Two weeks ago this day we were in New Hampshire, visiting the Waterville Valley site that we have returned to for decades, first with our teen-age children, and now on our own for the last twenty years. The area never ceases to give us immense pleasure even though we are now no longer able to climb the summits we once 'conquered', in our love of the landscape of the alpine regions and the vast, interminable scene of mountain tops marching on the lofty arras as far as our eyes could see....

The day dawned overcast, not too cool, 61-degrees Fahrenheit the high. We drove to one of our old haunts that used to serve for us when we and our children were young, as a foretaste of the more physical struggle it would take to clamber atop challenges like Lafayette, Eisenhower, Clinton and Little Haystack. Now, the Rattlesnakes represent the far more modest hiking aspirations that we can hope to achieve. We do the climb, along with many others, enjoying the Autumn atmosphere, the fragrance of fall, the splendour of the foliage at their height of perfection, and the sheer pleasure of being within the embrace of nature.

On the way there, the highway foliage of the forests were nothing short of spectacular. We discovered though at that point it was two days beyond the advent of a long national holiday week-end, that there were abundant numbers of other hikers, and among them plenty of old geezers, like us. At our age the intent to climb is mildly fraught with physical difficulty, but it is not a particularly arduous climb.

My husband's newly-bought hiking boots performed excellently. We took our time ascending, taking photographs as we proceeded and appreciating little Riley's determination to maintain our progress.

The sight lines from the lookout just prior to reaching the summit seem somehow more appealing than those of the summit itself, perhaps partially due to the fact that not everyone knows of its existence, and we were able to enjoy that set-aside area to ourselves. As usual, when we're ascending/descending such natural attractions we strike up friendly conversations with others doing likewise, and somehow in a matter of a relatively brief period of time, come away with other peoples' life stories; brevity of time can still convey a great deal, people appear anxious to explain themselves to others, strangers seem to have that especial appeal.

On the descent, Riley almost danced down the mountain slope, happy and excited to be there. It's true that he becomes bored anticipating the same old circuits he has been familiar with for all of his life, when we embark on our daily ravine walks.