Friday, September 6th - back to a routine again

I love the summer, don't get me wrong, but I also love when the fall comes and we are back once again into a routine. Even though I don't have kids in school or anything like that, it still feels good to have the rest of the world back into reality. Even the weather is better. This morning it's a chillier 8' (that feels like 6') but it's going to get better later on and warm up to 14' and even better tomorrow.  It makes sleeping much better, at least for me, when it's not so warm (of course that's probably an age and hormonal thing). But the big plus is the lack of mosquitoes.

Last night was awesomely fine without any bugs. After supper, Lloyd went out to feed the chickens and came back in and announced he wanted to do something - had no idea what, but something. He suggested a bicycle ride but my bike needs a bit of repair so we opted instead to go for a walk. We headed down the road and turned at Joey's Road. On the way we met a fellow walking the other way and he commented on how nice it was to walk without any bugs and of course we agreed. We ended up walking around the block - a bit of a distance for two people who have done nothing active in quite some time. It was very dark when we were walking up the hill on the Fort Augustus Road and we encountered the same gentleman who was obviously walking around the same block - just in the other direction. Needless to say my feet and legs were pretty tired by the time we got back. But it was a good work out, for sure.

Now that fall is here, that also means Brenda is back driving a school bus. Yesterday was the first day of school out here, and she's back to the same route she had last year, for a while at least. Our fall routine when she needs to get stuff done in town, is to walk or get a ride to my work after her run in the morning is done, then she can take my car and do her errand. Sometimes that might involve a coffee and visit with her cousin, or lunch at some interesting little spot, before she picks me up at 1:30 and I drop her off at the bus. Then I can stop in at her place and drop off her purchases on my way home - a system that works great - especially on very warm days when we go out to Cows and have ice cream - something I wouldn't normally do!   I could,  I just never think of it. But yesterday was too cold to be an ice cream day.

I loved the fall when I was growing up - it was my very favorite time of the year. I had a horse and I found fall was always the best time of year for riding. Summer was usually too hot, and the horses were  very lethargic. Winter was too cold and slippery, and spring was generally too wet and muddy. Yes, fall was always the best time - pulling on a warm sweater and then just heading out for hours on end and enjoying the fresh cool air and the fall scenery. We had a neighbour who also had a horse and sometimes on a Saturday or Sunday we would take our horses and  head out  for long walks through the woods and race across the fields. Those were great times.

Fall here, is also the shell fish festival and fall flavours. The past two years our friend Linda from Ontario, and her friend Joyce, have come out to Linda's cottage for a couple of weeks to take in the festivities. I talked to her on Wednesday evening, as they have just arrived for a three week visit. We're going to see them over the weekend.

We really didn't have any visitors this summer, other than James for a few days in July. It's like that - some years are really busy and others not so much. But it still managed to be a busy time for us. Even Brenda and Bernie didn't have nearly as many visitors as last year. Does that mean next year will be really busy again?? We'll just have to wait and see.