New Look

I like the new "Blogger" format... It is so cool that I can put my own picture up at the top of the screen! The picture looks so professional, I'm amost surprised. That feeling is a bit illogical - I do have a decent eye for composition and color. The automatic cropping came out quite nicely, though at first I was disappointed that the lake in the foreground wasn't visible. The photo was taken at Derwentwater in the Lake District of England in July of 2006... between storms. Behind the Bllog title, you can see a trail that snakes its way up the foreground hill called Cats Bells - or maybe that's the name of the ridge, I don't actually know. The trail marker read "Cats Bells" - and how could I resist a name like that? Away I went all the way to the top!

The climb is quite steep, but from the ridgetop you are "close to heaven" as my Gunnie used to say about the whole Lake District. While I was climbing the Cats Bells trail I imagined Gunnie, Gramps and the rest of the Ramblers group from Birkenhead going up the very same trail almost 100 years ago. Gramps emigrated to the US in 1910, so the timing would have been about right, I think. They used to talk about how wonderful the walking was in the Lakes. I had to go see for myself, and they did not exaggerate.

Even without a group of friends, it was thrilling to be far above the Water, and not so far from the town of Keswick that there was any danger. There were lots of walkers in spite of the showery conditions. We did hear the Mountain Rescue Unit go out toward dusk, but we were off the trail by then. Carolyn wasn't thrilled that I hadn't "signed out" to walk, and I promised I'd do that the next day (I did, too... always after that). Novice walkers really should go out in guided groups and it was pretty foolish to go out, even when I could see the town, by myself. The clouds come in very fast - that's what happened to the walkers that the MRU had to go fetch, apparently. You really can't see "your hand in front of your face", and it does get slippery in the rain. I was contrite.

I was so fortunate to be chosen for the National Endowment for the Humanities Seminar that allowed me to wander around the Lakes for a bit that summer. I will be back soon - perhaps with friends from Scotland next Summer, though they've promised we'd go walk in the Pentlands next time I'm up!