Autumnal Cycles

Wow, it's Wednesday already...and would you look at the date? August 30th. Sheesh. Summer just went ahead and slipped away like it always does, didn't it? I was looking out the front window yesterday thinking "man, look at those yellow leaves! Ugh." Yes, they're pretty alright, but they sure don't last long.

Actually I love the fall, it's a nice time of year...I get to a point at the end of summer where I'm ready for my jeans and sweatshirts and bonfires and all of that. But the thought of what comes next - gutting out the 4 or 5 months of bone aching cold and slush and muddy roads and slow traffic of winter makes my feet cold. Winter has it's advantages...I love it for a little while. It's fun getting snowed in and watching movies and throwing snowballs, but after Christmas and New Years when the festivities have fizzled and there's not much going on and February has set in...you just think "Arrgghh, will this ever end?"

Okay, so I'm really not trying to bitch about winter...not my point at all, but sometimes I get off on tangents.

I'm excited because I have a three day weekend for Labor Day and Wile and I are going to the Upper Penninsula (still in Michigan, you know.) to backpack at Pictured Rocks. (Check out http://www.exploringthenorth.com/pictrocks/pr.html for cool pictures of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.) I'm from Michigan and I'm ashamed that I've never been there before! Just check out the pictures on the aforementioned website and you will see the beauty! We've been planning for a long time to spend the traditional last-hurrah-of-summer-weekend up there backpacking before the cold sets in. I think it's a 5 or 6 hour drive up there, but I'm told it's well worth it. It's good to explore the home country...there's beauty everywhere, but sometimes you just have to look for it.

Well, anyway, fall has cycled around again. I remember last year, sitting out on the steps at our newly rented cottage on Baldwin lake, looking at the setting sun wondering what the future would hold. Feeling the slight chill to the air, watching the Canadian Geese fly by, noticing the earlier decent of the sun... We were starting a new life...falling in love, making brushetta (sp?) in the kitchen, taking midnight walks and sticking together. I remember driving to Grand Rapids to have a beer at the Cottage Bar and getting pulled over on Fulton because we were talking so much that I wasn't paying attention to my speed. Then we got new Allstar High Tops...his in blue, mine in green. Awe, cute. It's all still there...even more now. I love our memories and I'll always love the fall.

Isn't amazing how I can turn any blog into a gushy one? I guess we must be doing something right. :)

Well, it's almost 5 and I'm home alone tonight. I think I'll take Wile's advice and do something that I want to do tonight instead of something that I feel like I need to do (I have compulsive cleaning problems), so I'm going to be a wino and read, I think - and it sounds fabulous.

Cheers.