if you're sleeping and you know it clap your hands!

i don't have kids that say funny things, but i do have ben. he says funny things when he's awake, but even funnier things when he *thinks* he's awake.

lately, i've been staying up with the lamp on to read so i've been wide awake for these encounters. ben claims it's comforting to fall asleep with the light on, but i wonder if he doesn't sleep quite as well because he seems to sleep more "actively" when it's light. on this particular night, a while after he'd fallen asleep, ben lifted his head off the pillow a few inches and raised his arm straight in the air, moving it from side to side.

a: what are you doing?

b: mbfflmbelmmbbbffflelm

a: what?

b: i'm just making sure none of this stuff slides around.

a: oh. are you awake?*

b: <chuckles as if this is a silly question and nods assuredly>

a. where are you?

b: at the firm.

a: <very much amused> honey, we're in bed. there's nothing up there but air. are you sure you're awake?

b: <again, laughs as if this is a silly quesiton, rolls over and settles deeper into sleep>

a few weeks before that, he tried to steal my covers, claiming he "needed the documents." 

riiiiiight.

*it took me a while to learn that he will always answer "yes" when asked if he's awake, but i still ask anyway.

tree for sale

i'm trying to grow herbs in my windowsill. my basil is actually doing very well. but my cilantro died. and then this sprang up in its place. at first i thought it was resurrected cilantro, but as it got bigger, i realized it was...not.

anybody want a tree? or a weed? or some cilantro masquerading as a tree or a weed?

all that jazz

my good friends mary mo and brandon came back to dc for a visit and wanted to go to jazz in the garden. ben and i were happy to oblige. the concerts have grown so popular that the sculpture garden, where the bands actually play, is usually full by the time the program starts.

so we went across the street to the national mall, where we had a nice view of the silver tree ("graft" by roxy paine) and the national archives and could still hear the musical stylings of the great time jazz band without bursting our eardrums or going bum-numb sitting on the concrete.

we rounded out the evening - and our bellies - with some chopp'd salads and rita's custard. glad we could see you, mary and brandon! touch hands...

rescue me - part 2

what happened to part 1, you ask? well, it's here. why didn't you see it before?  because i hadn't posted it yet. i have this thing about chronology...

so anyway, here we are, dangling from trees, putting our skills learned on the ground to use in the air. we learned how to rappel down, then how to climb back up, then how to rappel past a knot in the rope.

tali

steven, kim and tali

the other ben

the other ben and tali

annie and ben, sittin in a tree...

look to the cookie!

because sometimes it's just too hard to decide what to make.

recipe

quotables

"my body runs on circulating blood; yours runs on gumdrops and fairies."

~ben, commenting on why he was warm and annie was cold after lunch.

133.6 - part 2

day 10

2 hikers hiked 9.4 miles to cheshire, ma

2 hikers consumed 3 mini hot dogs and

2 vanilla milkshakes and

2 sodas and

2 gatorades in

1 sitting and that was only

2nd breakfast

***then***

1 hiker took 2 buses to canaan, ct, then

1 shuttle to kent to pick up previously dropped car, then drove

1 car to meet aforementioned hikers in cheshire

***then***

3 hikers hike 4.9 miles out of town and shared

2 campsites and

1 shelter with

>14 people, including

~ 5 unruly boy scouts.

that's memorial day weekend for ya.

after stumbling out of the woods into cheshire about an hour earlier than anticipated, encountering several incredibly nice people (one guy leaned out of his truck and welcomed us to cheshire as he drove by), i decided chesire was the nicest town on the trail and i wanted to stay there forever.

the first time i hiked a section with my dad, our trail names were calvin and hobbes. those were some of the few names of duos we could think of that weren't remotely romantically involved and/or creepy. but people still constantly asked us if we were dating.

so the next section we hiked together, we came up with homer and lisa, from the simpsons. when ben joined us, we became homer, lisa and millhouse. except nobody asked us our trail names this time. boo.

to get to cheshire from dc, ben took an overnight bus to canaan, ct. then called a shuttle driver to take him to kent, where i'd left my car. then drove to meet us in cheshire. i think the whole trip took him 14 hours. luckily, most of that was bus ride, not driving.

then ben drove us to a convenience store so we could resupply. it's surreal riding in a car after being on the trail for so long. we got a little antsy as he headed out of town, thinking about how long it would take us to walk back.

day 11

11.4 miles

1 highest peak in massachusetts

1 moving memorial day program

1 ridiculously steep descent

1 awesomely nice guy who gave us

several quarts of water

on the summit of mt. greylock, was this really cool 3D map of the mountain and surrounding cities and trails.

we reached the summit just as this memorial day program was beginning.

the trail to the summit didn't seem to end. we'd cross a road, thinking we were there and then head back into the trees, only to cross the road a quarter mile later. turns out the road circles the mountain to the top. maybe next time we can take the bus...

the tent platform made it a little more difficult for us to set up our rain fly with proper ventillation, but was nice to have a flat smooth area for it's inaugural trip.

millhouse really enjoyed pumping water. at this site, we made our own little pool by creating a dam in a stream trickling across the trail to the campsite.

day 12

5.4 miles

1 shuttle rendezvous on

1 unmarked country road

1 drive back to cheshire

4 mini hot dogs consumed

1 sponge bath in a mcdonalds bathroom (when unoccupied by others)

1 10 hour drive from cheshire to dc (we took our time)

3 stops for food...and gas...oline

we made it to vermont! apparently, it's also the beginning of the "long trail" which follows the AT to main and then continues into canada.

after our rendezvous with the shuttle driver, who drove us back to cheshire, we celebrated our completion of the section with mini hot dogs and milkshakes at diane's twist, where dad and i ate while we waited for ben to meet us 3 days previously.

total trail miles hiked:

homer: 197.1 (gooooo freddo!)

lisa: 133.6

millhouse: 21.7

quotables

"i love you more than most inanimate objects."

