It’s a very foggy fall morning! Just gorgeous. Don took a little walk in our woods and he said it was very atmospheric.

We watched the Mets last night and that had to be the most stunning turnaround in a 9th inning I’ve ever seen. We were screaming. Wow. Wow Wow. Big congratulations!

I’ve been feeling under the weather the past few days – sinuses – but today seems better. Hurrah! We’ll take a walk this morning and I’ll return some library books at the same time. Then, I’ll be catching up on some chores around the house; vacuuming, dusting, watering the houseplants, etc.

I saw another monarch yesterday – from the upstairs window in our bedroom. Soon it will be time for them to fly south. I officially vowed to always have zinnias around because they are the only viable flowers at this point in the year and the monarchs need that sustenance. I watched him flit from zinnia to zinnia. Of course, I’ll always have milkweed as well, even though they spring up in my big garden bed and crowd out the other flowers. This year, I thinned them a bit and that worked well. Believe me, we have plenty of milkweed even with the thinning.

I finished my puzzle yesterday. The World of The Great Gatsby.

It was a joy to work on, but those partiers were very, very tiny. This is definitely my favorite line of puzzles. The company only creates two new puzzles a year, so they’re a precious commodity.

I just looked out the window here in the den and my gosh, the fall colors are beautiful. Lots of gold maple leaves along with the beginnings of red oak leaves. I need to be present and take this in because it will all be gone in a few weeks.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday,

The vibrant yellow goldenrod around the property is keeping me going in the midst of all rest of the flowers and plants fading away. (Impossible to get a clear photo of it – sorry.) On one hand, I’m ready for autumn and the seasonal change. On the other, I’m mourning the last days of my gardens. This change is never easy for me and – I’ll be honest – it leaves me feeling melancholic.

Because it’s been so rainy, I haven’t been able to mow the largest part of the front lawn. I had to wait a day for it to dry out and I tackled it yesterday. The aim was to cut the grass, of course, but also to chop up/mulch all the leaves on the front lawn. The new lawn mower is too low to the ground, no matter how much we adjust the height. So I used the older mower without any front wheel – or is it rear wheel? – drive. I ended up doing the entire front lawn all the way up to the entrance of the secret garden. Needless to say, I’m feeling sore and congested this morning, though I’m pretty proud of myself for tackling it. There will be more leaves, of course, and I’ll have to do it all over again, but for the moment, it looks better out there.

I didn’t watch the debate last night, though I kept up with it via Threads. (Smarmy mansplaining liars aren’t my thing.) We watched the baseball game instead.

The Canada geese are flying overhead much more often these days. The sound of their honking is one of my favorite things. I often see them in the river when I drive to the library. I saw one catch a fish the other day. I haven’t seen the Great blue heron lately. Is he still there or has he moved on to another fishing spot? To be determined…

To those of you who love Louise Penny, her newest book, The Gray Wolf, will be published on October 29th. I will buy it – an exception to my No Buy rule. I have all of her books in hard cover and I want to continue that. I’m on the hold list at the library for Michael Connelly’s newest but it’s a long  list. So I also reserved it in the Large Print edition because that list is much shorter. Frankly, my eyes will probably thank me for it.

Okay. Have to make our second cup of coffee. I desperately need it this morning.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

A little blurry, but a monarch visited us on Saturday afternoon. He was feeding on whatever zinnias were still viable. I don’t know whether he came from an egg laid on one of our milkweed plants, but I like to think so. I’ve only seen about 3 monarchs this season. That doesn’t mean there weren’t more, but if there were, I missed them.

Don’s gigs went well. He had great, attentive audiences, so he was jazzed when he got home.

The hurricane damage and flooding in North Carolina is heartbreaking. I didn’t mention it on Saturday because I still wasn’t fully aware of how devastating the situation was. Who would have thought a hurricane could cause such flooding at such a high elevation? Entire towns gone. So many lives lost. I pray for all who are impacted by the flooding. The loss is unfathomable.

We haven’t walked in a few days because of other commitments and rain, so we hope to get back to it this morning. I found myself missing that exercise, and for someone like me, who can be a slug, that’s a good sign. We’re mowing less and less, though the front lawn needs to be mowed this week, so we can’t count on the exercise we get from that little task. We have to walk consistently. And we’ll definitely be raking a heck of a lot this week. You wouldn’t believe much of our property is covered in fallen leaves.

I’m really enjoying Playground  by Richard Powers. It took me a bit to get into it, but it was worth it. Powers is one of my favorite authors. Now only does he write beautifully, but he takes on big issues in his fiction. The Overstory, the first book of his that I read, remains one of my favorite novels ever. I think this one is going to be equally beautiful.

I’m working away on the jigsaw puzzle. It’s a difficult one, but I’m making progress. Don made an apple pie yesterday, so we’ll have a piece this afternoon. We’re cheering on the Mets, as they try to get into the post-season. They’ve become our team as we don’t get to see enough Red Sox games in the course of the season to have any sort of relationship with them. Plus, I love the guys in the booth – they’re excellent at what they do and they don’t talk incessantly. And they’re funny. Anyway, I have my doubts as to whether they’ll move on. (I hope they do, of course.) We’ll see today.

That’s it for this Monday,

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.