Eseme's Den

Oh, they are. Something is going down tonight, something big.

I went on my first walk of the season today after work, and the sky full of grey clouds made for a bit of a dim walk towards the end. I was thinking how erie the atmosphere was when a cacophony of screeches and caws began to echo across the river valley.

There were crows, somewhere on the other side of the river, and they sounded like they were fighting.

Then a seething mass arrowed towards the trees to the left of me, and I realized that it wasn't a fight, but a gathering. Of at least a hundred of them. They crossed the river and begun to settle in the trees, still making a racket that was amplified by the valley of the river.

They had settled near the sewage treatment plant, which is of course worrying. And not far from that odd door by the train tracks, the one that appears to lead into the side of a hill that has a cemetery on top. I've often wondered if the Nosferatu den there, or possibly some of the local Glasswalkers.

Whoever is staying there, they have visitors. That must have been every Corax in North America, and if they were that loud about a meeting, it was because of something very important.

I went home and hunkered down. Thankfully the sky was still a deep blue on the drive home, and it wasn't full dark yet.

Wow, I've been busy.

So, just after my last post about walking, on Saturday April 16, I did a LOT of walking! I walked into Gardiner for lunch. It's a long walk, about 5.5 miles each way, plus the walking in Gardiner itself. People look at you funny when you reveal how far you have walked for lunch...

But what a lunch! I went to my favorite place to eat, and they had totally amazing food. It was a bit of a chilly day, and rained that evening. So I arrived a bit cold, and was happy to learn that I could order half a panini and a cup of soup. Mmmmmmm, hot cheddar, onion, and tomato panini, and cheddar-beer soup, served with a simple salad of greens and a vinaigrette. So good! I had two cups of hot tea, the second one with their rum chocolate bread pudding. Yum! And you totally don't need to worry about calories when you are walking over ten miles that day.

I did a bit of shopping, and walked back.

Now, this weekend was both productive, and fun. Though with less walking. First, I found out that one of my neighbors is moving, and is selling a couple of storage cabinets. I happen to need a couple, and was planning on buying some this summer. While it did require a bit of last minute juggling of the budget, I will be able to get them on Friday. So I spent yesterday (Sunday) making room for the cabinets in my second bedroom. The craft room is taking shape! Now I just have to get all the stuff on the floor in cabinets!

Saturday was fun (other than the two hour trip into work wherein I fought with Linux and lost). I went to the fundraiser and beginning of the season for the local "extreme roleplaying" group. AKA, boffer LARP. Which I have never done before. But they are much closer than the Cam is, and the costuming should be fun. Fantasy costumes! Also, I won a higher level character in a raffle. There is a new game being playtested this summer, and they want people to play a variety of levels - I won the chance to play a 10th level character (instead of 5th level) by putting most o my raffle tickets in one bag. Yay! The only downside will be if I really like it, next year I have to go back down to 5th level.


Walking Totals

I started at 72.85 miles to Rivendell.

So I walked to Gardiner, which is a little over 5.5 miles each way (I start my walk a bit before the 1.0 mile mark, and the 6.5 mile marker is at the end of the trail). I also walked around Gardiner a bit. So I'm calling that trip 12 miles.

Then last Sunday I walked about 1 mile to AC Moore. This Sunday (yesterday) I walked 2.15 miles, and another 2.15 miles today.

For a new total of... 89.15 miles!

So when we last checked in, I had made it to the Buckleberry Ferry, and across the river. But we saw one of those annoying cloaked riders! Darn.

So now : We take the main road north from the Ferry, Buck Hill is on the left and Buckleberry on the right. We take a lane to the right, and climb up and down into the country, ending up at Crickhollow, where we spend the night. And a Conspiracy is Unmasked! I believe this is where we meet Strider? Not sure.

The next morning we leave Crickhollow soon after 6:00 a.m. It is foggy and we ride the ponies slowly. We enter tunnel under Hedge to reach The Old Forest. The path disappears (ca. 7:15 a.m.). We keep on trying, and eventually reach the Bonfire Glade, which has a clear path beyond. It is now sunny, but we are not yet in a second clearing.

