Columbus Day Interlude

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For Columbus Day weekend, my big goal was to spend lots of time at my computer and catch up on posting book reviews on my website.  I had been writing reviews and posting them on the blog part of the site, but had more than 40 reviews which I had never transferred over to the main site, complete with links and pictures of the cover.

It was going great.  It’s Monday, and I only have two more sections to update — Children’s Fiction, and Picture Books, about 16 reviews.  I didn’t want to stop, but I had to do the grocery shopping.

That’s when I noticed what a glorious day it is!  The temperature is 75, a little on the warm side.  Most of the leaves are still green, but there are so many splashes of color!  I wouldn’t have thought they would change in such warm weather, and indeed not many leaves are falling just yet, but there is so much color in the treetops.  The sun is shining brightly, so the colors shine against the brilliant blue sky.

I decided to take a break from computer work and go for a walk over the bridge to Frying Pan Park and “our” waterfall.  It turns out there is a whole network of trails on the other side of the waterfall.  The creek is low, so it is easy to cross.

My favorites are the bright red vines that twine around the tree trunks and outline the tree branches, as in my “cover” picture above.

I was flooded with a sense of well-being as I went on my little less-than-an-hour walk.  (I’ve already spent more time uploading the pictures than I did on the walk!  But it was worth it.)  It was odd seeing so much fall color when the weather was warm, almost hot.  But so beautiful.  The woods seem very much alive still, yet so brilliantly colored.

I saw other people at the waterfall, but nowhere else along the path.  I am definitely going to have to make more of a habit of walking in the woods.

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After the narrow walking trails, I got to some horse trails, that lead out of the woods to the barn at Frying Pan Park.  Along the trails, there were jumps set up.  When I saw this “room” with a roof of colored branches and the horse jumps, I was transported back to my girlhood reading horse books.  How easy to imagine a girl keeping her horse at Frying Pan Farm and teaching him to become a champion jumper, in the woods, destined for greatness!

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Below is one of the trees stretching over the horse jumps:

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It ended up being such a lovely interlude!  I do so love Autumn!  Having grown up in Southern California, it still seems such a wonderful miracle.

Life is good!

An Evening Walk

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It was a lovely summer evening after a full day of work.  I asked my son to take a walk with me, and he agreed!  There’s a little creek and waterfall at an abandoned corner about a five minutes’ walk from our home.  It’s nice to walk over and just hear the water above the sound of cars rushing past.  There is a bridge across the busy street, so we don’t have to deal with traffic and can get a little lull of time in the woods.  I don’t go there nearly often enough.

I’m still reviewing my summer from the pictures I took.  This was early in the summer.  One thing I reflect about it was that I sure enjoy my son’s company.  It’s just the two of us now, but I am so thankful that he is such good company.