I’m taking the day off

It is another magical fall day, and I have plans which will not forward a single thing on either the book, or my going away to-do list.

For one thing, I intend to sit on the terrace in the sun with a blanket around me and (well, okay, this is working on the book) read through my latest edit. I will not be toting the 463 page hard copy printed in a giant binder on the plane, so this will be an important step. Print editing is somehow clearer than digital editing. I don’t know why. I will drink tea. There will be dogs.

Then, I will drive down the road to the most beautiful little pumpkin farm in the world, and see what they have left. The fields were nearly empty when I drove past the other day, and I don’t need more pumpkins anyway, but it will be a little marker of the season.

I will go to my favorite farm stand, where I already bought a dozen pumpkins, stopping to rub the tummy of the old dog who sleeps there in the sun. Last time, the pumpkins I wanted were in the middle of a huge old fashioned wooden cart, and with no help in sight, I ended up climbing the hitch and getting onto the cart so I could reach. Had my friend, Julie, of Christmas tree fame, been along, it might have been an adventure. Another customer was also trying to reach what she wanted, so I asked her to point to them and then passed them down, one at a time. She thanked me and commented that she is much older than I am. Pretty sure she’s not. I’m just generally undeterred by obstacles. I won’t be there to buy pumpkins today. I’ll buy tomatoes and peppers and one of twenty varieties of squash. No zucchini. Zucchini is a scourge upon the earth.

I will then drive back a little closer to home to the apple farm, where I will buy a peck of Honeycrisps. I will do my best to resist buying a homemade apple cider doughnut, because I looked in the mirror this week and was dismayed. But maybe, because this is a once a year celebration, I might anyway. I like food; it is an important part of celebrations.

Then, tonight, when we’re sitting together on the terrace with a drink, I will convince my husband that the crazy cost of the new chairs for the library will be worth it in the end. Stain resistant fabric! Comfort! Gorgeous color! Commercial grade wear!

And that’s my plan. You know what happens when you make plans, don’t you?

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And now for your gratuitous dog photos:

Walking in the woods on the Island. Moses teaches young Auggie (tail peeking out from behind the tree) how to stalk me.

In pre-Auggie times, puppy Moses and Pete share a joke as they romp on the lake.

Moses and Auggie romp in the snow on Auggie’s first trip to the Island.