Monday: A nice dance in Nelson. I feel at home there,
even though it was only, what, my third visit? Great folks,
relaxed but energetic. It was a bit strange that night because the town
officials had set up voting booths for Tuesday's state primaries. Luckily,
the turn-out was small enough to accommodate.
I said goodbye to folks there, since I might not make it back on this
sweep around America, and particularly thanked Don Primrose for the
an interesting dance that he and Lisa Sieverts run.
Here's an article
about the Nelson dance that does a good job of explaining its mystique.
Tuesday I had planned to climb Mt. Monadnock, but it rained, so I did chores
and started reading a Stephen King novel :-)
- Wednesday it took longer than I expected to de-camp from Danny's house, so it was
early afternoon by the time I got to the base of Mt. Monadnock. The park ranger suggested
that I take the White Dot trail - and be willing to stop and turn back at the halfway point,
since I wanted to be to Needham by 4 PM. It was a great hike - not a walk. Photos are in three sets:
going up, at my personal summit, and
on the way down. The last set is sparse due to (1) tired, (2) camera
moved from pocket to backpack to keep it safe while I slid, and (3) it was the same path!
From there I drove to Needham to visit with a friend from my days at MITRE.
I got to do a little math with his son Chris, who showed me an interesting argument as to why pi is
equal to four... giving my brain something to munch on the next time I take a long drive. Then Dave and I
had supper at Legal Seafoods - ah, great clam chowder and excellent rainbow trout - followed by hours
of good talking. It was interesting to spend time with someone who knew me so long ago. It somehow
brings a different perspective to what's happened in the years in between.
Thursday I drove to Concord, thinking I would walk around Walden Pond,
but the late-night talking and five-dollar charge to park made me decide that napping was
a better idea. The guy who did not get my five dollars was interested in my camper,
so we chatted awhile. He's a musician whose dream trip would be different from mine,
but he understood the urge, so he told me about a good place
near-by with two hour parking, where I could hike back to the Pond if I decided to.
It was nice and shady, across the street from the high school, and the nap is delicious.
I woke up in time to download some photos from my camera to my Mac, drive into town, grab some supper
and get to the Concord Free Library to do some web business... and still get to the dance
on time.
This is the dance that felt like home the first time I showed up.
Dan Perleman called interesting dances and the band was good - but, most importantly,
the dancers were strong and smooth.
Vic and Nell, who I met at Pinewoods, offered me their driveway for the night, so
the short drive to Lexington was followed by an excellent sleep.
Friday I'm at the library in Lexington creating this page (ah, I do
love self-referencing :-)... but it's time to get on the road to beat the weekend traffic
to Cape Cod.
The weekend was spent back at Pinewoods Camp, near Plymouth, Massachusetts,
helping to "close it down" for the winter. Hard work, but good food and interesting people - and more time in the lake!
Pictures here.
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