Two down, one to go
10:32 p.m.
She, my brother and I went on a walk this morning to gather autumn leaves (isn�t there a song by that title?). We walked down Champigny (mosied is more like it, since she had to pick up every last coloured leaf and place it carefully into a plastic bag) and eventually made it onto the bike path which goes through the woods along the river. It was extremely beautiful with the sun shining through the foliage, the pathway littered with reds and golds and browns, or blanketed with fallen pine needles. At one point there is a convenient way down to the river where, when the water is low, there is a pebbly beach and some huge boulders that the kids and I like to scramble over. The water level is extremely low right now, and the beach was quite wide. I noticed that the base of the largest boulder is water worn, something heretofore unremarked because the river is usually deeper. This struck me as interesting, considering all the rain we had and how elevated the river has been all summer.
My brother and I skipped rocks, he and his wife took pictures, and eventually we found our way back onto the path and continued through the woods. We greeted many cyclists enjoying the beautiful weather, including my neighbours with their two little boys, who were having a picnic on the above-noted boulders. Finally we came out at the bridge and turned our feet homeward, slowly climbing Moulton Hill, past the private-school campus (where my sister-in-law went all gaga over more leaves and photo ops), at long last arriving home almost two hours after we had set out.
I must explain. My sister-in-law, while having visited Canada before, has only ever been here in the summer. She knew about autumn and the changing leaves, but had never experienced it firsthand before. I can fully appreciate her appreciation of nature�s grandeur, but I like a little brisker pace when I go for a stroll.
We then all piled into two cars (except for Little Princess, who had homework to do) and trundled off to the apple orchard where we picked two halfbushels: one of spartans and one of cortlands. The weather was glorious�a perfect day for spending time outside. We came home with the apples, four Hallow�een pumpkins, a 7 kg. bucket of honey, a pumpkin pie, carrot cake, cookies, and a bag of fresh chili peppers. My sister-in-law and I stopped at the grocery store on the way home to pick up some supplies for supper which consisted of my excellent stir-fried tofu, brown rice and saut�ed carrots and broccoflower. We had the pie for dessert.
After supper we worked out Let it Be in the living room, yours truly on vocals, and after that was perfected we went through Hotel California. I think I better stick to singing in one register or another. After crossing over from chest to middle repeatedly in the Lenn0n-McCartney tune, my voice was a tad stressed. Soon I will hit the hay, as tomorrow promises to be even more hectic. Hubby has invited friends of ours for dinner, a rather famous painter and his wife, because my brother befriended him the last time he was here, and this requires menu planning, more shopping, and serious meal preparation. God, as if I didn�t have enough to do just trying to keep my temper! I have decided that the only way to really enjoy this visit is to be constantly a little drunk, but I can�t do that either. I�m hopeless.
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