October 22: ~75 degrees

Weirdly warm weather, for October. Really, disturbingly warm, if you think about it. But, in the moment, sort of a treat.

It took a little while to get it all together, though. I came home with Alden and Milo, from school, still mid-afternoon. Probably a bit before 4:00. We kicked around the house, inside, that is, and kept thinking about how to get outside, and what to do, since it was so nice and all. Somehow though, inertia was at work, and we just couldn’t get it together, and the time was just getting frittered away.

Suddenly, I had a total meltdown (the move has been hard, there have been a few of those): here it was, this beautiful warm day, and we were inside and this lovely warm afternoon was escaping. The meltdown then propelled me into action, and I demanded that we all get in the car, quickly (when Mom loses it, it is amazing how people can sometimes move way faster than normal) , and off we went to Wilson Lake, over in Wilton (all of 15 minutes away), to spend a little time at the beach.

The kids played.

We watched the sunset.

And, everything felt a little better.

Fall Colors

are cliche, I know.... but, here are a few shots of the leaves and trees and whatnot, anyway.

It really can be spectacularly beautiful at times, and I want to be sure to note that, somehow.

I'm not especially proud of these photos, though; the reality is so much richer than I seem to be able to capture with my little camera efforts. But, this is what I got, so, here it is.

Quick Hancock Point Trip

Note: This was actually not our first quick trip; we also went the weekend after Labor Day. This was, however, the first time we have ever gotten to be in the Big House all by ourselves, with no one else there (except for the fall of 1996, when Ray and I lived there until early November).

We went to Hancock Point, though barely even for the whole weekend. (What with the very late start we got on Friday night (we hit the road at about 6:30), because we were determined – okay, Ray was determined – to get the trailer lights hooked up and operating before we got there (which was a very smart thing), so that we could tow the boat home when we came back. And, with the need to return to Farmington on Sunday morning, for Alden’s soccer game, it made for a pretty short stay. But, it is only a two hour and 15 minute drive, so, that is okay.).

In theory, we went to close up the house, for Anne. And indeed, we did that, though it was not much work in the end. Really, I suppose, we went in part simply because we could.

We had a perfectly lovely day on Saturday. Beach, biking, reading (Alden discovered Calvin and Hobbes on this trip), Reed’s Rocks,

grilling supper (with local meat and vegetables from the farmer's market in Farmington),

loons in winter plumage,

and so on.

Everything feels different in the fall, at Hancock Point. The colors, the light, riding around on bikes, it all just has a different feel.