A year of hill climbs
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Happy New Year, everybody!

Last January I made some posts outlining both electronic[1] and
non-electronic[2] goals for 2025.  I managed to achieve some goals,
and not to achieve others.  Of those I did achieve, the one to climb
a local hill once per month for the whole year is the one that I feel
had the most impact on me.  Okay, look, very strictly speaking I
failed this one.  There was one month, I think it was March, that I
didn't climb the hill.  But I climbed it twice the month after, and
the first of those times was very early in that month, like maybe the
second or third day of the month.  I definitely climbed it twelve
times with an average of 30 days in between climbs.  Close enough.

In the Spring, I learned that there are wild plum trees growing on
the hill.  At least, I'm about 90% certain they are plums.  If not
they're something very plum-adjacent.  Whatever they are, I ate one
on my way down the hill the day I discovered them, and it didn't
kill me, so this year I'll collect a bunch and make Mountain Jam (my
wife and I actually casually refer to this hill as "the mountain",
which is really too grandiose a name for it, but it sounds better
than Hill Jam.	Although now that I think about it, the Finnish
word for jam is "hillo", so maybe I should just call it hill-o...).

In the Autumn, I heard tawny owls hooting in the dark (identified
with F-Droid's "whoBIRD" app).

The November climb was really dark and it was snowing, although
ever so gently.  I brought my ICF-7600A up with me and listened to
the BBC World Service, relayed via Baltic Waves International in
Lithuania on 1386 kHz, an especially easy frequency for a computer
nerd to remember.

On my way up for the final climb in December, I noticed an old enamel
mug hanging from a branch of a tree not too far off the path.  On my
way back down, I clambered through the undergrowth and fetched it.
It's far too badly rusted for me to want to drink from it, but it's
a lovely sky blue colour, with a darker blue rim.  It's larger than
your typical mug and has a gentle spout to it.	I decided to take
it with me as a reminder of this year.	I might try to use it as
a plant pot for something small, perhaps.  Walking back down with
my gift from the hill in hand, somebody cycled past me, heading
up, and I even though I only got a quick glimpse, I was pretty
darn sure that his bike was fitted with Nitto moustache bars.
I lingered at the foot of the hill once I'd gotten to the bottom
in case he was coming right back down, which he was.  I dared to
initiate a conversation and, indeed, he had exactly those bars,
and MKS "bear trap" BMX pedals to boot!  We had a brief but pleasant
chat and then headed off in opposite directions.

I love my hill.

[1] gopher://zaibatsu.circumlunar.space:70/0/~solderpunk/phlog/electronic-goals-for-2025.txt
[2] gopher://zaibatsu.circumlunar.space:70/0/~solderpunk/phlog/non-electronic-goals-for-2025.txt