Roots, Rocks & Renewal

The rocks and roots will be evident as you scan through the photos today. The renewal comes from all of the leaves on the ground.

Nature seems to abhor waste, so it is no surprise that though leaves may fall to earth, they still have not outlasted their ecological role. As they decompose, their nutrients trickle into the soil and feed future generations of plant and animal life. Quite likely, fallen leaves are a key factor in the survival not only of trees, but of forests as a whole.

With their leaves gone, the trees are ready to take on winter’s slings and arrows. Naturalist Henry David Thoreau imagined it this way in his journal entry for October 29, 1858: “Nature now, like an athlete, begins to strip herself in earnest for her contest with her great antagonist Winter. In the bare trees and twigs what a display of muscle.” Thoreau had much to say about nature. Unfortunately, he worshipped nature over the God who created it. 

 Enough about all that. I’m going to note some things about our little cabin for memory’s sake. 

The upper bunk is very difficult to get in and out and impossible to sit up as it’s so close to the ceiling. There is a small hot water tank for each cabin and it does NOT get hot, hence a cold shower. The bathroom is tiny with toilet and shower. You must use the kitchen sink for all hand washing, teeth brushing, etc. There is no hairdryer and they don’t have any in the office. There is a tiny mirror hanging in one of the kitchen cabinets well above my head but it’s removable so I could at least take it out and use it. There is no place to put your luggage so we had to use the table and bench seat for our two bags. Speaking of bags, we had to schlep them up a rocky hill to the cabin. 

Now for the positives. The location was lovely. I mean who wouldn’t want to wake to a view like we had. It was very quiet and peaceful. They provided nice amenities such as the s’mores kit, firewood and starter, chips and crackers, and all the coffee, tea and hot cocoa you want. It was very clean and had a full set of dishes, pots and pans. The hosts were very attentive and reached out several times to see if we needed anything. 

See the little mirror?

One final photo of the place before we leave. Jo Anne’s maple syrup purchase. 

We stopped at Olive Oyls for another breakfast of champions this morning. It’s a very eclectic little eatery and shop. Most of their business is Illy coffee and carry out but they do have a few little spots to dine in. 

The cafe is in an old gas station. 

I had to take a photo of the Pegasus since I used to work for Mobil. 

Jo Anne took some photos of fall leaves and this beautiful fall planter. 

Jo Anne had a blueberry muffin and a pumpkin raisin scone. 

I had the maple pecan pastry and the pumpkin raisin scone. Since we arrived at the cafe about five minutes after they opened, everything was warm, fresh out of the oven and melt in your mouth. Can’t really even describe how good it was. 

Next stop was the steam train in Essex. Unfortunately it stopped running last week, until it starts up again for Christmas so we couldn’t go for a ride on it. 

I wonder if you’ve ever seen porta potties like these. I sure haven’t. 

Amazing!!!

The train depot and cafe. Notice the witch on top of the weather vane. 

Steam engine 

Now for all the rocks and roots and renewal pics. We stopped at the Timberland Preserve for a hike. 

The Town of Guilford acquired the 600 acre Timberland Preserve in 1975 and the forest is managed primarily for wildlife habitat, nature-based recreation and education. Comprised of a

mixed upland forest, the Preserve offers access to the beautiful Iron Stream, a cool, high-quality trout stream and the headwater for the East River.

Timberland is part of a large expanse of forest, relatively unfragmented by paved roads or development. This greenway provides ample habitat for fisher and warblers, veery, wood thrush and other forest nesting Steam engine 

Now for all the rocks and roots and renewal pics. We stopped at the Timberland Preserve for a hike. 

The Town of Guilford acquired the 600 acre Timberland Preserve in 1975 and the forest is managed primarily for wildlife habitat, nature-based recreation and education. Comprised of a

mixed upland forest, the Preserve offers access to the beautiful Iron Stream, a cool, high-quality trout stream and the headwater for the East River.

Timberland is part of a large expanse of forest, relatively unfragmented by paved roads or development. This greenway provides ample habitat for fisher and warblers, veery, wood thrush and other forest nesting birds.

With over 15 miles of marked trails, including the New England Trail and a tree identification trail, there are many opportunities to explore this naturally rich and unique property.

Lichen covered log

Rocks rocks and more rocks 

Hairy horse weed 

Yes I made Jo Anne climb up there for a photo. 

You’ll notice that most of the leaves today are on the ground. We had a heavy rain last night and then the wind hit so it pretty much cleared the trees of leaves. 

 

A family of ducks 

Roots roots and more roots

Upper Guilford Lake. 

And more roots 

And rocks

The dam at upper Guilford Lake

Pachysandra

Just brilliant color

We saw these little pumpkins over the doors of many houses. 

More burning bush. 

We stopped at the Main Street Cafe for a mug of butternut squash soup. I would love to know how they made it because it was delicious. We could recognize sage and fennel but not sure of the other flavors. We saw the sign for the cafe and pulled into the parking lot only to find no parks and had many people trying to enter the tiny parking lot. We actually parked at the gas station next door. 

Shortly after that we visited Sweet Claude’s creamery for an ice cream. 

Jo Anne had pumpkin and I had coconut cream. Yummm!

We are headed to our first of three cooking classes while in Connecticut. It will be a late night so I’m going to go ahead and post this and then work on the cooking class post tomorrow.