We get a lot done before lunch!

Friday was utterly beautiful, and warm. It had to have been in the 50s. So I decided grocery shopping could wait, and went for a walk on the rail trail after work. So nice.

I went for another walk today - I was up very late last night playing board games, and we were eating some rather unhealthy food (though my pasta was pretty excellent).

Friday I just went my usual 2.15 miles, but today I went from a bit before the one mile marker to the three mile marker and back, for about 4.15 miles. So a total of 6.3 miles.

That takes me to a cumulative total of 62.4 miles to Rivendell. I am really hoping I can put beat last year's total. I did some math and I'm thinking I could get close to adding 100 miles by next fall if I really make time to go on walks and to actually record them.

So, at 62.4 miles to Rivendell, the journey is rather dull (other than being chased by mysterious hooded figures). We walk around the edges of fields worked by Farmer Maggot, and after a turnip field there is a stout gate to a rutted lane, edged by hedges.

Still not at the darned Ferry! How will we ever outrun those scary figures?

It was actually nice again today. The temperature topped out around 38 and I was able to go on a walk again. I even remembered my poles this time, and I was very glad I did. The path was quite icy in spots, and all of those spots were on hills. The flat bits were all snow, which I can get some traction on.

So, 2.15 more miles on to Rivendell! I have gone 53.95 miles, and am still in the woods, heading for the Buckleberry Ferry. But Pippin has realized we are too far south! Will we make it?

And in other good news, there will be board games and food tomorrow. Yay!

Here's some fun publishing related stuff. Orbit Books apparently pays an intern to look at book covers and write down everything he or she sees.

First, a chart of trends in cover art. This is a chart of objects on the covers of books. Note that next year they will remove "Damsels in Distress" and "Stilettos" as categories. Read more here.

Second, more good news, this time in the form of Urban Fantasy covers. Clothing has gotten more reasonable! See the analysis here.

And they devoted an entire chart to dragons! To find out what colors got some coverage this past year, go here.

Finally, what are popular titles? That intern wrote down every word appearing in a title, and made a cool info graphic. If you think Fantasy is all sweetness and light, well, click here.

The comments are good on all of the blog entries, which is cool.

Also, I have decided to Walk to Rivendell. I've been on the Rail Trail five times this summer that I distinctly remember, and I know I've been there at least three other times. It is a little over two miles, I'd call it 2.15 miles.

So I am 17.2 miles to Rivendell. I am a bit over midway through Day 1, and have left Hobbiton, had a frugal supper, have continued on my way, and have begun to sing while walking through a deeply cloven track between tall trees.

*sigh* I really do want to give my blood, actually. I used to give blood two or three times a year at local blood drives in high school. It's one of those good things to do that is really very easy and can save someone's life. It's also why I had the little organ donor heart put on my driver's license when I renewed a couple of months ago.

Though if the Red Cross won't take my blood, I'm not sure if anyone will take my organs...

You see, I could be an insane bovine in disguise!

Seriously, if you've lived in England for 3 months or mainland Europe for 6 months since sometime in the 80's, you can't give blood. Ever. As in they won't take your blood for the rest of your life. You might have Mad Cow Disease. Never mind that I was darn near vegetarian the 9 months I lived in England, and I can only recall eating beef about twice.

I learned that the Red Cross still hasn't changed its policy when I went on a walk today and was forced to detour through the SAU due to construction. I passed a faculty/staff blood drive, and would have gladly stopped and given blood if they would take it.

As for good news, much of the nature trails behind RIT have a new thick layer of mulch on them, making everything much less muddy. And today is Wednesday so I got to go pretend to be a bubbly, chipper ferret-creature at World Tree tonight. Yay!

:: A human sized ferret in loose robes starts doing summersaults for the fun of it, gets hopelessly tangled in the robes, and ends up scrambling to her feet, throwing off the annoying fabric, and diving into a nearby pond. Where she changes into a much smaller ferret who looks like nothing so much as a furry water-snake when swimming. Wheeeeeeeee! ::

World Tree may apparently be at Chris' place tonight, which is cool except he *still* has no couch.