Timing really is everything.
It had been a long time since we last caught sight of Scooter, the disabled groundhog.
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Because she has to drag her back end, Scooter leaves a distinct trail and I thought I saw it recently, but one tells oneself what one needs to, so I couldn’t be sure.
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The drag mark suggested Scooter had moved to the burrow behind the garage.
Coming home yesterday afternoon, we shot off on a side road for no particular reason with the result that we arrived home just as Scooter was crossing the driveway.
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She rushed off double quick when she saw us, but she was soon back for some carrot.
Knowing that Scooter is alive and doing well made our day.
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Before I move on, I’m going to take you back to Saturday when suddenly, I was advised that we must be in Fort Edward at 3.30.
Alright then.
Why not?
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Grant had spotted an item he required on the Facebook market place, so we had to go and fetch it.
Fort Edward is a mere half hour’s drive and it was another of those brilliant days.
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As I’ve mentioned before, we don’t tend to go out in the afternoon unless there is a specific reason, but every time we do we say we must make a point of it.
Things look entirely different at that time of day.
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As ever, I took a lot of photographs.
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Heading due north.
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Yes, more sky.
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And trees.
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Champlain Canal parallels the Hudson.
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What’s not to love about a drive on such a brilliant afternoon?
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Fort Edward train station.
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As is our way, we arrived early but the sky kept me entertained while we waited.
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Before long, the transaction complete, we started for home.
You thought this was to be a quick trip?
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Perhaps we’ll be home by Friday.
If I leave out 85% of the images.
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The sky was doing wispy things with clouds and contrails, like a watercolour.
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Coming back from Fort Edward we like to take a cross-country route which is very scenic.
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It’s a place of quite mixed fortunes living almost cheek by jowl.
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It’s nice to know that part of the land is dedicated to the preservation of raptors.
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A short walkway leads to a lookout and there is a hiking path.
A wonderful place to walk a dog.
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This is the sort of place where you can forget all your troubles.
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Contemplating the vastness of the sky and what is beyond, one gains a sense of how minute we are, how insignificant.
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Should recognising one’s insignificance make you feel better? No, but it offers perspective.
As I used tell myself, 100 years from now my problems won’t matter at all.
These days 20 years ought to do it. Realistically.
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An old barn is part of the preserve.
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We set off again, hoping to find Summit Lake.
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Summit? The land is flat.
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Well not entirely and in these parts we called hills mountains.
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Some of our hills are actually quite steep.
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You drive along in this seemingly flat land and suddenly find yourself descending rapidly from a height you were not aware you’d achieved.
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In Argyle we turned south.
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The descending Sun was casting long shadows from our right, which painted a whole different set of pictures.
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Look! We were climbing up to that summit!
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They may not look like much, but those are the Green Mountains.
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Empty fields and still-naked trees may seem stark.
For me it has the serene beauty of simplicity.
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An avenue of lovely shag-barks.
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Now I shall abandon you, on final approach to the summit as I wouldn’t want you to be too exhausted to enjoy the lake!
When we get there.
What a beautiful day for an afternoon drive! You captured it well.
Hooray for Scooter! I was actually really worried about her. Happy to see her enjoying carrots.
Best wishes, Pete.
Thank you for sharing these beautiful photos of your afternoon travels.
So fun to go along for the ride!
Catherine
Glad Scooter is doing well and enjoying her carrots. 🙂
Great news about Scooter!
Yay! Scooter
Ah, seeing Scooter just brightened my day! She looked so happy with the carrot pinned between her front legs. The road to (and from) Fort Edward certainly offered heaps of photo opportunities – I can see why you enjoyed this trip so much! Hills and mountains – we have the same ‘situation’ here in SA. In the Free State province the landscape is very flat with a ‘koppie’ (hill) appearing every now and then … but the people in the Free State call these ‘koppies’ their mountains! I wonder what they say when they see Table Mountain 🙂.