Karen's Journey

The Adirondack mountains, like mountains anywhere, are beautiful and inspiring, but also cruel and unforgiving. Just a few examples of recent rescues reported on this website  include: *A man attempting his final high peak became lost because the batteries on his GPS failed and he didn't have a compass and a map. Fortunately his cell phone still worked and rangers were able to reach him via the GPS signal from his phone. *A woman rolled an ankle and had to have rangers splint it, then assist her to Avalanche Lake, row her across the lake, and then transport her via UTV to the Adirondack Loj *A routine patrol found a distressed hiker at Marcy Dam who appeared to be severely dehydrated -- he was transported by UTV to South Meadow where he was met by an ambulance and taken to the local hospital for treatment *A couple who signed in at the St. Huberts's trail registry was reported overdue at 1:30 a.m., prompting a search -- they showed up at 6:30 a.m. -- in good condition, but...

I still have a couple of posts to finish composing about our exploits in Lake Placid, but I've come to the conclusion that 48-hour days are still too short. In the meantime, I thought I would post a photo of our renovated flower garden. We completely overhauled it this spring in order to improve the curb appeal of our house. It took out my knees, but we've received many compliments, so maybe it was somewhat worth it. There is still more to do, but isn't there always? We had our first frost last night. It was very light, and the ornamental grass and zinnias didn't seem to mind. That ornamental grass comes from some hardy stock. It arrived mail order appearing dried out and lifeless. I stuck it in the ground anyway and figured it would either grow or not. I wanted ornamental grass in memory of Blackjack, whose favorite game in the world was to escape outside, where he would immediately stop to chew the grass. Forget happy hunting grounds for that cat; here's ...

I often think T deserved a different family. He clearly had the most difficulties of any child at the Big House at the time he was there. The nannies ignored him, clearly out of frustration with how to deal with him. They gave us pitying -- and somewhat judgmental, I felt -- looks of "Are you up for him?" For good reason. Today, and many days, I don't feel like I'm up for him. He needs a Mommy with an inexhaustable supply of patience. Or even one with a lot of patience. I used to think I was a patient person. He has taught me I am not. I read about other Moms with attachment-disordered children and how calm and patient they are through every meltdown, tantrum, and attachment-related misbehavior. I try. I really try. But I think I fail more often than I succeed. I pick him up at after school care -- which he's not even supposed to be going to any more because in August I requested to cut my hours at work so that he could coco...