I fell into traffic behind a school bus last Friday - a clear reminder that fall is here. Need to remember to be vigilant since I drive past a high school where I get reminded of my own attitude at that age when kids simply step in front of my car with that 'it's illegal to run over me' look. And others simply never stop looking at their texting when they cross the street. It's good training for my reflexes. Each time I don't run over one I like to think that I'm saving a future tax payer, LOL.

I agree with you Bill that fall is really here. I'm on "raccoon patrol" while the cats are out in the mornings and have been having my tea out on the patio while the two of them poke about in our yards. It's so nice and cool out now in the a.m. This morning it was also gloriously bright from the full moon shining down on the 3 of us.

DH and I managed to get out paddling on both Sat. and Sun. mornings. Again cool weather with quite a bit more wind than in the past few weekends. Beautiful paddling!

And I finally lifted my boat out of the water and carried it to the rack. Didn't quite manage to heave it up on the rack but came close. strength training rocks!

We noticed a large, military type plane circling as we paddled. I saw it later in the day at my buddy Anne's as we had tea on her patio.

It sparked a conversation about where we all were and how we felt on 9/11 ten years ago. I watched a documentary last night about a rookie firefighter that became the vidoe of record for the NY fire department , narrated by New Yorker Robert DeNiro. It brought back a lot of emotions around that day and yes, I did eat.

I cried too. Some of the first responders are now dying of cancer. How on earth could they have been told that the air at Ground Zero was safe to breathe? How could the people who lived in the area have been told the same? That day will never be forgotten and now there are even more sad deaths added to the tally.

If I ever get to NYC again I will go to the memorial site and pay my respects.

Back OP today as usual on Mondays.

Good Monday all!

Dagmar

Here I am, in a strangely good mood. I forgot what country mornings are like, when the weather is good.

I need to call my building's management and tell them all the inspections of my apartment are done and that they can proceed with the clean-out and demolition.

I also have to figure out a way to get an enormous GB file of pictures taken of the wreckage to my insurance company. Probably if I load them up on Photobucket & send a link in addition to mailing a disk, that will do it.

In the meantime, it's all heavily dew-laden grass here -- so wet, I can see the cat's trail over the lawn, a darker line running through the silvery grass -- and goldfinches fluttering at my mother's thistle seed feeders. The finches are so brightly colored, they're almost like fluorescent yellow tennis balls.

I feel like I have entered some romantic comedy movie that I've seen over & over again on the Lifetime channel: Big city girl moves back to small town to learn Life Lessons.

I should soon meet a charming, scruffy-jawed local guy whom I knew in high school & who is now divorced & running his own contracting business or on the local police force. He should be played by Jon Bon Jovi or Harry Connick, Jr. or someone like that. We're scheduled to meet cute & fall in love sometime this week or next week.

There is one big difference from my life & those movies, fortunately or unfortunately. And that is, I still have my NY-area job to work at, every weekday, from my laptop, keeping me indoors & in captivity while the movie heroines are usually driving around their small town in pickup trucks they're not used to driving, having humorous fish-out-water adventures.

Also my squabbles with my mother are real-life & serious, not written by rom-com writers with lots of jokes inserted.

I'm still in the USA. We got up yesterday for the beginning of our adventure but the airline had called to announce cancellation of the leg from Texas to Costa Rica. Not to be daunted, we had a beautiful breakfast with bloody Mary's and then headed to the hills north of Scottsdale for a (very) rigorous 3 mile hike. We were prepared with water for the heat of the morning but still, it was grueling and about 2/3's of the way I felt shaky and nauseous. After a rest I was able to finish and then we went to a local biker bar for a few beers and a huge burger which I couldn't finish.

We came home, napped and showered and then fixed a really nice BBQ chicken and salad dinner and then watched National Treasure on DVD before turning in.

This morning, we awoke with trepidation...would we have another phone message? Thankfully, no, so today we're off on our adventure. Thankfully the tour company was able to move all our activities out one day for us, so the only thing we'll miss out on is a day of leisure that was scheduled for the final day.

Hi Bill and Dagmar!

Good luck Allison on getting out today. Glad you were stranded in such a nice place.

Saef-- I think I've seen that movie! Looking forward to hearing about your new hunk that you'll be reconnecting with any day now.

Gonna check in more later-- super busy day at work for me-- ALL of the kiddos start coming today to the library.

That could be fun. Enjoy the moment, saef, but be warned that the timetable may not run strictly to plan. Don't they shoot scenes in random order?

This sounds less fun. I hope that eases up a bit.

Don't forget you will figure out that your high school girlfriends from the in-crowd are all horribly mean, and you will make friends with the "uncool" girls you never deemed to hang out w in HS. You have matured, after all.

