Running with cargo

This past weekend I ran what will be, in most likelihood, my last race of the year .... plus some -- I think a turkey trot over Thanksgiving might be a bit much. Although it was a 5K, the cargo I now carry made it a bit more challenging. However, between support belts and heartburn a good time was had. It was a bit chilly starting out, but once the freight got moving things warmed up quite nicely. Chris and our friend Bruce once again volunteered -- they did last year as well, but I was on a different course and never saw them. Of course, after the race we required sustenance at Candies Cafe in Hubbell, yes, Hubbell.

Later in the day we picked local apples. I made them into applesauce on Sunday. I canned some as well! My first experience canning anything turned out pretty nicely -- if I say so myself. So, in the depths of winter we will have applesauce. Applesauce that came from UP-bred and raised apples, prepared in a UP kitchen, and consumed in a UP house.

If you ask me, life is pretty darn sweet.  :-)

Fall thoughts ....

Context: written around a campfire on a cool, windy, beginning-to-rain, September morning. Actually, the handwritten pages of this journal have some smears from the raindrops that began to fall as I wrote.

September, ... Your arrival oftentimes finds us hot and miserable. Your departure oftentimes leaves us snow -- at least frost-speckled, late summer gardens.

It is my lucky circumstance to have been born at the almost-midpoint of your annual lunar travel. Fall has always been the best .... Change. Last respite before winter. Hell, I even match September -- brown-golden eyes, red-golden-brown hair, same color freckles, a propensity for sweatshirts and hiking boots, red wine and campfires, apple cider, new-paint smell, hot dust smell from freshly-turned-on furnaces ..... Ah, how I love this time of year.

Surprise!

On this birthday of mine, I wish to say one thing:  hehehehehehe