It's all a matter of perspective

It is the middle of November. The skies are steel grey and the wind and rain have stripped the trees of their leaves.

It was an unusual fall. I had knee surgery in the beginning of the month. Before surgery the trees were holding on to their leaves for dear life -- some trees were still green, some were brilliant orange and yellow and a few gave up and let their leaves go. It was a mixed bag of fall color, punctuated by summer-like weather followed by days and days of rain. Yesterday I looked up from my view from King's recliner and realized the branches in the woods outside our living room window were bare. "About time," I muttered to myself, "but when did that happen?"

The rains of October left the pond in the back filled to the brim. At one point it overflowed and spread into our driveway and the bluegill and perch stocked in the pond enjoyed a brief swim in the driveway. The waters have receded somewhat, but the woods next to the pond are still flooded. A first for us since moving here seven summers ago. I have to wonder if it will eventually completely recede or if we will have an extended skating rink this winter.

Logs were delivered this summer.

Fall continues and King has been busy cutting, splitting and stacking the load of wood we received this summer. Generally he is done by this time of year but the "help" that was hired to learn the ropes and eventually take our place as caretakers has not been a lot of help. On day two of his new job he put regular gas in the chainsaw, rather than a gas/oil mix. After the repair shop confirmed the chainsaw was beyond repair, the owner of the property promptly purchased a bigger and better chainsaw. And our "help" went back to the city to work at one of the owner's properties there. The new chainsaw and King made short work of the 10 foot logs (some with a 42 inch diameter) and our "help: returned from the city. And then the log splitter broke. So the "help" went back to the city to work at the owner's property in the city once again. He returned to Michigan a couple of days ago. His return timing was pretty good as the log splitter had returned from the repair shop a day or two prior to his return. The "help," however, has retreated to his cozy cabin and has been AWOL while King splits the wood. I am wondering how long King will hold out before he stacks it himself as well.

South Beach

North Beach

Today after King and I dropped our granddaughter off at work we took a drive to the lake. I remembered to bring my camera with me this time. The wind was coming out of the north/northwest and crashed against the north pier with a vengeance.
The waves on the south beach were rough, but were relatively calm when comparing the two. Yesterday the kite surfers were out in droves. Kite surfing looks like fun, but I have to wonder how warm a wet suit can actually keep someone when the water temperature dips to 48 degrees and the air temp is in the 30s. I am fairly certain from their perspective the fun outweighs the cold.

And November marches on. Since I am more or less confined to the house I have started hand embroidering pillow tops. My aunts and Mom used to do all kinds of needlework when they had their monthly gatherings. The five of them would sit in the living room and talk and stitch the day away. In the days leading to one of their gatherings, Mom would work feverishly to get whatever piece she had been working on during their last meeting a little further ahead. She was the youngest of her siblings and I realize now she was always working to keep up appearances of being the diligent housewife and mother. And to that end she was. By today's standards she was very old-school. By her sisters' standards she was a slacker.

It's all a matter of perspective.