A fall reprieve journal entry

It’s Sunday afternoon and I am finally sitting in a favorite spot with my feet up! Have I mentioned before just how grateful I am for weekends?

Saturdays tend to be home catch up days, though I am grateful to sleep in (if my body will allow it…yesterday it did.)  After a leisurely breakfast and morning workout, I spent most of yesterday cleaning the house, a much needed job that was put on hold during this extra busy month at school, which requires me to bring work home on the weekends. November promises to be just as busy with two new referrals and 3 PPTs, but for now, I am appreciating the reprieve. I am also looking forward to a day off for Veteran’s Day and of course Thanksgiving will bring a couple days off. Whew!

It was a rainy week with cooler temps. In between showers, I was able to squeeze in two workouts. With the fields soaking wet, I ended up back to my usual combination of speed walking and running on the pavement—one day after school and one early morning when my body woke me up at 4. Poor Teddy didn’t get quite as much exercise as a result. I find that it really is a must for me to get out and DO something when I am spending most of my day sitting. And I’ve decided that while my ideal is to get out into the fields/nature with Teddy, I need to do whatever is available to me on any given day. I have come to the place of abandoning any kind of planned exercise routine, because I really am at the whim of how much time and energy I have. This school year, everything seems to be absolutely jammed pack—not nearly enough time or people to take care of all the needs that spring up from day to day. It is what it is. I am convinced these are Covid ripple effects that we are likely to continue to experience for quite some time to come.

With the change of seasons well under way, I am attempting to be more mindful and in tune with the natural sway of the seasons. On this morning’s hike, I noticed some new birdsong….sparrows! The white throated sparrow was singing its ‘Oh Sweet Can-a-da, Can-a-da, Can-a-da.’ The path was wet with shiny red and yellow leaves. The oaks are just beginning to turn a variety of gold, red, and orange colors. 

Last weekend, when I was doing some bird watching out the back sunroom windows, I was so very saddened to see a house finch with what looked like a missing eye. After doing some research, I found that finches suffer from house finch eye disease—something that researchers from Cornell discovered back in the early 90s. The disease causes their eyes to swell up, which can result in death if both eyes swell shut and they can’t see to find food. I immediately followed the Cornell website advice to take down and wash feeders and wait a few days to allow the birds to disperse. I put them back up this afternoon with hopes that I won’t see any more infected finches. I also hope to see some old friends returning to their wintering grounds. Yesterday I saw the first junco of many that will hang around for the winter. I will spend some time this late afternoon watching out my back windows. Then, with my taste buds craving pumpkin, I hope to bake pumpkin pie bars.