Summer's last hurrah

The past four or five days were absolutely gorgeous: warm, sunny and dry. It seemed odd to be wearing shorts so far into October but no one complained. We spent the weekend on both work and play: on Saturday, we visited a few Cayuga Lake wineries with two other couples, then on Sunday we worked on the patio and James did some painting and woodworking.

Aidan was off from school on Monday and Tuesday, Monday for Columbus Day and Tuesday for a teacher work day. I will never understand the concept of Columbus Day; just why should we commemorate the "discovery" of a continent that was already inhabited by people?

Nevertheless, Aidan and I picked up sandwiches from Subway and drove out to Beaver Lake Nature Center for a picnic on Monday. He clearly enjoyed his sandwich:


We hiked and searched for a few geocaches, and generally appreciated the beautiful day. Aidan enjoyed mugging for the camera:


As you can see, some trees are turning and some have already lost their leaves:


"Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn."
- Elizabeth Lawrence

And we did.

Always check the pockets before doing laundry

Aidan came in from playing outside yesterday afternoon and said that he had something to show me. He reached into his pocket and when I saw that the "something" was furry and had small feet, I nearly climbed onto the kitchen counter.

I still don't know what it was, other than dead, but I made him take it back outside, come in and scrub his hands, and then we talked about not picking up dead creatures.

Oh, the conversations that I never anticipated having with my child.