Woohoo – first hike of 2015 is in the books! If you were reading here last year, you may remember that hubby, Peanut and I took on a project of hiking at Tifft Nature Preserve in south Buffalo at least once each season. (If you missed them I recapped all of our Tifft seasonal hikes: winter, spring, summer and fall). We had so much fun hiking Tifft in each season (and by the fall hike we even knew our way around, winning) that we decided to carry the seasonal hiking project forward for 2015 and find a new place to explore. After scouting around a bit, I decided that we should conduct our seasonal explorations at Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve in Depew. We’d never been there and I’d heard such great things about the scenery and the wildlife that I was itching to check it out.
I also made a resolution this year that we would take a family hike in a different place each month. The hikes didn’t have to be in places we’d never been (so I’m sure you will see Tifft again, as well as Knox Farm) but we couldn’t repeat. That also meant that we could use Reinstein Woods toward that goal one time, and one time only. I was hoping that we’d make it out for another hike this January, but circumstances (weekend work for both hubby and me most of the month, plus a week of illness when Peanut brought a bad stomach virus home from daycare) have prevented us getting out more than once. Oh, well, c’est la vie – we’ll be counting this January walk in Reinstein Woods toward our 12 months hiking project too.
Enough with the preamble! Let’s get boots on the trail!
Peanut was somewhat less than thrilled to find herself back in the backpack. We’d actually tried to go for a walk the weekend before, at Como Lake Park in Lancaster, without the backpack, and all she wanted to do was play. So she’s back in the carrier until she’s a little more malleable. We do make sure to let her out at the end of each hike and give her plenty of time to stretch her legs and explore, though.
I spent a little time checking out the information sign and getting a preview for what we can expect to see come spring, summer and fall. I can’t wait to check out the birds!
And we were off on our hike. Hubby brought along his snowshoes but decided to leave them in the car. In retrospect, he wished he’d worn them, because the snow on the trails was deep enough that it was tough going with just our boots. We definitely got a workout! There were a number of other families out enjoying the beautiful afternoon and most of them had on either snowshoes or cross-country skis. We were one of the few groups that hit the trails in just our boots and we were feeling it almost immediately.
We headed down one of the broad paths to start. Having never been to Reinstein Woods before, we had no plan in mind – just followed the paths wherever they took us.
After one or two turns we found ourselves approaching a large pond. The sun was starting to go down (we had decided on a post-nap hike for warmth purposes) and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset view.
There was a fork in the trail allowing us to choose to either walk around the pond or head deeper into the nature preserve. As we stood debating what to do, both kids made their preferences known. Peanut announced “All done riding in my chariot!” (yes, she really said that) and Nugget put in his vote with some mild cramping (or maybe Braxton Hicks contractions? I got them a few times during my last pregnancy and these were much less intense, so I’m not sure) so we decided to loop around the pond and back toward the car.
We had one more stop to make before we left the preserve, though:
I’d noted this little “nature play area” on our way into the preserve and thought it would be a great place for Peanut to play this spring and summer. But it also worked out well as a spot for her to stretch her legs after this relatively brief ramble. We headed into the play area and released her from her “chariot.” She immediately fell on her face in the snow and rolled around like a dog. Whatever works for ya, kid.
She also did some sweeping, of course.
And started to dismantle the “shelter” in an attempt to find the perfect stick for waving around.
I think it’s safe to say that our little snow bunny is a BIG fan of winter!
Gear:
Hubby – I have no idea what his winter boots are, he’s had them since before we started dating; Black Diamond men’s hiking poles; Deuter KidComfort III child carrier backpack.
Me – Oboz Bridgewater BDry hiking boots (thanks, Santa!); Black Diamond women’s hiking poles.
Thanks for a great walk, Reinstein Woods! See you again soon!
Brainiest – This year’s Valedictorian is The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History, for shedding light on an aspect of World War II history of which I was completely unaware. I was hooked from the first page, and I learned a lot.
