LEATHER & GLASS LEAVES HER IN STITCHES

"T'was the day before Hallowe'en and here at the acre
The leaves have fallen and need a good raker
Birds get hurt and need a towel
Black squirrels worry about the fox and the owl..."

The days are getting dark, cold, and wet. The pond is put into hibernation by removing the pump, sorting the shelf plants, and daily skimming of leaves taking their final flutter.

There's still a mound of rocks left over to line the edges of the new asphalt. But without a truck, the little Kia becomes a Polish wheelbarrow and the rocks slowly move down the hill.

But the big story this week is our third anniversary. The symbols for the 3rd are leather and glass. Hmmm, what has leather and glass??? Duh ---- I bought the still-blushing bride a VW Eos with leather and a glass sunroof! "Eos" in Greek mythology is the Goddess of the Dawn". Isn't that romantic?

It snowed all 100 miles home from Newmarket but the car (now called "Annie" --- get it?) is cozy with heated seats. But it's a hardtop-convertible! (German car, made in Portugal, same body for the whole run 2007-2015. Guess what year this one is but Hint: my offer was really low. I saw the ad at 7am and we had it before noon that same day.) The sunroof makes it bright but then the top folds away and ta-da it's a gorgeous red topless.

So now I can play that classic game Twister in the barn but with cars! And just to balance things off, Pat bought me a new sewing machine. But who really gets the Eos, and who gets left in stitches?

COLOURFUL BUT LOW-KEY WEEK

Last Monday the high temperature was a record 25C, today it will be 3C. What's your preference, I'll take the cooler. The leaves seem to like the changes, they've peaked and are Fall-ing...

Highlight of the week was a couple of days in Toronto. The harbourfront condos are still tempting --- the ice rink is puddles now but will be skate-ready soon. We didn't go to the BlueJays championship game because I'm often a jinx; ironically they lost anyway :(. In our Beach neighbourhood the food bank gardens were bountiful this year. Over the years we have cast long shadows on the Beach, and we're probably not finished with it yet...

Oh, we stayed at one of Toronto's booming AirBnB's, only a block from the park and 3 blocks from our former street! Entire main floor of a beautiful old turreted house, clean and quiet and worthy of another stay. Out-front parking is a huge bonus. Kew Gardens is being redone, Pat's not sure if it's a change for the better or just more creeping commercialism. There are so many pets here that a giant PetsMart opens Monday with dog bakery, dogwash, adoptions, and valet dogwalking...

Back at Kemble, colours are splashed like a canvas by Jackson Pollack. Late-blooming sunflowers glow in yellow, a pair of cardinals add scarlet and brown. Like the thermometer, this squirrel doesn't know whether to go up or down.

So a pretty low-key week but let's leave with a skill-testing question. With so many awesome sunrises these days, we're wondering who was the Greek Goddess of the Dawn?? Answer next week...

TOAST & TWINKIES

The autumn colours are near their peak on our road, with sugar maples the gaudiest scarlet. Look for another red maple leaf further below...

After almost three months of promises, the driveways of we three neighbours finally got asphalted. Quite a production with steaming truckloads, high-tech paver, and gnarly (but experienced) crew. First up was a neighbour's lane, good practice for the important one next door. Even grown men stopped work to watch all the action.

Then quickly over to our side. In about 4 hours they dumped, shaped, rolled, and primped what had been a rough area for 30-some years. Can you spot a yellow paving roller in the barn where a red-and-tan highway roller is supposed to be??

With the driveway unusable for a couple of days, we drove to Michigan for a bra fitting. Is black a good colour for me?

More importantly, we caught up with a lot of family news over a French-toast breakfast. We're between Canadian Thanksgiving and the U.S. kind but we shared gratitude every day for our health and contenting lives.

For fun and chaos we had to stop at C & N's, with G and the Twinkies M & C. Seeing happy kids and loving parents made the day even sunnier. A large tree used to be where that round sandbox is now. So a replacement tree (called "Pat-rick"!) has been planted. Even though it's a tulip tree, somehow there was a red maple leaf hanging on it. Go figure.

After playing with the kids' toys I got to drive my own over to the Stratford Festival for a high-energy and uplifting performance of Chorus Line. It deserves all the Tony's and Pulitzer prizes it has received over the 42 years!

Drove back this morning in heavy rain. The Good News? --- last week's impromptu chimney wrap may have stopped the roof leak. But the same neighbour who got the first asphalt told us there is a problem in our shared water line. So the Bad News?--- our water pump might burn out. Too much water or too little water, take your pick.