Date: 2007-09-07
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Miles today: 0.0

July 23, 2007 through September 7, 2007¢Give To Me the Life I Love¢ Robert Louis StevensonLet the blow fall soon or late,Let what will be o¢er meGive the face of earth around,And the road before me.Wealth I ask not, hope nor love,Nor a friend to know me;All I seek, the heaven aboveAnd the road below me.My sentiments exactly? No. Like Stevenson I need big doses of outdoor solitude walking a trail or road, but I also need what Stevenson spurns, enough wealth to keep panic at bay, friends, hope and love.Laid up with the ankle, I¢m supported financially by health insurance through my old employer, (thank you Mother Mutual), medically by orthopedist and physical therapist, and emotionally by family and friends who keep in touch, giving hugs and encouragement in person, by email and phone and cards. Family and friends who come to stay with me at the Farm, invite me into their homes, feed me, spend some of their precious hiking time off trail with me, invite me to share lodging with them in trail towns. I'm overwhelmed and grateful. My sister Ruthie surprises me with 5 color-coordinated zippered tote bags to organize all the stuff I carry in the Element. Each bag is decorated with a glue-on fabric label and fabric suggestive of the contents. They are labeled CROCS (of course), COFFEE (I carry sugar, ground decaf coffee ¢ Dunkin Donuts when I can find it, filters, filter-holder, small European electric kettle and 20-oz cup. Like Memere, real cream is a staple I always have in the cooler.), RAIN GEAR, BOOKS and MAPS. I can¢t wait to be living in the Element again, those colorful bags providing cheery finishing touches to its gray-walled interior. I hope you don¢t mind that I¢m posting pictures of these, Ruthie, thank you!Some wonderful people I spent several days with in June at Bears Den give me a beautiful AT tee-shirt, the AT logo silk-screened these names: Sarah, Stephanie, Inez, Kevin, Lamar, Amy, Susan, Haven, Ken, Amy, Hannah, Peggy, Hannah, Kalah and Steve. Thank you, all of you. People who know how important it is to my psyche to be on the giving end of things and to feel useful, accept what I can offer. While right now I can¢t be a hiking partner, I can do a little trail magic. Thank you to the friends, you know who you are, who humor me, letting me do a little something. I love you.   Laid up with the ankle, I have time to read. A couple books off my college summer reading list. Harry Potter. I discover a book I haven¢t yet read written by Haruki Murakami, my favorite author. Laid up with the ankle, what¢s this? In no time at all, I¢m a blob, girdled in soft layers of new fat, muscle gone. How does this happen so fast? Earlier this year, Memere and Gray Feathers and I planned to hike from Stratton to Monson, starting in mid-September. For that to happen, a lot that has to fall in place. Some I can control, some I can¢t. Resolve to work on those things I can control, and hope for the best about the other stuff.Tom, my physical therapist, reduces the swelling in and around my ankle with massage, ice, electro-stim. I have minimal pain, but there¢s a lot of work to do to regain strength and mobility and lost confidence. Tom has me walking 200 steps on my heels. Balancing for a couple minutes on my left leg, flamingo-style, first on the floor, then on a foam cushion, finally on a bouncy half-sphere, a Bosu ball I think he calls it. August 20, I start working out every day at the Y, weight-training machines and the treadmill. Slowly some of the flab is giving way to muscle.Exercising at the Y and watching what I¢m eating is interrupted by a week of fun-filled days at the Farm, 6 days with the indefatigable Pipesmoke and Mrs Smoke and 4 with one of my best friends, Queen Diva. August 31 is the official Big Day. Queen Diva¢s 42nd birthday! Not that she hasn¢t already been celebrating. Festivities honoring her birthday began a few weeks ago in Tennessee. At the farm, Queen Diva¢s been smitten by a traditional game we play there, Rummy Royal. I want a birthday afternoon playing Rummy Royal, says The Queen. OK, say Mrs Smoke and I. Part of Rummy Royal is a poker game. You make your best poker hand out of, if three are playing, 13 cards. One hand, we see and raise a heady 6 times. Finally Mrs Smoke is called. Aces over Kings, Full House, says a smiling Mrs Smoke reaching for the pot. Not so fast, Mrs Smoke, say I, laying down 4 Jacks. Woo-hoo, I¢m avenging that excruciating loss to Mrs Smoke at cribbage.Sorry, Amoeba, says Queen Diva, claiming the pot with her Straight Flush. (See photo). Even before that hand, Queen Diva was already way ahead.Last year she almost beheads me with a golf cart, this year she takes all my money. It¢s dangerous competing with the Queen any time of year. On her birthday, well, watch out.Nice win, Lori.Ruthie, Nancy, Susie and Pete join Pipesmoke, Mrs Smoke and me for birthday dinner of shish kebabs, from-scratch chocolate cake made by Mrs Smoke and homemade vanilla ice cream cranked by Pipesmoke. There are cards and gifts and emails and voicemails and phone calls from Queen Diva¢s family and many friends. Sept 1 we¢re still celebrating birthday #42 with a game of Extreme Croquet that includes The Queen, Pipesmoke, Mrs Smoke, Ruthie, Nancy, John, Joni, Russell, Susie, Pete, Josh and Aiko, the course so challenging it takes all morning to finish one game.Sept 2, I¢m back in Syracuse, working out hard at the Y. Great news!   Sept 7 I get the green light to hike on the FLT with Spinner Sept 8-10, and if that works out OK to hike the AT in Maine with Memere and Gray Feathers Sept 16-22. Sept 12 I get to be at The Cabin in Andover with Wisconsin Dave, Honey and Bear! I am so excited. From now on, the physical therapist tells me, when hiking I will always need to brace that ankle because stretched and torn ligaments don¢t recover. The brace fits fine in Crocs. Crocs?   I am safety conscious enough to carry hiking boots, well, at least for the first few days to see how it¢s going. Also, for safety reasons, Memere and Gray Feathers have agreed to put up with me all day every day! We¢ll hike together instead of key-swapping. I¢ll be skipping Avery Peak, which I hiked for the second time last year, joining Memere and Gray Feathers Sunday afternoon at the junction of the AT with the Safford Brook Trail.P.S. Special hello and congratulations to Blueskies, who finished her thruhike September 8, getting it all on the summit of Katahdin, extreme windgusts, completely fogged in, a nap behind a rock, clearing with views of the BLUE SKIES and beautiful surrounding areas, Maine definitely her favorite state on the AT, truly the way life should be.