than skiing, was much easier up hills and lacked the embarrassment of falling over.

In the evening, while J was running around on a dark field with his mates playing manhunt (hide and seek for teenagers) I caught up with a politically active friend, E, and her family. Of course there was plenty to talk about, but beyond the inevitable hair-on-fire conversation re the present incumbent of the White House, it was also good to chat about the kids and to learn that their son (C's contemporary, and a hugely tall and talented pitcher) is set to get a baseball scholarship for university.