New Signs

 It was a day with no downsizing.  There were two boxes of books that I needed to do another sort of, and I did.  I'm hoping that some will be worth something on EBay.  My hope was to start off this week reorganizing the stuff I already have since lately I haven't taken the time to put every little thing away.  Instead I ran errands.  These were important too.  One of the things I did was to find a home for three of the books.  I got in touch with the case manager at the school I used to work at.  It seemed quite possible that one of the students I used to work with would like those books.  After some texting she said I could go to the school to drop them off.  It was so great to see her again.  I was able to give the books to the student and see them too.  We met out in the parking lot.  It was wonderful!  I didn't stick around to see others.  There is still a pandemic and besides, I would have started crying.  After leaving I had to remind myself why I don't want to work at a school again.  Other happy things for today:

• In order to get my steps in I got creative and pulled over and got out of the car to stretch my legs.  The first time along a rail trail, the second turned into a walk in a conservation area, and the third at the grocery store.
• I hadn't planned to walk more than a little bit in the conservation area but when I got there things were... different.  This is a place that I used to walk my dog fairly often when I lived in that area of the state.  I hadn't been on this trail in quite some time.  The first thing I noticed is that part of the area had trees tapped for collecting maple sap.  When I saw a sign, I was concerned that it was no longer part of the conservation area.  

Then I realized that the area that is tapped, is actually part of the nearby youth camp.  Parts of some of the trails go through the youth camp's property.  There is also another sign that is new since I walked through here before.  The trees have wooden tags instead of painted tags for trail markers now too.

• When I entered the trail I was on the phone with TF.  About a quarter mile in I realized that I hadn't remembered to turn on the MapMyRun app or my FitBit tracking.  So I did.  As I got closer to completing the loop I was on, I decided to do it again.  I finished the walk on MapMyRun when I was back at the beginning, then started it again and re-did the hike, only counterclockwise instead.  That is how I know I was about a quarter mile in.  😊
• There are a couple of places along the trail that require small hops over little brooks.  Some have strategically placed stones and some have boards over them.  In other areas there are footbridges.  The first of these small brooks that I went over reminded me of one that has a tree on it.  I used to hug the tree when I crossed the water there.  I didn't go that way today, but I saw it and it is still there.  One of the neat things is how I remembered where the rocks were.  My first time over I missed one that I thought was gone.  When I returned the second time, from the opposite direction, I saw that it was just a little more sunken under the leaves.

The rock on this root system reads, "Be the change."

☮

Currently listening to: Goodbye, Things, by Fumio Sasaki.

Stay safe.