a fun afternoon

[asakiyume]

Yesterday, Wakanomori and I climbed Mt. Sugarloaf, a loaf-shaped little mountain overlooking the Connecticut River.

Here is the pretty view of the river that you're rewarded with:



Doesn't the river look like such a great way to travel? All smooth like that. And the sumac in the foreground are as close to palms as New England gets.

After doing all that climbing, we rewarded ourselves by going to a little place right down on the river that Waka had discovered the other day:



The rocks stretch out into the water, and in some places, the water right beside them is shallow and silty (walking there is a very strange feeling--unnervingly soft, and each footstep sends up sparkling clouds of the silt, and you can see your footprints underwater), and in some shallow and smooth-pebbly... and then in others deep! You could dive in.

There were two groups of people enjoying the water besides us--some were Spanish speakers and some were South Asian looking, and everyone was very, very friendly and very relaxed, and there was music and just general pleasantness. One guy was walking on a rock near the deep part, and I said, "You should dive in!"

"Only if you ask me to," he said, which I thought was terribly gallant for a guy in his twenties to say to someone his mother's age.

"Oh, I couldn't--only if you want to," I said.

"How can you disappoint me like this?" he exclaimed.

"Oh, well then--do it!" I said, and he obliged, and came bobbing up afterward.

"Looking good!" I said.

"Lucky for you! My lawyer was already to be in touch if something happened," he said. I wasn't sharp enough to come up with a good comeback on the spur of the moment, so I just laughed.

Over where the water was shallow, there were underwater grasses growing. So beautiful. I didn't get a picture, but Waka did:



There were also little shiny-shelled beetles whirly-gigging around on the surface like tiny speedboats, and freshwater mussel shells, some of them practically nacre only.

We finished off the afternoon with an ice cream at this roadside establishment:



Their social-distancing exhortation signs used the special roadside-ice-cream-and/or-hot-dog-joint fonts that give off an old-timey vibe. It made me feel as if we'd fallen into a timeline in which the mask-wearing and social distancing started back in the 1950s. Alternative history.

Comments

[kore]

Aw, that's just lovely.

(It was 95F here! I lay on the couch under the window A/C unit with the cat.)

[asakiyume]

It must have been something like that here too, during the day. My touchstone for hot days is how cool does it get in the night? I have a childhood memory of hanging out with a friend--I was sleeping over hat her house--and we called time and temperature (I am That Old), and the recording said, "It's eleven-eleven at seventy-seven." I loved the sound of that, the rhyme.

[marycatelli]

And it is so hot at night in this hot spell . . . .

[pameladean]

What a wonderful expotition!

And those fonts just slay me. They are so great. I might feel that the entire thing had already happened in history so I really had better just go along with all exhortations in order to blend in.

I mean, I would do as the business asked in any case, but that motivation would be entertaining, which cannot be said for the actual reason for abiding by their rules.

P.

[asakiyume]

that motivation would be entertaining, which cannot be said for the actual reason for abiding by their rules. ---Right?? Or how about this: someone arrives from the future to this time and sees the signs and thinks, Oh, must blend in! ... Not realizing how full of division people in this present actually are about the whole thing. (Happily, everyone at that shop was very good about following the rules.

[pameladean]

Oh, that would make a lovely thread in a story! P.

[minoanmiss]

Oh my goodness this is a lovely outing. Thank you for bringing us with you!

[asakiyume]

It feels so good to finally have something to share!

[mallorys_camera]

Wow, that does sound lovely! I love the picture of the water grasses and your shadow, and the description of your interchange with the gallant young man.

Also I am very impressed you went hiking in this heat. (It hit 100° yesterday afternoon here in the quaint and scenic Hudson Valley.)

[asakiyume]

Well the hike was two days ago--i.e., Sunday rather than Monday--but it was pretty steamy on Sunday too. We sweated a lot. And got stinky! I rubbed ferns under my armpits. The trail up the mountain was very narrow, so periodically you'd have to stop to let someone going down go by, and at that point we whipped on our masks, and it was VERY weird to sweat in a mask-shaped pattern on the bridge of your nose and your cheeks.

[mallorys_camera]

Yeah. Recently, I've been slinging a mask around my neck on outside walks, too, and slipping it up when I get within 20 feet of someone. I don't think it makes the slightest difference in terms of virus transmission. I am just signaling: See? I'm a virtuous, civic-minded human! 😀

[asakiyume]

Signaling is important! Did I link you to that NYT ethics thing or did I at the last minute delete the comment? I can't remember...

