i don’t know if i haven’t been paying attention for 43 falls or if this one has just been a bit different, but i feel like this autumnal season is longer than normal. usually i expect fall to last the first two weeks or so in october but it’s been much longer this year, at least to me.
it seemed to start earlier in september, and then hit its peak right as october started, but then it’s hit its second peak just this past week, and now i’m in second fall? real fall? there are some trees that have lost their leaves, but when first fall hit, there were still a lot of green trees hanging out. so i’m not sure what is happening. i read that draught and also the smoke from the wildfires can cause distress for trees and prompt them to enter dormancy earlier. maybe some trees are just more sensitive to that?
either way, it seems like it’s been an extra long fall this year, and this weekend it’ll be winter *eyeroll* with snow on the way. huzzah.
i’ve had some delightful moments the past month or so and just haven’t taken the time to set it into words. maybe i’ve been working with too many words weekly at work. maybe the lack of light is leaving me lackluster. maybe the anticipation of alliteration just wasn’t alluring enough.
so.
at the end of september and early october, i headed to palm springs, california to present at a national conference. the conference was meh. my presentation was decent. i was in the middle of a head cold. but it was california and hot and i was two hours from the ocean and how could i not take advantage of that? the good news was that it was cheaper for me to rent a car and drive to san diego to fly out rather than leave from palm springs. so, that’s what i did.
along the way, i drove up and over a mountain via switchbacks. i watched the desert turn into shrubby, low-growth foliage. i basked in the sunshine. i saw no cacti. i started to see palm trees. i glimpsed the ocean. and then there i was.
i spent friday night in dana point, which is the home of lesley fightmaster. i found a super 8 right across the highway from the ocean and public beach and paid for the ocean-view room with a balcony.
after checking in and a brief nap, i changed and walked a block, crossed a busy 4-lane road, then up and over a railroad track, and landed on the beach, set up shop on the sand, and sat for an hour.
after that, i went to a mediocre restaurant that was actually just a bar with appetizers, sat on their “patio” with the car noise whizzing past. the view was fantastic tho.
then back to my balcony room, where i sat as the sun set over the ocean, highlighting the palm trees and surfer vans and young girls dancing with flashlights and a gathering around a fire.
then i doordashed some chocolate cake, ate it in bed (and made a mess), and was asleep by 9:30.
the next day i drove down the coast to san diego, stopping at a fantastic little coffee shop before leaving dana point, where i had the best meal of the week (a lox, cream cheese, avocado, and greens sandwich on multigrain bread). the trip to the airport took a couple hours since i bypassed the freeway to drive through small coastal towns to keep the ocean in view as long as possible, stopping a couple times to put my feet in the sand and surf in my ears. the town of carlsbad would be one i’d like to return to someday.
then it was time to board an airplane, and we swung out over the ocean before turning around and heading inland toward the most land-locked piece of real estate the continent has to offer.
i wouldn’t mind being a beach bum.
but then i come back to lakes and leaves and the promise of seasons.
after august has heavily made its way and september spends nearly all its time in summer, there is a moment before autumn starts where i’ve missed spring and summer so much that i don’t want to welcome the season and october. the light disappears; the trees will lose their leaves to remain barren for months; the wind stings in the nose and breath appears like a dream. it’s the subsequent season that keeps me from a freefall into fall.
but then on my drive to work in the morning, just this past couple weeks, when i am still sleepy and thinking about nothing, rotely driving in the barely there morning light, green started to drain in force from the leaves. there is a stand of trees in a small dip in a backroad—i hesitate to call it valley—with one of the best displays i have seen. yellows, oranges, reds, ethereal orangey yellows that blur the eyes and create a watercolor painting. strong greens still stand out, giving the contrast my eyes need so badly, the thought that this will be gradual.
it will be over too soon, of course. the season is short in our state, and shorter the farther north you go. the leaves will fall or shrivel and fall or turn brown and shrivel and fall, and the stark darkness of branches will stand out from a grey sky that’s so common in november, or else cloaked in darkness to hibernate.
until that point, during which i am irritated by axial tilt, i will enjoy the pockets of delight on my drives, noticing the transitions and hoard the moment.