Best Looking – With the whimsical illustrations and the gorgeous reprints of letters handwritten by J.R.R. Tolkein himself, Letters from Father Christmas is a shoo-in for this one. Tolkien’s children were lucky indeed, to get these beautiful missives every Christmas.
Best Friends – I wish I could have lived at Patty’s Place with Anne, Priscilla, Stella and Phil during their years at Redmond College. Whenever I need a dose of cozy girlfriend chatter, I know I can find it between the pages of L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of the Island.
Class Clown – This would have to be The Honest Toddler: A Child’s Guide to Parenting, written under the supervision of Bunmi Laditan. I’m a huge fan of HT (as anyone who follows me on Twitter will be sure to know – sorry for all the retweets, but I can’t help myself!) and here my second-favorite toddler has written a parenting guide full of LOLs. I was rolling on the floor as I read it.
Biggest Jock – Train Like a Mother: How to Get Across Any Finish Line – And Not Lose Your Family, Job, or Sanity, by Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea, is my pick for biggest jock. I can always count on SBS and Dimity for a dose of motherly encouragement in running, parenting and life. I bought their second Another Mother Runner book in hopes that they’d get me across the finish line of my first marathon. Pregnancy intervened, but I’ll be looking to my favorite #motherrunner duo for plenty of inspiration in 2015.
Teacher’s Pet – Hmmmm, this was a tough category to award this year. I usually have quite a few books in school settings, but not for 2014. So, the superlative goes to Laura Ingalls Wilder, circa These Happy Golden Years, in which Laura tries her hand at teaching to help support her family and save money for her sister Mary to go away to a college for the blind. Teaching is not Laura’s passion, to say the least, but she does her best, and for that she’s Teacher’s Pet this year.
Biggest Nerd – This year’s award goes to a book nerd – a lady after my own heart! Rebecca Mead’s My Life in Middlemarch will speak to any bookworm who has read her way through the same favorite classic, to the point where it becomes part of her life story. (That’d be Jane Eyre for me, but I certainly know what Mead is talking about.)
Most Creative – I read a lot of creative books this year, but The Golem and the Jinni, by Helene Wecker, takes the prize. Wecker merges two cultural traditions, and two mythical beings, into a rich tapestry of a story in which 1890s New York City is another living, breathing character. I hung on every word and didn’t want the book to end, ever.
Most Opinionated – God is an Astronaut, by Alyson Foster, might seem like an odd choice for this superlative, but stick with me here. Reading between the lines of the story, which describes the crumbling marriage of a botany professor and her husband, an executive in a private space travel company weathering a major catastrophe, there’s a lot here about science and ethics.
Most Likely to End Up in Hollywood – Let me preface this by saying that if this book does end up in Hollywood, I won’t be going to see the movie. I’m not a horror fan in general, and while I did frantically turn pages to see what would happen in M.R. Carey’s The Girl With All the Gifts, and while I think it would make an incredibly gripping movie… it’s just way too scary for me!
Biggest Rebel – Is there a rebel more rebellious than Flavia de Luce? I read four of her adventures this year – A Red Herring Without Mustard, I am Half Sick of Shadows, Speaking from Among the Bones, and The Dead in their Vaulted Arches – and loved every moment of watching my favorite diabolical chemist break all the rules, solve murders and torment her two obnoxious older sisters.
Biggest Loner – Amy Gallup, from Jincy Willet’s The Writing Class and Amy Falls Down, wins this category, hands-down. All Amy wants is to hole up in her house with her resentful Basset hound, Alphonse, and write her blog “GO AWAY.” But the outside world keeps intruding on Amy – first in the form of a murderous writing student, and then later in the form of unexpected career success. What’s a washed-up recluse to do? (Read these books, please. They’re terrific!)
