Columbus Day Weekend: Before, During and After

We spent the week leading to the Columbus Day weekend cleaning house and shopping and working in the yard. It is a quiet time of year here on the Island and it is really gorgeous this fall.

Baby Bear and Boo Boo came for a long visit, arriving late on Thursday. Friday we hiked the Upper Hadlock Pond Trail, followed by dinner at XYZ Restaurant. The food was flavorful and the fresh limeade was refreshing - tangy yet sweet: just right! Saturday we stayed closer to home. I did a long run. I think I need to eat on these runs as I can do six miles (with water) but more than six is a struggle, so I will have to contemplate how to accomplish some mid-run sustenance. We had dinner at home. Sunday we hiked the Lower Hadlock Pond Trail, which was absolutely lovely. Baby Bear made a wonderful dinner (pork chops, drunken beans, corn). We finally made it to Grumpy's for a late breakfast on Monday, and then Baby Bear and Boo Boo headed home.

This past week we have had rain and wind and frost and the leaves are nearing peak. It is suppose to be in the upper 30's at night this week. We are continuing to try to get everything in place to journey back to the House on the Creek. That departure is coming all-too-quickly, it seems. On Wednesday, we took a break from our work to hike Conner's Nubble, which is on Eagle Lake and near Cadillac Mountain. We saw hillsides turning crimson and gold, blue skies, and sunshine. The day was cool, the people we met smiling. It was a fun experience!! We also took care this week to visit Top of the Hill Restaurant as their last day of operation for this year was Saturday (yesterday).

Last night's sunset (no picture, sorry: we were cooking dinner!) included a sky that was mostly cloud-covered, but there was an area between the horizon and the cloud cover that was only partly cloudy. The in-between clouds were a brilliant pink against a deepening blue sky, and the water on the cove reflected the pink clouds, which made the water a choppy purple. It was really lovely to see.

I have been participating in a Bible study on Thursdays. We meet, and do readings from the Hebrew scriptures, the letters of the apostles, and the Gospels. We read a lesson aloud, then reflect on it silently, and then share a word or phrase of feeling that struck us. We then read it again and after reflection, share what it means to us in the context of community. We move on to the next lesson. At the end, we try to share what we have heard as a whole. Last week, the overall sense was one of hope (these are the lectionary readings for October 24) and one person recalled the Emily Dickinson poem:

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

I love the fact that hope is linked to the soul: both are eternal.

We have tons of pictures! A few are included here. Opening picture of this post is from the Lower Hadlock Pond Trail. Enjoy!

Upper Hadlock Pond Trail
Lower Hadlock Pond Trail
Conner's Nubble