The big Dinner is over. I’ve cleaned and cooked and dished and served and cleaned up after. I’ve got today off work, otherwise I would collapse in exhaustion. On the other hand…I don’t want to waste this day sleeping. Or vacuuming. So I’m taking the camera and heading out. An adventure for one.
Cause you never know what you’ll find.
Sunrise in October
Winds strip the last of the fall color away.
But tonight the news is full of Hurricane Sandy, and we must focus on the East Coast. All the political jargon and angst fades away. What’s important right now is that people have made their way to a safe place; made arrangements to safely wait out the storm.
My hope is that things are not as dire as the weather models and reporters are predicting. That we get some or a lot of rain, maybe even snow, but everyone survives and structures withstand the elements.
.
Mostly my hope is that all of you out on the East Coast, my blogging friends, my customers and all your friends and families make it through tonight with nothing more than damp shoes and windblown hair.
Stay safe, all of you. And please be careful.
Well. Enough about baseball in October. Let me show you the last blooms of fall in my garden. This is monks head; or aconitum, if you’re the more scientific type. It blooms very late in the season, often after a frost
The bluish purple end of the summer.
It’s very beautiful and I’m always glad to see some color in the garden this late in the year. But it,and the end of baseball, mean summer is really truly without question over.
Darn. (But click on this last picture to see it up close.)
The end.
The days are getting shorter and sometimes I miss the long light filled days of summer. But these dark early mornings, when Katie and I are outside looking for that perfect spot I’ve noticed the stars are so bright that they seem lower in the sky – almost as if we could touch them.
The past two mornings I’ve seen the Big Dipper in the north, my representation of my Dad, and Orion’s Belt in the south, my representation of my Mom. It’s not every day that I can see them both at the same time, hanging there in the sky. So as Katie sniffs, I watch the sky and say hello to each of them.
Yesterday it occurred to me that all summer, even when the sun had brightened the sky before Katie and I ventured out, the stars were there. They were shining above even when I couldn’t see them. Just like my Mom and Dad who are also there, even though I can’t see them.
So this morning as I head to DC to work once again on safety issues I know Mom and Dad are right here even though I can’t see them. They will always be right here. And I’ll feel their arms around me as I fight the fight.
The sidewalk last week.
I got out of the office for about 30 minutes today at lunch. We’ve been so busy, but it was jean day and I was already wearing running shoes…so no excuses not to get my walk in. Most of the week I’ve been trapped in my cubicle.
As I walked (with camera of course) I noticed how much the color has faded since my walk earlier this week,and certainly since last week’s walks.
Trees reaching for the last bit of warmth.
Still, it was pretty.
I was thinking about how stressed I am at work, and how busy I am there and outside of work. I’m headed to Washington next week for a couple of days to do a little truck safety stuff. And I’ve registered Katie for a Rally trial near the end of the month, a couple of days before the community band’s first concert.
Small groves of trees watch me walk by.
Someone at work, learning I’d be out of the office for a couple of days next week, wanted to know how I did it…he said every time he talked to me I was off doing something else. And a couple weeks ago Bruce’s uncle asked me if I was doing too much. Something to think about I guess, and it’s not like I haven’t considered letting some stuff go before.
Walking and thinking.
But still. All these extras are the joyful aspects of life. Who could give up that moment during a concert when it all comes together and something beautiful emerges? So few people get to experience that.
And when Katie sits at attention next to my left ankle waiting expectantly, and moves seamlessly with me as I call “HEEL!”and pivot to the right, all the while grinning at me…well…who wants to give that up?
Trees and clouds shot with the ‘dramatic’ setting.
And the opportunity to go to DC and make a tiny bit of difference, to know your efforts and those of your family and friends have saved lives. Well. It’s not possible to give that up. At all.
Looking for answers.
In the end I finished my short walk with no solution. It’s not the extras I want to walk away from. It’s the work that consumes me for so many hours each day. But I know I have to wait my turn for retirement. Mom used to tell me that when I complained about work.
Ok. I’ll wait. But I’m making a list of stuff I want to do once I have my freedom. And it’s getting pretty darn long.
Walking toward the future.
Some of you have figured out that I successfully imported my old blog into this blog. You got a message that there were over 1000 posts to read! 🙂 I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t want to read all 1000 again. Really? No? Well…some were led down that path…and have commented on posts from a year ago when we were in California.
San Fran goodness.
I wish we had been able to go back out there again this year, but no, we’re still here in Michigan.
Meanwhile, change is coming here as well…at least in the weather department. Not too far north of us they have had snow. And last night we got our first hard frost which killed the tomatoes and the dahlias.
The last bit of summer.
I’m so glad I cut most of the blossoms yesterday, so they’re in my kitchen now and I’m enjoying the last of their beautiful colors for a bit longer.
Summer glows as it slips away.
The leaves are changing faster and faster here too. They are absolutely stunning! I was worried that we wouldn’t get any fall color because we had so little rain this summer. But once again I was wrong.
Fall arrives with fanfare.
It’s beautiful at work on my lunch walks, and it is beautiful around home too. I have so many photos. Every year I think the trees are the most beautiful they’ve ever been and I take more photos.
Waiting for the school bus.
This year was no exception
The air glows gold.
Change Is Hard 