i’ve written before about how instagram reads my mind and delivers the right ads to me at all times. well, one of the things it kept shoving at me was a hip hook, a tool that releases your iliacus and psoas muscles, aka your hip flexors and the little guys that are hanging out behind your hip bones.
so i went to go check it out and OMG it’s nearly $200 for THIS??
really. -_-
but the more i read about the aletha hip hook, and the more that i looked at it in my feed, i thought, what can it hurt to try it out? it has a 60-day guarantee. if it sucks, i’ll just return it.
so i got it, and my runs have never been more lovely. i look forward to running more than ever before because since i started using this thing? my legs have been just wonderful. i haven’t had one of those runs where i know it’s going to be bad within 10 seconds of starting. last week i ran 5 miles three times! if not for the loss of my daytime light, i’d probably run 10 miles a day.
i use it right before going out on a run, and whatever it does, it has made all the difference. you can feel the flexors just start to loosen up.
and since i work for a government institution, i was able to get a 20% discount! so that was helpful. i still can’t believe that they charge what they charge for this, given it’s a piece of plastic and slab of metal, but i have looked for cheaper alternatives to no avail.
anyway, thanks instagram. highly recommend.
and tomorrow i get a litter robot for the cat poo. we’ll see how that goes!
what’s delightful? a long weekend is delightful. looking forward to the three days of no one renting your time for their purposes and doing your own stuff as needed. some long weekends i just lie around like a bum. THIS long weekend, however, i have gotten a lot done, so far. and getting things checked off my checklist is, well, delightful.
i fixed my toilet. it had been making a whining noise for a while and i determined that it was the internal mechanism that needed to be replaced. so i did that.
nate and i finally went grocery shopping.
finished a book in 1.5 days.
sat outside in the hot weather, soaking it up before autumn comes to announce winter.
made a document for my dad.
installed a pull out drawer in my cupboard with pots in it.
installed a ring doorbell (against my wishes – doing it for the insurance discount).
got some new art for the entry hallway since now you can see in there!
cleaned up the apples rotting in yard in preparation for mowing the lawn, except it’s too hot to mow.
picked a bunch of tomatoes! i may not have cucumbers, but i’ll have tomatoes. gotta figure out what to do with them.
went to TJMaxx and got enough cheap soap to last us 6 years (and two sets of halloween press-on nails).
then stopped by the bizarre bazaar on saturday! that was fun to check out, though i didn’t buy much (just more soap).
the only thing i didn’t get to on my list was a possible haircut, and that wasn’t a priority so i’ll get that done another day.
then i go to work for three days and i’m taking friday off because nate has a long weekend next weekend! that’s all i’ve got, blog land. i want to do something RE: the downfall of social media soon, but i need to think about. could be just me – i am almost ready to pull the plug on it all.
every house i’ve owned (3 of them) have had a red door. i painted my st. joe door after a couple years, and then for my st charles and avon houses, i painted them right away.
my current house had a front door that had a little peeper of a window at the top, which really did nothing for the dark danky hallway that it was opening into. in order to have any light in that hallway, i had to open the bedroom door and roll up the blinds. it wasn’t bad, but for a person who would have her whole house windows if possible, it was dark.
finally something clicked after liz told me that my next project needed to be a new door with more windows. aha! i can fix this!
i went to menards and bought a new, high-efficiency door that will not only let light in, but it will get me $120 back in tax rebates. after nate and i hung it friday afternoon (it came pre-hung and we just took the door off frame and replaced it), i painted it this afternoon when the weather isn’t 90º.
nate was worried about being able to see in right to where he’s sitting at his desk, but if there are no lights on indoors, all you really see is a reflection as you walk up. if it gets bad, i’ll put up a filmy curtain or something like i did in st. charles.
a delight? i’m not sure. capitalism at its best? well, that’s a for sure. creepy? absolutely.
no other platform understands my psyche like instagram. whatever they do to monitor my goings-on, they are doing it well because every ad seems to be tailored to what i would like.
now, i could choose to not have them serve personalized ads to me, but they’re going to monitor my goings-on either way, so why not get something out of it?
i have thrown away money on some stuff, and other stuff i have said “wow this was exactly what i was looking for!” and other stuff i’d like to just buy everything and put it in my house, but i can’t justify the cost.
