For bedtime reading material on this week's stay in New Hampshire I took along The Boys of Everest with its feature on the principal, Chris Bonington, a British climber, following the exploits of British mountaineers from the 1950s forward, and there are parts of the book so compelling that I read far longer into the wee night hours than I should have, resulting in a bit of a sleep deficit the following day. I admit, I do have a fascination for high-altitude climbing exploits, though I would never have wanted to venture it myself. I find reading about the indomitable will of mountaineers to ascend the most forbidding and inaccessible peaks truly compelling.

In any event, my husband found himself so exercised by the day's exertion the previous day on Welsh-Dickey that he slept through the night until 5:00 am before his demanding prostate kicked in to rouse him to the bathroom. A nice reprieve from the usual urges that strike him repeatedly through the night, interrupting normal sleep patterns. So, we were up at half-past seven to begin the day, and despite that it was Saturday decided we'd head for the Rattlesnake summit for a hike.

A pleasant drive took us to the parking lots and we shouldn't have been surprised to find it took patience to find a parking spot, and then only when an earlier hiking party had come down off the mountain and vacated the spot we were grateful to take. Jack is always on the lead, pulling ahead, with me holding his leash. Jillie is content to follow and her brother kept us climbing steadily, so we made fairly good time though of course others passed us in either direction on a regular basis. It wasn't quite Grand Central Station but a reasonable facsimile given its location. But those just represent occasions when there are pleasant interludes of greeting others -- unless one comes across Bostonians and they tend not to be gracious about acknowledging the presence of others, belying hiking manners.

At the top we veered off first to the lookout, then to the summit. At the lookout we found a pair of young women to whom we had previously mentioned the lookout as we had stopped to chat, as having a peerless view, and they'd taken our advice to see it. There too was just another couple, an older pair though nowhere near as ancient as we. Contrasted to the summit which fairly teemed with people looking out over the lake below, perched on the rockface, having snacks, children running about. We didn't stay very long before beginning our descent.

We heard the sweet trill of a thrush and then robins and an oven bird in the forest as we descended. this trail too has an abundance of oaks, yellow birch, hemlock and on the forest floor at the verges of the trail, lilies of the valley in bloom. It was a sunny, breezy 70F degrees, so the mosquitoes, usually a nuisance there, weren't too bad. We came across lots of dogs and families with small children in tow. A pleasant diversion for us, appreciating our natural surroundings, before spending the balance of the day in other pursuits that beckon us there.

We discovered a group antique shop (heavy on the collectibles as per usual) in Laconia. Jack and Jill behaved themselves extremely well under the circumstances, those circumstances being their continuing introduction to the larger world of curiosities.