August 8: The outcome....

It's late on Sunday night, I should be in bed. Returned from NY this morning after sleeping there following the drive down from NH. Coping with laundry, needed to go grocery shopping as well as deal with the bills that seem to accumulate only slightly less quickly than the mounds of cat hair on the floor and rug. But I didn't want to be responsible for Barbara passing out!

On Tuesday morning, August 3, I attempted the climb of West Rattlesnake (elevation 1,243') using the Bridal Trail, which is longer at about 1.4 miles but less steep. And I did it! It wasn't as difficult as I'd been expecting, although several rests were needed. But my recovery was fairly fast, the entire climb was about an hour. Just short of the top I did stop for a longer rest, wanting to be as fresh as possible for the summit. And, predictably, when I started to crest at the top and saw the mountains come into view my tears started to flow. John was with me and was also crying. It was wonderful, fulfilling, spiritually uplifting and incredibly satisfying.

There was some family drama surrounding things, which will be explained later.

And because the climb was so wonderful, I repeated it again on Friday the 6th! That was done with the accompaniment of my 'Aunt' Beth and 'Uncle' George, both 79-80 years old, which tells you a little about the lack of difficulty. But my medical history is worse than both of them combined, so I'm not embarrassed!

Return to the normal work schedule, although thankfully starting late tomorrow. Right now I'm trying to make a CD of pictures for Mirko to take back with him to Italy, but being significantly hampered by the quickly dying optical drive that my cousin Mark tells me needs to be replaced. Trying to put so many pictures on was probably a mistake, but it seemed like it was working....

More later in the week. Thanks for checking again, Laurie

P.S. Barb, I'll bring pictures on Friday!