items i have been happy with:
my slow turtle running hat
native deodorant – a detox for the pits!
snorgtees – i bought a “peace, love, and the oxford comma” shirt
calm strips
a pizza storage tupperware
freshcleanthreads tshirt for nate
bombas socks!
oiselle running gear
minimalist lint-remover, but really for cat fur. it’s amazing!
what have i been unimpressed by?
woxer lady boxers. they are too high waisted and started disintegrating after one wear
shapermint. i ordered two colors, same size and make. one is loose and one is so tight that i get a backache wearing it. plus, they both roll up. what’s the use if it’s going to roll up to my waist? that’s not the point of shapewear.
this pair of shoes that were ADORABLE but didn’t have the specs on the product page, and so they were not flat enough for my very picky feet. i had to return them.
things i do not have a solid opinion of:
jonathan van ness’ air dry curly hair goo. it WORKS. but is it worth it for ME? my hair takes so long to air dry that it doesn’t seem to be worth it.
there’s this store that continues to advertise to me, and i really want to buy a sweater, but i cannot justify $100+ on a non-wool sweater.
another clothing place where i purchased a halloween dress and a bat shirt. they’re cute, but the quality is not as high as i would expect for the price i paid. well, for the once-a-year wear, they’re fine.
with my continued FB hiatus and twitter entering the end times, instagram seems to be my regular social media outlet these days. i’ll take the ads!
i’m not sure i would file this under delight, but i find it interesting.
there’s a moment in the late spring when the frogs stop croaking. occasionally you’ll hear an outlier, but the symphony of peepers and croakers in the evening and early nighttime slowly dwindle to nothing after two months of chaos in the swamp.
there’s a moment in the early july when you hear the first cricket, maybe on a walk along a field with tall grass, or in the ditch while you drag your trash to the curb, but it’s singular and early in the evening.
then there’s a moment in mid- to late-july when the the birds have moved north and no longer swarm the trees, and the birds who do live locally are asleep early.
and it’s this moment when you step outside after the gloaming, and you hear no sign of life. no frogs, no crickets, no birds. it doesn’t last long and it’s nothing like the deep silence of winter, but it’s disconcerting nonetheless.
and then a few days later, the crickets start singing in the evenings into the nighttime, and in august the cicadas will start up.
but the silence of summer is the height, the shift. the sun no longer stays out past 9 p.m. the leaves are soaked in their chlorophyll. tips of sumac start turning red. motes of floating plant fuzz drift to find a spot of dirt to hibernate.
oh but don’t you dare come at me with fall vibes and pumpkin spice. it’s not sweater weather when it’s 90º in early september.
it was a hot and muggy day today, one of the hottest of the year, i’d bet. and likely one of the muggiest. even at work where the AC was running, the humidity crept in and made everyone sticky, and woe to those who had to do some work outside.
when i got home, i pulled out my paddleboard after taking it to a week-long lake excursion and inflated it, sweat flinging off my forehead (the electrical airpump is looking better every minute).
tossed that baby in the back of the truck and headed to lake sag at st. john’s.
the water was glass.
and only one fishing canoe on it – where were all the people?? not that i was complaining.
i slipped my sup into the water and glided so easily across it. the water was wonderful – not chilly or cold that would shock your body if you jumped in. i paddled to the middle of the lake and slipped over the side into the water. (made kind of a ruckus as i did and definitely disturbed the smooth surface.)
the water was lovely, with small sections of colder water as i swam around my paddleboard, floated on my back, and enjoyed not being hot.
and if i thought i made a ruckus getting in, it was even worse hauling myself onto the board! i made it, even after my calf cramped up.
then i took a paddle around the lake and found the loon family. they were floating in the lilypads, rolling onto their backs so their white bellies showed with feet flipping around in the air. the loon pair had two chicks this year, and it seems they are about young adult age. their brown fuzz isn’t completely gone, but their bellies are white and you can tell they are loons and not a fluffy brown blob.
then one of the young loons did the thing that loons do when they’re looking pretty in the water: flapped its wings and stretched out, like the photo below (not my pic!).
i left the loons to be solitary and then paddled over to the stella maris chapel and then back into the middle of the lake for another dip in the water before i headed out, creating a few more ripples on the flat surface of the lake.
