I was late again this morning. Had to go back for the camera. (One of these days, I ought to invest in a camera I can have with me all the time...)
It took a while to get this photo to come out as I actually saw it, but it was well worth the effort. Don't you just want to sit down here with someone in silence and listen to the falling leaves together?
If/when I ever move (the "if" there is a sign of something deep and disturbing to my former globe-trotting self) one of the things I'm going to miss is my daily commute to work. Five left turns, most of them within view of the lake. It's amazing how much variety there is in those 1.6 miles.
On the first cold snap in fall, I pretty much just assume that I'm going to get to work a little later than usual. The lake billows with clouds, and there's no hope for me but to go back around the block and fetch my camera.
Photos from two separate mornings:
Yes, this is scarcely a hundred feet from my front door. No, it's not Photoshopped. I do wish the bird had flown just a little bit closer, though. Then it would have been perfect.
At first, I wasn't sure what I was seeing as it floated out of the mist. After a minute, it became more obvious. It's hard to imagine a better morning for a nice paddle around the lake.
The Grace College Mu Kappa chapter invited us over for a bonfire and pumpkin carving. They invite us to quite a number of activities, but this is one that I don't miss if I can help it. It's fun to connect with recently-landed MKs, enjoy new fireside recipes, and, of course, carve pumpkins.
I'll give you a minute to figure it out.
Give up?
It's a gastropod with an iPod. OK, stop looking at me that way. You already knew I was a geek...
Fiona drew her design before we even left the house, and Deborah transferred it onto her pumpkin. Aiden's pumpkin is the result of his constantly changing the specs of what he wanted while we were carving. The third eye was the icing on the cake.
In related news, the third time was a charm, and I finally was able to make a harvest in my pumpkin patch of... one pumpkin! Now most people would be disappointed to have planted three years running and only get one fruit, but I'm excited to have finally gotten ONE! Maybe I'll do even better next year...
Thar she be. What shall I carve on this one?
While we were in the hospital, the leaves fell. So Paul and I went out to rake them. The kids came, too; they said they wanted to help. Children love to help.
Of course, we were perfectly willing to be distracted, too...
One!
Two!
Three!
Fiona helping enthusiastically.
Fiona not helping, enthusiastically.
I saw the look on Aiden's face, and I thought to myself, "Oh, goodness, he's not really going to say it... he's not going to say it..."
Hey, look, Daddy, a leaf!
Yep. He said it!
They race beds in South Whitley. In fact, they're the bed racing capital of the world — you can pick up a green wedge in Trivial Pursuit for knowing that. Rules? Minimal: One bed. One passenger, four runners, no interference. Safety? Sign a waiver — no brakes or steering mechanisms allowed! The atmosphere? Good fun.
We arrived late in the afternoon, and walked over to main street just as the zero-turn mower square dance was finishing up, and staked out a spot in front of the fire station while I went off to get a few photos.
Hey, sweet mama, wanna go... bed racing?
A real racing bed. I think this is one of the ones available to teams who haven't constructed a bed of their own. Apparently steering mechanisms weren't always disallowed — I wonder what prompted that particular rule change?
Teams this year included Manchester United ...Methodist Church, Night of the Living Bed (my favorites), Team Dynamite (I think these were the sixth-graders), Big Blue (the high school track team, if I'm not mistaken), MSC (Manufactured Structures Corporation), and the TK Bed Sled Team, resplendent in Hawaiian shirts and bike shorts.
Night of the Living Bed, with their entry, the new and improved Grateful Bed II.
The TK Bed Sled Team, like most, picked the smallest member as passenger. Only the winning team actually had them lie down in the bed — presumably for better aerodynamics. When was the last time you heard "beds" and "aerodynamics" in the same sentence?
I dig the welded rebar "spiderwebs" on the Grateful Bed II. Night of the Living Bed would go on to win the "best theme" prize.
The heats were short, fast, and furious, and the cheering was genuine. Manchester United, Team Dynamite, and MSC fell in the opening rounds. The remaining three teams battled it out. Night of the Living Bed was dominating until they veered off course and had to stop to avoid a collision. TK Bed Sled Team moved on to the next round, the final showdown against Big Blue.
It was a close race, too close for me to tell from where I was standing. In the end, Big Blue got it, and were declared the 2008 Bed racing Champions.
The victors return. There's something poignant about this photo; I'm not sure I can place my finger on it, though.
For the non-bandwidth-challenged, you can see my videos on YouTube here, here, and here.
And... that's it for this year! Anyone want to put together a team with me for next?
The first week of fall. It's still hot — hotter than it's been all summer, actually — but the colder days won't stay away for long, and there are some things you just can't do in winter. So, Deborah and I rode down to one of our favorite getaway diners while we still could, this time to Carol's Corner down in South Whitley. We had to get this one in now, since next week it closes until Spring.
Carol's Corner is at the stoplight in South Whitley. This isn't an ambiguous direction — here's only one stoplight there. And once you get there, it's pretty obvious where you'd go to get a burger or a shake.
The fare is largely either fried or frozen, and reasonably good, but the attraction for us is that it's fun — fun to get there (Rt. 5 has nice twisty bits); fun to look at the license plates and other memorabilia tacked up...
It wasn't until I looked at this picture later that I realized that all the people inside the shack were looking out at me. I guess only the girls get to go outside!
Bed racing? Our waitress says it's an annual event. I must investigate...
...fun to check out the fake foot on the Burger Bug; it's fun to figure out how fried pickles, mozzarella sticks, and breaded mac & cheese belong in the "veggie basket." It's a date. What can I say?
South Whitley itself was decked out in the clothes of archetypal small town America, with classic cars parked along the street, and flags every few yard, flapping in the golden hour light of late evening.
Farewell until Spring, then, South Whitley.
Or, at least, until whenever that bed race is...
Summer promised so much. It always does. Now all those opportunities are scampering away, wasted, perhaps, by the joy of actually getting enough sleep, of getting to work by 9, rather than by 7. Tomorrow, Deborah goes back to work — if the car is repaired in time — and I go back to the split shift. The easy temptation to stay up late and have fun is no longer matched by the grace of a flexible starting time in the morning. I look at Deborah's growing belly, and wonder how long I can do this. How long, until all the kids are in school? Six, seven years? I don't even like to think about it. Part of the challenge of life, is living in a way that meets with one's own approval. Leaned up against that, are the realistic options one has. So I do what I must, and move along, during these dark days of the year.
