Real maple syrup and blueberry pancakes...

Sunday, August 16, 2015

I don’t normally make two trips to Kleifelds in a weekend, but I was determined to actually get all the way to the restaurant and use the maple syrup I’d brought along.

“So…what’ll it be this morning?” Andrea asked.

“Bring me those blueberry cakes again.  This time I remembered the syrup,” I said.

They came smothered in butter and spilling off the plate, which is what I wanted.  I spread the butter to all three cakes and liberally and lovingly applied the syrup.  I patiently watched as it ran down the sides and headed for the end of the plate and the table underneath.  I would have none of that and quickly sopped it up with my first cut of pancake.

I groaned as I put the first bite in my mouth.  I was sitting at the counter and Louis Armstrong was singing ‘What a Wonderful World’ on the juke box.  “It most certainly is, Louie,” I said as I swallowed. 

I couldn’t finish, it was so rich and so good.  I’m trying not to be a member of the clean plate club any longer since I’ve had a habit of forcing down every molecule on my plate over the 57 or so years I can actually remember eating.  I usually am satisfied three quarters of the way through, so why keep going?  Well…there was REAL maple syrup on it, but still…discipline.

I managed a one-hour hike while carrying my 40-pound pack and some step-ups for good measure, but it was hot and humid and that was enough.

John and Teri came over for dinner and we cooked out and talked about the Adirondacks.  “I’m seriously ready to go,” John said.  I knew he meant it.

“You know I love going in September when it’s bug and people free and cool enough to dive into that warm down bag the whole night,” I said.  John has a work situation going and may be unemployed soon.  He doesn’t know his schedule for sure, but regardless, will carve out time for a trip.  “It’s therapeutic,” he concluded and it is all that and more.  I have been to a good deal of state and national parks, but never feel the same sense of serenity I gain from the Adirondacks.  Maybe it is a sentimental attachment; the memories of childhood, times with Donnie and friends and family, but I think it is something more.  I simply have to arrive, open my door and take in a lung full of air to have my blood pressure drop 20 points and for any and all tension to leave my body.  I don’t know why it works any more than I understand how planes stay in the air, but I does and I’m thankful because there is no better feeling. 

Hike Duration: One hour

Training Heart Rate:110 bpm.

Calories burned:  600.