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Yesterday started with figure skating. Spins will be the death of me. I didn't fall this week, and the hand-sized bruise on my left hip is pretty much healed, but even my scratch spins (a freeskate 1 element) are still crap, and I'm supposed to be working on sit spins for freeskate 4.

The barn in Lexington was closed for the weekend, to give the horses a rest after the show last weekend, so no riding. I did a bunch of bike maintenance (mostly on [livejournal.com profile] lyonesse's bike, which we are borrowing), then (finally) off on my own bike ride (on the Raleigh with the funky handlbars). No cyclometer on this one, but it was in the neighborhood of 50 miles, out through Topsfield and Ipswich, up to Rowley, back through Georgetown, Boxford, and North Andover. It's a nice loop, but I haven't done it in a couple years, so the ice cream stand at the halfway point was a pleasant surprise.

Anniversary dinner at Evoo, where I managed to be disappointed twice in one meal - pretty much unheard of for them. The first was a peach-basil martini, which was high concept, but just didn't taste very good. The second was the pecan pie, which was pecans in a pie shell, with just enough custard to keep it somewhat cohesive. In between, however, everything was faboo as usual.

This morning, I rode early, on the trail. I gave Cheyenne his head, and we went hell-bent for leather, yahoo! This is not a horse who's afraid of galloping the fire roads, or cantering the bike paths, but he's a little careless of his rider - he's been known to run my legs into tree trunks, or my head into branches. Of course, all that hurrying meant that it took a while to walk him out afterwards...

And then off to Newburyport, for an Audubon-sponsored kayaking trip on the Merrimac River. Today is our actual anniversary (18 years?!), and this was how we celebrated. The last time I was in a kayak was when I was in the Boy Scouts, for about 15 minutes. This was a 6 hour outing (including instruction, transportation to the launch point, etc). We went from Salisbury Point (in Amesbury) to the mouth of the Merrimac, nearly to the ocean, then back up-river to Newburyport. They had it timed so that we had the outgoing tide when we were going down-river, and the incoming time coming back. It was probably less than 10 miles altogether, but it was quite long enough - my arms and shoulders are sore.

We saw a bald eagle (over Eagle Island, howaboutthat)! A number of great egrets, countless cormorants, 4 species of gulls, a kingfisher, and a great blue heron. Great blues are fairly common around here, but they're kind of special, because one showed up to our wedding reception, and spent 3 hours making the circuit of the pond next to the restaurant.

Ships? that pass? in the day?

Date: 2006-09-18 10:50 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] chocorua.livejournal.com
If you were upstream of the Newburyport railroad bridge about 5PM, you may have noticed one ~28' Sea Ray towing another downstream - I was aboard the towing boat, the dead one's having blown a head gasket up at the Crescent Yacht Club in Haverhill. Nice to have a slow ride down, I saw quite a few kayakers, but wasn't looking out for friends.

Date: 2006-09-18 02:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lyonesse.livejournal.com
hey, is my bike seeing any riding yet? what sort of maintainence?

Date: 2006-09-18 08:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wereterrier.livejournal.com
I've ridden it twice. The first time I had a lot of trouble shifting gears -- thus the maintenance, which mainly consisted of cleaning and lubing the chain. I've taken it out since, and it runs much better. I still find biking exhausting, which I suspect means I'm doing it wrong. If it was really this much work, kirkcudbright (http://kirkcudbright.livejournal.com/) would be skinny as rail. Still, I'm going to test busier roads Wednesday, and see if I feel safe enough to use it to get my car from the garage on Thursday.

- (new journal, but I'm sure you can figure it out)

Date: 2006-09-18 10:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kirkcudbright.livejournal.com
which mainly consisted of cleaning and lubing the chain

And adjusting the shifters and brakes, and pumping up the tires. Cleaning the chain was just the most spectacularly dirty part of it.

Re: Ships? that pass? in the day?

Date: 2006-09-18 10:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kirkcudbright.livejournal.com
At 5pm, we were just putting in at Newburyport, at the ramp by the park downtown. (I'm not familiar enough with Newburyport geography to put names to these things.) Close, though. I always wonder who I'm going to run into in places like that.

Re: Ships? that pass? in the day?

Date: 2006-09-19 11:18 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] chocorua.livejournal.com
There's a ramp down by Joppa Flats, where the estuary widens out, off Water St., but very little park there. There's a ramp behind the Firehouse, below Market Sq. But the one you probably mean is at Cashman Park off Merrimac St. (there are actually two, one they charge for and another that is closed off to vehicles, but usable for non-motorized boats). So just as you were landing, I was grabbing the pick-up stick on a mooring about 200 meters up river.

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Paul Selkirk

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