But I am glad that you're in a better mood this week, though sorry you're fighting with your mother. How was the yoga studio you were going to check out?

Allison, glad the delay wasn't too painful and have fun on your adventure!

I have been bit by the scalloping bug. I went yesterday. They have grown nice and big over the summer, and we feasted for dinner. I'm going this afternoon, and Wednesday too. There's only two weeks of the season left! I must go now while I can!

I am not feeling a lot of enthusiasm for today. I still feel terrible, after three solid days of head cold. I'm ready for it to be done and gone.

Saef - waiting for the next scene of your movie to start.

Allison - glad that you are off on your trip! Enjoy!

Megan - I love scallops. Yummy.

Dagmar - way to use those muscles!

Bill - I would never have survived being a teenager if there had been cell phones and text messages. I almost got run down by cars crossing the street not paying attention just with regular conversation...

Michele - enjoy your first library day!

Well, I picked a fine time to wander back here and see how everyone is. I read the last 3 weeks "weekly" threads and all I can say is wow - my life sounds quiet and boring (happily) compared with what some of you are dealing with. Huge cyber to all of you.

Hi Pat! How have you been?

The first day of library was insane. I didn't have time to drink my water or eat my snack! Tomorrow will be crazy as well as I'm cramming extra classes in that would otherwise miss due to an assembly in the library Friday morning.

Hi Pat! How is retirement going? Are you travelling much?

Dagmar

Well I'm finally acting, rather than thinking, complaining, eating, etc. I tend to put start dates on things (to try to motivate me - it never works) and this was all supposed to start after Labour Day. Better late than etc.

I have contacted the senior's support program in my dad's area and they are going to sit down with him on Thursday. I hope it will be a positive experience for him and the new worker and that they can support him with some of the stuff he needs. I gave my dad a list of services he would benefit from for the worker to look at, which I hope my dad remembers to give her.

I have the number of a psychology centre in my area which I will contact early next week to set up a consultation for myself. They have 5 psychologists on staff and I'm sure one of them will be a reasonable fit for myself. I'm looking forward to feeling a lot less .

I have ordered golfing books to read over the winter (for retirement - yes I plan waaay ahead ) and I am going to my first meeting of the Toronto Vintage Costume Jewellery Club tomorrow night.

The club meets 6 times a year and also has a "social" in spring. I don't have to learn a new craft (just study up on my jewellery - yes I ordered books for that too ) or practice daily or add much of anything to my already burderend schedule. My kind of club!

I am going to start yoga class again in October.

And finally I have reconciled myself to DH never having a high-paying job and taking on most of our costs. I will probably continue to be the chief breadwinner for as long as I can. In return DH now has to quit complaining every day about work and accept whatever job he winds up in.

I think that's enough to keep me busy until sometime in 2014!

Dagmar

Waving hi for the week! I had no time to check in yesterday. Mondays are always pretty insanely busy with classes, and I had a dentist appointment yesterday on top of everything. Am I the only weirdo who LOVES going to the dentist? There's nothing like clean, fresh teeth.

I've been soaking up football, now that the season is here. My dad passed his love of football on to my sister and me, and then my going to a big football school (Univ. of Florida - GO GATORS!) just made it that much more of a big deal. My sister prefers pro football and I love college, but it's just nice to have it back. I'm not a fanatic or anything, but it's fun to watch and cheer and wear team colors and talk smack. Anyone else a football fan?

Fall is nice as it arrives. I'm holding out on making pumpkin bread until October, though. It's still in the 80s here in Atlanta and I refuse to eat pumpkin bread until I can see my breath in the morning.

Have a good day!

Jen-- yes, you must be the only weirdo who loves going to the dentist! I would rather go to the gyno than the dentist-- it's over much quicker!

Wow Dagmar....when you act, you act. You certainly have set yourself up with a ton of great activities and plans. You need to print out your post to look at when you get frustrated down the line.

Speaking of trying new things-- I've always wanted to learn scuba diving. Dh and I are going to try an intro scuba class this Saturday. It will give us an idea if scuba is for us or not as I hear many people try it and get panicky. Since I have some claustrophobia I worry that could happen. However, I love swimming and snorkeling so I hope I love it!

In other news, my dd is checking into getting a service dog for herself. She has Tourette's Syndrome and the organization trains and provides dogs for people with mental and other disabilities. She is very excited about the prospect but the costs may be upwards of $20,000. I don't even know how we would begin to tackle that. She is going to see if her college offers grants for people with disabilities and go from there.

Saef, I'm popping in to say how sorry I am for all that loss! I thought you lived in lower Westchester. Did you move or have I always had it wrong?
You are in my thoughts.