Most Likely to Succeed – Marcus Samuelsson is a true success story, as his memoir Yes, Chef perfectly illustrates. Born into poverty in Ethiopia and adopted, along with his sister, by a Swedish family, Marcus cultivates a love for cooking and follows his passion all the way to the top rung of the foodie career ladder – winning “Top Chef,” cooking for President Obama, and opening his own restaurant in Harlem. He doesn’t gloss over his mistakes and failures, but you’ll cheer for him all the way.
The Writing Class, by Jincy Willet – Another from the first half of the year, The Writing Class is Jincy Willet’s introduction to reclusive writing teacher Amy Gallup. Amy is a washed-up curmudgeon (once a critically praised writer, her books are now all out of print) who makes a little cash by teaching at the local university extension. Amy’s classes are unremarkable until one fateful semester, when the group is terrorized by a “writing class sniper,” a class member with a cruel pen, a razor-sharp wit, and a complete disregard for human life.
Henrietta’s War, by Joyce Dennys – I have a thing for English fiction set between the wars, during, and immediately after World War II, and Henrietta’s War is a perfect example. Henrietta is the wife of a hardworking Devonshire doctor, mother of two grown children, and penpal to her “dear childhood’s friend” Robert, who is off fighting for King and Country. In this epistolary novel, Henrietta keeps Robert updated on all the goings-on in their sleepy town. I fell in love with the characters – some eccentric, all loveable and staunch – and with Henrietta’s breezy, chatty, but sometimes bittersweet letters.
The Magician’s Land, by Lev Grossman – This final installment in Grossman’s Magicians trilogy was the best yet. I liked The Magicians, really liked The Magician King, and LOVED The Magician’s Land. Quentin Coldwater has been kicked out of Fillory – unfairly, but there it is – and is now trying to live his life on Earth again. He’s got a new sidekick and a complicated spell to try, but Quentin can’t focus on any of that stuff. He can only think of the dangerous mission he’s undertaken: to return his lost love, Alice, to life again. (I’m not going to tell you if it works, because reading about Quentin’s efforts to bring back Alice, and the emotions that went along with that. were the best part of the book.) Meanwhile, Janet and Eliot are ruling over Fillory, which is facing a crisis of its own. The characters have all done a lot of growing up over the course of the series – I even liked Janet, which is saying a lot, and for the first time, I adored Quentin. This conclusion to the trilogy was everything I could have hoped for: rich, satisfying, and perfect.
Crocodile on the Sandbank (Amelia Peabody #1), by Elizabeth Peters – Miss Marple meets Indiana Jones, is how I can best describe Amelia. The indomitable Victorian Egyptologist’s first adventure – in which she travels to Egypt for the first time, makes friends, and confronts a mummy – is a fun, spirited romp. I’ve still only read the first three in this series (of more than twenty!) but I’ll be following Amelia’s adventures for a long time.
The Four Graces, by D.E. Stevenson – The British-between-the-wars-gentle-fiction genre is one of my particular reading vices, I’ll admit. (Well, is it a vice? Can something so entirely wholesome be a vice?) So it’s kind of amazing that I’d never heard of D.E. Stevenson until recently. I loved The Four Graces, the story of one eventful summer in the lives of the Grace sisters – bright Liz, quiet Sal, shy Tilly, and sociable Addie. There’s romance, overbearing relatives, and a “best ankles” contest – what’s not to love? There was nothing particularly earth-shattering about the book, but I loved every page.
Ten Years in the Tub: A Decade Soaking in Great Books, by Nick Hornby – One more from the books-about-books genre to close out the year. I read Hornby’s collection of all of his columns for The Believer over the course of about two months, little by little. (Fortunately, I was able to knock it out juuuuuuust when I ran out of library renewals.) Hornby made me cry on just about every page – mostly from laughter, but his writing about his autistic son? All.The.Feels. (And sometimes cry-laughs, too, like when he says that his son doesn’t have any spectacular talents unless you count being able to hear a crisps packet being opened from several streets away – snort. Hornby might be the only writer out there who can poke fun at his autistic kid, but do it so obviously lovingly that you just laugh along with him and wish you could hang out with them both every day.)
covered in flour 