Yesterday evening we made the fatal error of watching last
week’s episode of The Great British Baking Show. . .tortes.
This led
inevitably to an emergency run to the grocery store.
 |
| Imagine the restraint required to wait until I took this picture. |
This morning,
with any luck we walked off last night’s transgressions with a hike through the
woods.
I’m always
caught by the small beauties I find.
And as we’re
dodging all the rocks and roots on the trail, My Guy and I always ask each other
the same question: how on earth did the early settlers farm this land with just horses and maybe an ox?
Popping
in and out of view were the stone walls from an earlier farmer who had once
worked the fields - now filled with trees.
I also like a hike
with a destination.
But she did
appreciate the occasional stop for a treat.
We watch the Great British Bakeoff too. I am pretty certain there are calories involved just watching.
ReplyDeleteLoved hiking with you and Marnie. Our ancestors were a hard working and persistent breed weren't they?
They moved a lot of stones, those early settlers. That's for sure. They brought the knowledge of stacked stone walls with them, but that did not change the back breaking labor, the need for horse power, the ability to maneuver those rocks. I bet more than a few starved just trying to clear a field for crops.
ReplyDeleteWhale Rock is very well named! And Mamie was happy, I'm sure, for that treat. :-)
ReplyDeletewell, first they cut down all the trees and then they made walls with all the rocks. voila! dirt to plant in. they were some very determined people, those pioneers. I can't imagine very many people alive today could do it.
ReplyDeleteWe ask ourselves similar question about this region's pioneers. It must have been an especially difficult struggle here.
ReplyDeleteMamie is a cutie. I love the Whale rock and would have spent quite some time wondering about the piles of stones and how the pioneers were so much tougher than we are now with all the machinery to do things for us, we're getting soft.
ReplyDeleteWe love going for hikes, too. I often wonder about what life was like 200 years ago. Those were hard working people. Nobody had to exercise on purpose. It was all part of their daily lives. -Jenn
ReplyDeleteWe live on land that has gone from virgin forest to totally cleared (god bless NH and its rocky soil) from edge to edge, with the stone walls and rock piles to attest to it. They used ox teams and sledges to get the rocks out, and the trees cut and hauled back for heat. Stones too small for the walls were just piled in convenient places, stones too large were left where they grew.
ReplyDeleteA lot of this country is glacier built, and at the bottom of our land is a huge cluster of glacial rock, some large enough to live in, if we were so inclined.
Now we live in the middle of the woods, letting it go back to what it was, as a kind of thank you gift for the journey.
Funny thing my daughter appeared on it a while back. I just came back from visiting her in UK. This September the weather around the south east was incredible so we visited the beach at Brighton. Your pet is adorable.
ReplyDelete