Can it be October already??? Summer went by way too fast. Even though we have had a delayed fall color season, the leaves are now dropping fast and frost is on the pumpkins. We even saw snow covering a Vermont mountaintop yesterday. The cold season here lasts an incredibly long time! Maybe when retirement becomes possible we'll find ourselves a place with a couple more months of warmth...
I was about to say that the butterfly season is over, but remarkably we saw Monarchs, Clouded Sulphurs, and an Orange Sulphur flying yesterday in the Champlain Valley. It was in the 40's and very windy, but these tough bugs were determined to be out and active. I wish them luck!
I've been feeling a little down lately. Partly it's due to the arrival of the cold season, partly it's due to the backlog of undone fall chores, but it's also due to the realization that I'm still doing much of the same stuff at work as I did five years ago. I feel stagnant. So I need to take the bull by the horns and teach myself some new computer skills, since the regular course of my job isn't going to do that.
Speaking of learning something new, I enrolled in the community French course again this fall. I took it last fall, winter, and spring, so now I'm something like an advanced beginner. It has usually been fun, even though I doubt that I'll ever get to where I can communicate in any meaningful way in French.
Our most recent travels took us to Maui in September with my in-laws. The highlights for me were the day hikes on Haleakala, the guided hike into the Waikamoi Preserve native forest, and the visit to the aquarium. I'm less interested in the resort areas that dominate much of the shoreline. We saw some life birds and some life butterflies (pictures are on my butterfly lifelist). And we had a succession of great meals and a great luau. All in all, we did pretty much everything we planned to do. Now we have a long wait until our next vacation.
Enjoy your autumn !
Peace,
Terry
10/20/03