Docks Are In, Alas

7:47

8:12

10:12

We tend to mark our seasons, here at the lake, by the putting in and taking out of our docks.  Putting them in marks the beginning of summer, taking them out, the end of summer or yesterday's case, the beginning of the end of fall.  It has been a glorious here at the lake so I cannot complain and, indeed, I won't because we are rarely disappointed by the weather here at the lake.  We enjoy the gray rain days as much as the sunny days of summer, the cold snowy days of winter, the beauty of fall.  I would guess that Spring is our least favorite season, as it tends to be long, wet, and cool, and in the case of last year, it seemed to rain for six straight weeks or at least it seemed like that.  From my blog from last year, it was quite cool outside, 36 degrees, compared to today's 56.  And all my neighbors docks were still in, meaning we took them out at least a week later last year.  And I talked about sitting out on the dock reading like we have done for the past week.  It's fun to look backward and think about what we were doing a year ago.  Our trip East, which begins tomorrow, was a week later last year.  So we are a week ahead in terms of fall weather and the peak season for leaves.  I think we are leaving the peak here at the lake and may arrive in the East at their peak.

The weather today reminds me of  one of my favorite quotations I mentioned last year, about Autumn Rains, from Hal Borland's SUNDIAL OF THE SEASONS.

"Fall rain is full of weary leaves and October chill and the feeling of  work done and changing season. It has the smell of stubble fields and wood smoke and Autumn plowing, and the feel of frost not far ahead.  The roadside streams it raises are littered with the cast-off garb of a Summer gone, and the ponds it fills are brown as the cattails on their marshy .

Fall rains come and settle down for a while, as though at one visitation to restore the whole of late Summer's sun=sucked moisture.  There is a persistent  generosity to an Autumn rain that breeds monotony, and then slow irritation.   The earth needs the rain; but does it need so much without pause?  The wearer  of soggy shoes and a constantly dripping raincoat wonders if there isn't some means of distributing the weather, particularly the wet weather.  And still it rains.

But there is no sense of malevolence in a Fall rain.  It  comes, and it continues, and a world whose Summer work is done is  cleansed and refreshed and made ready for Winter.  this takes time---and rain.  No Summer's country boy was ever quite cleansed, particularly if he had roamed the fields barefoot, in one quick scrubbing. And eventually the clouds are rained out and the sun comes back in sight.  The world is bright, the skies are clear as a youngster's eyes, and here come crisp Autumn round the bend(199-200)."

Rain is forecast for the next four or five days so this quotation seems apt.  Off for breakfast with the boys, a nice break in the week.

We spent most of the day getting organized, inside and out, cleaning cutters, closing the crawl space windows, mailing cookies to grandchildren, things like that.  It's been partly cloudy most of the day, some sun but not a lot.  I just came back from a walk in the woods behind the cottages; the Kinney's made one up the north side of the road and I then cut across, into the woods, and roughed out one that goes from Woodlawn Road to Victoria Road, through the woods for the most part.  I found an easy access point across the creek and will rough out a sensible trail through the woods though it's easy enough to pick your own trail.  It will be fun to do during the various seasons, especially in the winter with snow shoes.  All I will have to do is walk out my door.  It took about 25 minutes which is just right for an early morning or late afternoon walk before breakfast or cocktails.  You can see I am already planning for the cold weather.  I will miss most of the leave falling, though the floor of the woods is covered, the trees still have quite a bit.  It will be mostly naked woods when I return and the sky will be evident above, not a canopy of leaves.