getting your ass kicked while staying centered......

After my last post thought I should post the other side of what happens when things go ca-floey. 

It's fall and I have written long about the joys of fall, see posts below.  Not winter yet but definitely a time when the introspection sparks start to kindle.  My year in review starts to rear it's ugly head and the tax season hovers.   After weeks of rolling the past months and many miles in my head, my inside voice asks........  are you tired yet?  Well, yes I am.  I have had my butt kicked on the road.  From West Palm Beach to Chicago and back.  Punching my way out of this paper bag I find myself in the garden or kitchen.  

Last night I invited friends and fellow gardeners Maggie and Justin over for dinner.  Maggie has been knee deep in farmers markets and gardens all year and I have been on the road.  We surface about the time the leaves start falling.  Maggie rolled through the door with beer, a big bowl of fresh mashed turnips, a bag of winter squash and splinted fingers.  We compare which joints are seized up while toasting over dinner. 

Prettiest apple pie ever....... gotta be that lard I rendered last month.

Cornbread, chili, and veggies!   Great night and fun to pound ideas back and forth.  

We are both trying to work smarter and not harder but boy that seems so illusive.  

Bottom line....... I am off the road.  I need to get through garden season this year and two more shows then roll my carcass to the compost pile until Spring!  We are both looking forward to winter.  

Got up this morning and needed to write letters and take a break.  Some of us go for facials while I chose to walk the beach with 30 mph winds.  Face sandblasted for free!  And the scenery was great! 

A south wind made the lake appear somewhat calm.  

I can only imagine what Ontario shores were experiencing! 

I guess it's where you're standing that matters and where you want to stand.

Loads of lucky stones on the beach this morning.  I left them on the beach as I think Lake Erie and Mother Nature need all the luck they can get.  

The beaches are full of smooth small wonderful stones; quartz, sandstone, flint, an occasional brick, glass; all worn smooth.  The waves beat the edges off, it's a constant beat down and pummeling......... I'm feeling pretty smooth myself these days. 

At the far end I ran into this guy, well past retirement on his way home with the catch of day.  He was beaming as he showed off a big walleye!  Caught it on a spinner in the early morning hours.  

My God I miss fishing......  going home to blow the dust off my equipment and hit the river, the steelhead are running.  There has not been one moment to cast a line this year....... it's time as I am crispy.  

The power of lake are footsteps away but the dunes and trees buffer the path.  

On the path it's quiet, the birds are singing in the calmness of this early morning windstorm. 

Yup, hanging on for dear life.  

Home is good, beyond is adventure.

The cottonwood greens are gone and the golds are on........ 

I need more walking this year.