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Solitude

I seek it.  I thrive with it.  It recharges me.

Amidst others of my species, even the near ones there is a limit.  While my most loved ones provide the emotional structure and scaffolding from which I nourish, they too can in return draw from me and in that it is tiring.

Solitude is blissful.  It allows the mind to wander or not at all.  One leg in front of another and nature doing its work is the best case scenario.

So I set out early this Sunday to a hill not far.  It was amazing to watch the early fog rise and then get chewed up as the thermals began to form and the breeze further broke up the clumps of moisture.

My hike began with meeting a horse.  A 15 year old and its 60 year old lady owner.  Grazing in the parking lot.  The horse I later would realize was having a morning snack before his partner rode him up the hill I was about to climb.


Not many folks out early although some ardent ones were returning by the time I got going.  It is a pleasant couple miles up to the summit, which is more like a plateau overlooking the valleys below.


Max altitude gain was about 1200 feet.  Not bad at all.

In order of audio appearance I heard a bunch of Jayz (not the singer but the blue kind); a flock of geese migrating somewhere, crickets up at higher altitude and a lone seagull quite far from sea.

I did witness some Koi at a 1000 feet.  That was a surprise, swimming in a water tank meant for the bovines that wander the hills.  Wonder if some pet owner just gave up.  Seems a steep climb to get rid of them though.


Mostly I did not see other humans except when I was almost done descending back to my car.


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