~annie to ben in response to his query of loving him more than plastic hangers.

133.6 - part 1

133.6 what, you ask? that's the number of miles on the appalachian trail between kent, connecticut and a country road just after the vermont border.

day 1 -

1 323 mile drive

1 stop for gas and diet coke

2 stops for restroom breaks

1 car drop-off

11.1 miles slackpacked from kent, ct to cornwall bridge, ct

no ice cream was harmed in the taking of this photo.

i know it's annoying when people point out grammar and spelling mistakes, but i really think they spelled "benannie" wrong.

my knees no likey

looking back up what we just came down.

we so seldom get out of the trees on the trail that i always get camera happy.

although, on this trip, there were so many out-of-tree moments that i got sunburned on the trail for the first time ever.

day 2
1 11.2 miles to belter's campsite
inaugural use of the pocket rocket
cool campsite, but no tables or platforms, so we cooked on the ground, which was new for us. most AT sites have tent platforms or picnic tables. s'all good. we adjusted. and it was cool to hear the owls and know that rodents probably wouldn't get to our food!

day 3
2.8 miles to falls village
1 awesome brunch at
1 very cool cafe

8.3 miles to salisbury to stay with
1 kick n the pants
83 year old lady

stopping off at cool little cafes like this and eating lots of delicious breakfast makes it all worth it.

although, this was day 2 for me, so my hiker appetite hadn't kicked in yet and i only had an egg and veggie sandwich.

after breakfast and back on our way to salisbury.

taking a break at yet another, but not as high, summit in connecticut.

maria mccabe runs a hostel out of her home. she is a kick. 83 years young and never stops goin. she told us all about her life. she grew up in europe and actually witnessed - at age 16 -  mussolini and his mistress' execution by hanging. <shudder>

don't judge. our real clothes are in the wash.

day 4
11.6 miles to race brook falls
highest point in connecticut
crossing into massachusetts

in case you can't see it, "this monument marks the highest ground in connecticut. 2354 feet above the sea. built in 1985. owen travis. mason."

at least, i think that's what it says. i can't really see it.

the view from atop the monument

freddo and alfalfa on the highest point in connecticut

just before the massachusetts border, the trail ran along this creek and there were lots of waterfalls. bugs, too.

we had to cross this creek before the border and there was no way to do it without getting wet. trail like that led to our deep dislike of massachusetts.

massachusetts welcomed us, but we did not enjoy her. she was our least favorite part of the trail thus far. but we still had a really good time.

we did a lot of ridge walking this day, which contributed to my super-cool hiker tan.

looking back at the view into connecticut. this ridge was really cool and really made it feel like we were walking on the edge of the world in places. as we walked, three eagles (falcons? hawks?) swooped out from the ridge just yards from me. sadly, i couldn't get my camera out of it's protective sandwich baggie in time to capture them.

day 5
8.8 miles to great barrington
1 rainstorm
1 shuttle to comfort inn
1 walk to mcdonald's

i love me some stormy sky. makes for humid hiking (ick) but gorgeous pictures. not that this picture is gorgeous. just, you know, in general.
day 6
1 shuttle to beartown mountain road to slackpack
14.4 miles from beartown mountain road to great barrington
1 walk to mcdonald's
1 walk to grocery to resupply

the middle of the trip is always the hardest for me. everything starts to look the same (hence the lack of pictures), i'm tired and dirty and my feet hurt. so i kept telling myself, "just make it to dalton and then you get a shower AND there's only one more day till you get to see ben!" it's always good to have something to look forward to.

day 7
1 shuttle to beartown mountain road to hike
13.1 miles to upper goose pond cabin
1 caretaker who said
too many times to count, "oh just backtrack, it's only a mile and a half"
3 hilarious ladies
some other people
1 cabin
3 moldering privvies (moldering privvies are the best)
1 thunderstorm breaking AFTER arrival
3 very delicious blueberry pancakes consumed by yours truly

day 8
8.8 miles to october mountain shelter
many swampy puddles
1 very humid day

i love cairns.* there's a kind of modern-day stonehenge-y mystery to them - so obviously man-made, yet still so natural. i've always thought it's a much more beautiful way to mark a path than an arrow or the (necessary) ubiquitous white blaze that usually marks the trail. and it's easy to leave your mark without ruining nature - just add a stone to the pile.

this is one of the 3 lakes we could see from the highest point in connecticut. i swear we could see them for about 3 days.
day 9
11.8 miles to dalton
1 hiker very excited for a shower

total AT miles hiked so far...
freddo: 166.4 (he started in ny about 9 days before i did)
annie: 102.9

*i know. i dislike birds and love piles of rocks. go figure.