I had a wonderful Sunday. The day started with a breakfast get together with Stacy, one of my college roommates from freshman year. I can’t believe that we have known each other for over 37 years! We spent a lot of time talking about our aging parents and our changing roles in their lives, our work lives (or lack thereof!) and our changing ideas of what the future might be like. Stacy makes amazing hand designed cookies to celebrate all kinds of occasions, and she brought me a box with three absolutely gorgeous Valentine cookies. She is so sweet! Later in the day one of our other roommates, Margie, sent pictures from freshman year as well a video from college. I always think we still look almost as young as we did in college, but when I saw that video, I realize that we definitely do not look young anymore!!
I got out for a walk in a different neighborhood and had a chance to catch up with my son Kieran on the phone. He just bought himself a new-to-him truck to replace the car that got totaled when he was rear ended a couple of weeks ago. He is very happy with it, it has everything he was looking for and some extras as well. I’m so proud of him, he is so mature for a 22 year old.
I spent the rest of the day reading, working on a new collage and laughing at how silly Winston could be. He had fun exploring underneath the barbecue cover and later, as I got ready for bed, he made himself comfortable right in front of the room heater. What a heater hog!
On Monday, Julie, Gabriella and I continued our quest to walk the entire Bay Area Ridge Trail. This time we hiked an out and back section at Rockville Hills Regional Park near Fairfield. When we got to the parking area, we looked up at some large rocks across the street, and noticed what appeared to be an eagle with its wings spread perched on the rock. I almost thought it was a statue at first because it didn’t seem to be moving, but then its wings shifted slightly. It stayed like that for a few minutes, maybe to warm up in the sun? Not sure. The Suisun Wildlife Center had a sign encouraging individuals and classes to adopt local wildlife to save injured and orphaned animals and birds. The cost ranged from $10 for a songbird up to $50 for an eagle. I thought that was a really cool idea.
The grass along the trail was a bright emerald green, and both the pond and lake that we went past were very full. A couple that passed us as we were admiring the lake said that it had been years since there had actually even been water in it! We also went past a bike repair kit and a ‘karma kit’ where there were more bike repair supplies as well as snacks, eye drops, dog poop bags, antiseptic wipes, and more. I love that fellow hikers left things to help others. I had a small bottle of sunscreen and an unused chapstick in my bag, so I added both of those to the karma kit, knowing how helpful they can be when you are hiking in a relatively exposed area.
The views on the trail were very bucolic on one side (to the southwest) and suburban sprawl on the other (northeast). We reached the end of the trail section where there is currently a 2 1/2 mile gap in the ridge trail at this junction and turned around and headed back to our cars. It was a great way to spend a Monday.
