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Tonight I made the first fire in the fireplace since outside temps are down around forty and dropping.
With plenty of well seasoned wood this year I hope to kept those fires going a lot of the time. Since I now tend to wake up in the middle of the night most nights I should be able to get up and toss a few more logs on it and keep it going until morning.
I've got a pretty good supply of interesting books both paper ones and a batch on the kindle in case we have any power outages.
Hope you all are keeping warm as we move toward winter.
Here in Massachusetts it was in the 40s and 50s today and will finally get really cold tonight. That fireplace and books sounds good, just what's needed.
I wish the world of appointments and things we need to go to would change to comply with the setting back of the clocks. It's getting darker earlier anyway and now with the clocks set back, dh had to come back from Boston on the train yesterday afternoon in the pitch blackness. Then he had to get a bus and walk from the bus stop 1/4 of mile in the dark. whine whine whine but I hate this. It's still a 9-5 world but it gets dark before you can get home and there is no light for walking the dog or working in the yard. At least we're not still working or it would be every day navigating the rural roads in darkness. When the snow and ice start, we're trapped. /rant.
I love this time of year. My favorite month is November. It feels so clear and clean. The bare trees allow you to see the most amazing colors, brilliant patches of red or yellow in among the trees, and rolling paths of soft lavenders and shades of grey. The hills out here are gorgeous (you can finally see them clearly without all the foliage).
Yesterday I was driving from the southern part of Mass. north and the horizontal Holyoke Mountain Range (the only range here that goes E-W) up ahead was just blazing with color at around 4:30, just before dark. As I drove I was mesmerized by the rolling hills in brilliant profile. An enormous heavy bank of cloud was hovering over the hills throwing off spectacular shadow and light. I had a hard time keeping my eyes on the road. Did I say I love this time of year? And getting up early, thanks to good 'ol ST!
The race was a secondary reason to be up in northern Virginia yesterday. The real reason was the grand opening of the Kincora Fire Station. When you are volunteers, opening a new station is a big, big deal. It's something you work toward for years. So I went up to witness a moment in history. Also, a chance to reconnect with friends. I may have retired and moved away but I'm going to try to stay connected. At least for the first year or so.
Since the daily shift starts at 6 a.m., that meant the station opened as the sun was rising. Wow, that was an early morning drive. About half way there I wondered if I was out of my freakin' mind to be doing this. But it was actually rather cool to see (what can I say, I was into the symbolism as the sun rose over the new fire station).
They had a nice ceremony with an honor guard, flag raising ceremony, and then they pushed the biggest truck into the virgin station. Pushing the truck into a brand new bay brings good luck.
It was chilly chilly chilly at 6 a.m. (about 42 degrees). If there was a smiley that said "Brrrr" this would be a good place to use it. But I wore a coat and layers, and had a nice hot cup of Joe to keep me warm. And I made a bee line to get inside just as soon as the station was officially open.
This is literally the sun rising over the new fire station
Firefighters push the truck into the bay for the first time
Getting back to race photos, I noticed lots of leaves had fallen, since the last time I was up there. But there were some spots of good color. Notice the trees behind the kids warming up for the Turkey Trot (the run for younger kids that's held earlier in the morning).
Last look at some leaves before they all blow away for the season. It's November, after all.
Yeah, they did a nice job on it. There are a few little glitches, but every building has those I guess. The best part is the furniture is real (not built by prisoners).
Being a civic building, the landscaping and the furniture of firehouses is often built by prison industries.
You know, I'm all for supporting charity and the prisoners actually do a good job with the landscaping (at east around here) but the couches are what you'd call sturdy. In other words, not all that comfy.
I'm ok with couches built by prisoners, but after a long day fighting fires, I think they deserve to sink into a couch that's comfy!
Last edited by Caladium; 11-11-2013 at 05:30 AM..
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And getting up early, thanks to good 'ol ST!
But it was actually rather cool to see (what can I say, I was into the symbolism as the sun rose over the new fire station). 
