GOODBYE TO NORTH DAKOTA

Autumn arrived this week and the sun rose due east in the coffee window. In seconds the sunlight is so bright you have to look away and just enjoy the warmth. The asphalt paving that was promised back in early July still hasn't happened ---- will the driveway be black before it's white??  The local creatures are prepping for the winter too. The greenhouse has been broken into and garbage strewn: raccoon? skunk?? fisher?? Warblers, hummingbirds, and other migrants are passing through on their way south. Not the turkeys though --- they'll be around all year.

We're on a major mission to declutter everything from the basement to the barn to life in general. The barn is easiest and most cluttered. We put out a freepile yesterday and by 5pm almost everything was gone. Unfortunately, they also took the table the stuff was on! But who would take ragged old bungie cords or 83 homemade cassette tapes or half a ratty spiral notebook?

Sadly, the barn also had to be reduced by one vehicle, sort of a game of musical cars. When the music stopped, the gorgeous and unique Dodge convertible pickup (named "North Dakota" --- get it?) had to go. This one was tougher than most to lose because we now don't have a hauler, and it was way cool. But it went in one day to a real Chrysler enthusiast and will join a '64 red Imperial ragtop in his garage. So it's going to a good home and will be on the show circuit. Sigh.

Right away real life imposed on the Zed --- how do you get a week's groceries in a trunk the size of a backpack?!

WHAT'S GREEN & TAN AND ZED ALL OVER?

Once again so much happened this week that there's too little context, too many pix...

Unusual even for us, we flew one-way to Winnipeg on travel points. Yup, "Winter-peg" or "Winnie The Pooh - peg", the geographic centre of Canada out-of-season. Cool and dampish but interesting for the massive Human Rights Museum, impressive riverside park, kid zone with all the Manitoba heritage icons, and the sobering monument to missing aboriginal women. Why Winnipeg?? --- keep reading below.

Sadly, we had to miss two important events back home. One was the long-delayed start of the asphalt paving job. The other was the planting of a heartfelt tulip tree at the home of some dear family members. May we all live long and prosper...

BUT. The real reason for Winnipeg has been hinted at for some time with all the "z's". A deal long in the making was finalized on my birthday the week before. Surprise! Not surprised?? A 2001 BMW Z3! (We say "zed", you might say "zee" or even "ts" in German, where the name refers to "future".) After many Americans, Japanese and Koreans this is my first German car. Originally from Newport Beach California, it has low low miles, low low price, and high high rocket ship DNA. And it's not red!! After the disappointment in Quebec, this was impossible to resist. Grinningly we toured the sunflower fields and lake district but turned homeward to get legal. The car had to be inspected and plated back over the border in Ontario. John the mechanic pronounced it was like new inside and out -- duh!

The drive home was a top-up, top-down 1,902 km. (Today is Terry Fox day and fittingly we passed the monument to his journey's end outside of Thunder Bay at dawn.) Also iconic Canadian symbols like the Wawa Goose, vast Lake Superior shores, and the endangered red-crested crane. Then the ferry Chi-Cheemaun took the Z3 and crew closer to home.

After all of us got cleaned up, the car feels at home. I love looking at car styling and the lines on this one are gorgeous. In town, main street was closed to display other classy cars in the inaugural Hill Climb. And today is also the prestigious Concours d'Elegance nearby, with classics and uniques not seen anywhere else --- but the rain yesterday dampened the preparations.

Another first --- a rare Canadian fisher ran around near the feeder. At first we figured it was a weasel. But there's no weaseling out of this decision: too many cars in the barn! Which beauty will be replaced by the new-zed-on-the-block??

KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PIEzzz

Had some tornado weather pass through the area yesterday ---- which photo is the sunrise and which is the storm afterglow??

The creatures are reacting to the cooler weather and shorter days. Adult turkeys are teaching their young how to raid the bird feed. Snakes are curling up in the greenhouse, not happy to be disturbed. Raccoons search for a hibernating spot --- how about under the stairs?

Here's alliteration for you ---- Pat pies, paints, and plants. See today's last photo for the fate of the pies. See outside for the stain --- "Royal Oak" colour. And the annual Plant Sale was a big success, despite the drenching rain. What dedication!

The tomatoes have been late but tasty, even though they had to be covered against the critters. The wild trees have been very bountiful ---- The Gardener says they know it's going to be a long cold winter so they produce more fruit or seeds to reproduce. Awesome apples, heavy haws, and super cedar seeds.

Birthday Boy got all the pies ---- pizza and apple, with toppings. What's the hint in the red letter??

A FRENCH LESSON

September has arrived with warm days/cool nights (and at least 4 male Virgo birthdays in my family?!). We're seeing many of this year's new wildlife in the yard. A curious fawn, an alert rabbit, a dull sapsucker, and a flock of hungry turkeys have all made their debut. And mice have prepped a winter nest in the car trunk! It's also time for some yardwork, but be careful! Pat sliced two fingernails on a stubborn stepladder. Nothing that a little SuperGlue can't handle?

The Salmon Derby is winding up today with bigger fish than last year but nothing bigger than caught on day 2 of 10. Thousands of fishers on shore and in a gauntlet of downrigged boats --- like catching fish in a barrel?

But we went fishing for a Barracuda in Quebec. Great to have all my French from school, travel, and working in French countries come back to help. A challenge was texting to Jean Yves without the right keyboard accents! Impulsively drove 500 miles for a night in the Suite Nuptiale! Then over to Ste. Marcelline de Kildare (pop. 800), one of those pretty and historic villages in the backwoods. Postcard lakes, quaint depanneurs, and a busload of schoolkids already arriving to l'ecole.

Oh yeah, there was also The Car. Online, the 1967 Barracuda looked like an impossible dream. A legendary red convertible made in my hometown, likely worked on by my dad: he would have put on the passenger-side door! How could I resist? Well, I resisted from first glance. In reality it was a mess, a project worth way less than half the asking price. Rust bubbles, an incorrect replacement motor, missing knobs and belts, wrong radio and weary upholstery. We bombed up the main street just to say we had, but it was over before Jean Yves could take the bank draft out of my pocket. Quel dommage!

So another 500 mile drive to get home that same day. The clouds en route were as gloomy as my prospects. But not to worry ---- next up? A rocketship from across the pond, sort of ZZZ....