june in october

 It is impossible to believe, but here I am on October 3rd, outside, relaxing, after having gone for a (very) brief swim! Carm went in first and when I saw that he survived the ordeal, I stripped down and dunked myself for a few seconds into the 63F water… just to say I did! It's actually hot with a humidex of 33C!!! On October 3rd. Tomorrow is expected to be the same or even slightly hotter.

Having said all that, my bipolar brain is misbehaving, leaving me drained of energy and motivation. It's no big surprise I guess - fall, and a slipping away sun, usually tips me off balance at some point, but I think it's a bit early this year… perhaps there are just a few more things to worry about this fall…

Leo came by late Tuesday morning with his tractor to swing two giant tree trunks from sticking out into the field to along the fenceline, out of the way of hay machinery. Carm had done a great job de-limbing the behemoths to prepare them to be moved so Leo was here and gone before I could bat an eye… 

….. that was all yesterday but today I am again on the back deck, swathed in a fluffy robe after having dipped (quickly) into the pool! A few new records set: coldest water I've swum in (64F) and latest date! Never in October, and sometimes even September has been iffy. This year I have stretched the season tremendously by becoming a beluga whale!

What I failed to mention, is that both yesterday and today we were driven inside by tiny biting flies that have covered my arms with raised itchy bumps :-(  

We just finished bringing in the plants that stay upstairs so the deck is looking forlorn and almost ready for winter :-(  It's actually a bit hard to imagine that in a month or two (let's hope two), we could be under a foot of snow!

I will suffix this by mentioning that although I am enjoying the extended summer, inside I am worried about what it means overall... 

Awesome!

“June in October”

“the impossible white of a marshmallow”

“Grace having a bath in her outside cage"

“a microswim on October 3rd and again on the 4th!”