As brutal as it was, it was great to challenge the Tienmu GuDao once again, and even though I managed a very sluggish pace, the summit was reached and the path navigated before heading back down. The stone was slick with rain and runoff, a soup of fallen leaves making each step a hazard as the water spilling from the pipe up top gushed down beside the path creating quite a frenzy of liquid excitement. Eddies and whirpools whizzed at intervals, and torrents thundered downhill at breakneck speed . There was no-one much around which was a real bonus: I don't think many were crazy enough to attempt the climb in the misting rain, with the rock so skiddy and the temperatures roasting and steaming.
Cass demurred on the opportunity to join said expedition (I can hardly imagine why given the explanation of the conditions, can you?!) and we had an otherwise uneventful and relatively lazy weekend as the rain spat and worried outside on Saturday, before settling into an annoying and uncomfortable heavy drizzle on Sunday. The temperatures maintained their lofty heights of late, meaning the heat and the dampness combined to boil us like xiaolongbao in a bamboo steamer! Once again, we were thankful for the fact that our airconditioners could suck a lot of moisture out of the air as well as cool things down.
Our clothes couldn't dry and Cass had things hanging all over the house "Chinese Laundry" style (appropriately) because our dryer has now joined the long list of appliances which have "ceased to co-operate"! Another fix-it call needs to be rehearsed then launched!
Cass enjoyed the latest installment of her book club on Friday night at one of their favourite haunts, "Sonnentor", but they were devastated to learn that it will be closing at the end of the month! Despite the fact that they always seem to have healthy patronage and excellent turnover, they seem to have decided to concentrate on their static food outlets, patisserie style rather than restaurant style. The group will need to sniff out another suitable venue: one thing that was so good about this place was, apart from the delicious fare, that the managers didn't mind them hanging around for a chat for some hours. Come to think of it, maybe it was this sort of generosity that ended up killing the golden goose!
Work at school continues without abatement or even without so much as a truce: by this stage of the year, we can usually negotiate a little with ourselves to call off the foot soldiers from the flanks. However, it seems that the full army is firmly entrenched in the battlefield for the foreseeable future as Cass starts to rehearse her "Back-to-School Night" presentations and we both get ready for camp, which is rushing towards us in just a couple of weeks. Of course, I'll experience first hand the privations of the Grade 8 camp this year....could be interesting (or insert other adjective here for your own amusement!) All the while, of course, while planning and teaching our not insignificant personal schedules. Oh well, first world problems and all that!
I've given up on Auster's "4,3,2,1" and have taken solace in the comfortable Lee Child's recent Jack Reacher. Cass, despite discussing the book already at book club, is determined to finish: she's not a quitter! Photos: The Moop returns in a local park and images from the steps, including the impressive pumps employed by the side of the trail.