The Beginning of Fall

On the scale of holiday fun, Labor Day is in the top three. There is something to be said about the beginning of Fall; the leisure of the sun setting with tones of distant warmth, mornings have a firmer crisp, the desire of wanting to buy school supplies. I find myself pausing to "smell the roses" more than in any other season. Moods soften, smiles brighten, the thought of snuggling under a starry night seems more tempting than usual. Maybe its the relief Fall brings from a scorching summer. Maybe we are unconsciously preparing for the Christmas season. No matter how I look at it, Fall is the calmest season of all.

Labor Day weekend proved to be a fun one for us at the Stone house. We were able to put aside some time to play and not fuss about work. We finally mowed our lawn and weeded the garden and flower beds. I found I am not a very good gardener, but I can grow a mean sunflower. Some are over 10 feet tall!! We also went on a few bike rides, some walks and a short hike around Silver Lake at Brighton with Leah's family.

On the drive there we were fortunate enough to see Bullwinkle's wife and kid eating from a stream. Leah thought is was pretty neat, but scared for her life that if we got to close the mother would charge at her and stomp her into smitherings. Charlie thought we had ditched him up some canyon as we jumped out of the car so fast to take a better look at the moose. On our hike we ran into Bullwinkle himself. He was a big one and it didn't bother him that we were pretty close. He was happy to be eating. We walked a little ways away from him and decided to try a little fishing. Skunked! There were plenty of fish rising, but they weren't fooled by our shiny lures. I remember thinking that when I was dating, or trying at least, no matter how hard I was trying couldn't get one to bite.

Leah bought a road bike, okay more like she thought it sounded fun and I jumped at the opportunity to teach her the ropes, so we had to take it out for a spin. I forgot that it isn't the bike that gives one the ability to go on a long ride it is one's mental attitude and stupidly enough I took her on what I thought was a fantastic ride, but to her was just long. Needless to say, I heard about that later on. We finished up the weekend with a classic movie, Pride and Prejudice. Nobody like Ms. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy to speak romantic truths at the end of a perfect weekend, except maybe that Leah insisted that I call her Ms. Leah the rest of the evening.