But the ethicist guy was saying that signaling (like everything really) has a good side: it's how we establish norms. And while putting on the mask outdoors when you're 20 ft apart is probably pointless, it establishes, ostentatiously, that this is what we do for each other, so that hopefully people are in the habit all the time--because what's also hard is estimating a precise 6 ft.... and does it matter if it's 5.9? How about 3? How about 1? How about 7? ... If we're always whipping out the mask, then the habit's there, and we don't have to engage in faulty estimation or wonder if we'd be okay without the mask at 5.6 feet, etc.

[ETA: the "like everything really" refers to having a good side, not to establishing norms]

[mallorys_camera]

I don't think you did link me to that NYT ethics thing! It sounds interesting.

Signaling is important to me because I don't actually agree with a lot of the things we're being advised to do by the various health agencies but I do believe in being civic-minded! 😀 So, I'm actually signaling to myself as well as to others. If that makes any kind of sense. 😀

[asakiyume]

Here's the thing on virtue signaling. And I *totally* know what you mean about signaling to yourself. I need to do that A LOT.

[anna_wing]

What a beautiful place to walk!

[asakiyume]

It really was!

[cmcmck]

Nice views.

[asakiyume]

thank you :-)

[amaebi]

Beautiful. Thanks for inviting us.

Thank you in this and always for being a Noticer. and a playmate to the world.

Speaking inter temporally, the Connecticut River used to be famous for shad and hence shad roe. Twenty-five years ago, when I lived in New Haven, shad had begun to return to that portion of the Connecticut River, and I was able to buy shad roe locally. Is that a thing in your neck of the woods?

[asakiyume]

Shad are definitely returning. A few years ago we went to the fish elevator during the shad run, and it was most impressive, and there happened to be a fishing derby on that day, and people were just putting a line in the water and pulling out shad. I know it's the roe rather than the fish that are considered a delicacy, but as for actually buying either the roe or the shad locally, we didn't have any luck.

[amaebi]

The fish themselves are also delicious, though very very full of tiny bones.

Well, to their preservation. And if you would like to do so, I hope you get a chance to try them, in the wider times.

[asakiyume]

I thought of getting a fish license! Waka and I were interested in trying the fish (we heard about the bones). One day :-)

[amaebi]

Cool!

It has been so long since I have fished that I need to look up how to set up a reel with line. (I am sad about this.) And I need to do it because Chun Woo wants to go fishing, and has for years. Though not very consistently or I would got to it.

Also, I don't understand the fish around here. I understand the fish of Southern Illinois. I'm very willing to learn from Colorado fish.

[asakiyume]

Yeah, I've never in my life fished, but I'm willing to learn.

[shewhomust]

What a perfect day out!

[asakiyume]

It was ^_^

[sartorias]

What a lovely day!

I would so adore canoeing down that river . . .

[asakiyume]

Once travel becomes possible again....

[wayfaringwordhack]

What a wonderful outing! Thanks for allowing us to tag along. :D

[asakiyume]

Always fun to have you along <3 <3

[marycatelli]

Never climbed that. . .

The parents tended to take us climbing mountains in the Adirondacks on vacation rather than local or semilocal.

[asakiyume]

It's one of these little Massachusetts mountains that hardly really counts as a mountain--people in the Rockies would laugh and laugh--but it's a short, fun climb, and it's pretty up top.

The Adirondacks are pretty serious mountains!

[marycatelli]

Some of them. We tended to the smaller ones.

[gale_storm]

Great day out, in an alternative history world! :-D

[asakiyume]

Hahaha, yes! And for a while by the river, we were able to forget completely about our current reality.

[http://lotuslandfineart.com/velvetrope/]

That looks like a lovely, amazing walk! Thanks for sharing those pics!

[asakiyume]

You're very welcome! *Your* photos bring me so much joy. I have your postcards up on my walls :-)

[http://lotuslandfineart.com/velvetrope/]

Thank you! That makes me happy.

[sovay]

Yesterday, Wakanomori and I climbed Mt. Sugarloaf, a loaf-shaped little mountain overlooking the Connecticut River.

Thank you for the trip!

I like the ice-cream signs, but the rivergrass is best of all.

[asakiyume]

It is, it really is.