Indefinite leaves to remain

It has been a wild and windy day with sudden squally showers, and tonight it's even wilder and windier. A tree in our backyard which was still quite leafy this morning is now practically bare.

Most of the leaves that were on it are now in our pool, which, sad to say, is not yet closed for the winter - the guy is booked to do that tomorrow. So I foresee a busy morning ahead scooping out as many leaves as possible before we fix the cover down. I'm hoping the weather will have become a bit calmer by then.

Sorted

An ongoing task for me at the moment is the sorting of stuff, and the getting rid of some of it. As an added impetus, there's going to be another tombola (or 'Instant Raffle' as we've renamed it) at the school's Fall Fair. I hadn't realized what a big hit that had been last year - it's actually back by popular demand!! So I need to generate some junk, ahem, desirable things to donate. I'm doing quite well - I've already managed to fill an entire basement closet with items 'to go'.

Here's a picture taken on Sunday morning down at Five Rivers. Fall isn't quite at full throttle yet, though the colours are coming.

We come in pieces

Alien invasion in the after-school sewing class today - we were making little guys like this:

It was the usual chaos. The kids all have the habit of rushing into the task without waiting to find out what they need to do, which demonstrates admirable enthusiasm I suppose but results in quite a lot of unpicking. But they all seemed happy enough, and most managed to take away something finished or nearly finshed at the end of our hour together.

And I was totally finished by then, I don't mind admitting.

Market (fair) trader

I had a fun time down at the market yesterday. In the end it was mercifully dry so I was there for the duration - a full four hours - and managed to catch up with friends, chat to some new people and distribute about a hundred "passports" for our town's Fair Trade Shop Hop (a promotion for local stores carrying fair trade goods). And of course there was plenty of opportunity for classic people-watching, too.

With my display of posters and leaflets, I clearly wasn't at the market to sell vegetables or home-made jam. It's always amusing being on an is-it-religious-or-political-and/or-are-they-after-my-money?-type stall. It's not unlike being one of those annoying charity tin-rattlers on the High Street (and, oh yes, I've done my share of that). A lot of people try to slip by "without noticing" you. You see them coming towards you and you can count them down - 1,2,3 and look away...NOW! They don't even want to know what you're peddling, so sure are they that they don't want any part of it.

I don't really blame them, I know I've done it myself before now. It's just funny to watch. There are others who likewise don't want to know, but at least manage a cheerful "How ya doin?" as they walk (very) briskly past. But yesterday enough paused for long enough (after I'd caught their eyes) to read a poster, pick up a leaflet and find out that I wasn't pushing anything too scary. Quite a few even decided my stall was cool!

Waits and measures

The Man writes...The Boy and I are holding the fort while Albaniana and the Girl are out dancing the night away with Indian friends to celebrate the end of a festival of dance. We've been reading an ancient space book together and have just learnt that tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of the launch of Luna 3, a Soviet probe which sent the first pictures of the far side of the moon. Which seems like a fairly significant milestone to me.

It's been a day of constant coming and going under leaden skies. Both children had friends round, while Albaniana spent the morning at the Farmer's Market promoting Fair Trade month.

The Girl complained to me a few days ago that she didn't see why she had to learn how many feet there are in a mile. I don't have any evidence that she has actually been asked to learn this, but judging from the newly installed playground at our local elementary school, some people think it's an important number to know. It's a reminder of how embedded "English units" are here still.

The heater's on

Today I spent some time preparing a Fair Trade display to take to the Farmers' Market tomorrow (though the forecast is for rain and more rain, so my nice posters mounted on cardboard may rapidly end up looking like papier mache). For readers this side of the Pond - we're officially in Fair Trade Month! Time to invite your friends round for a fair trade supper, or take FT coffee or chocolate to share at work, or... visit this site for more ideas.

Temperatures seem to be dropping by the day. This afternoon, having added layers to myself to no avail, I put the heating on for the first time in months. Meanwhile the yard is starting to disappear under a blanket of fallen leaves - 'tis raking season again.

Cruise control

So, the choice of activities for today was (a) do the housework or (b) go on a cruise. I hummed and hahhed about that for, oo, maybe thirty seconds, before jumping in the car and getting myself down to the dock.

Now when I say "cruise" that perhaps conjures up images of sunshine, scenic views and general relaxation. But this particular cruise was on the Hudson River in October, out of Albany. With a bunch of school-kids (the Boy and his classmates).

It happened to be overcast today, and extremely cold. So we were shivering on the deck as the boat (the Dutch
Apple cruiser) slipped past the petrochemical plants and car-crushing depots that comprise the main sights along this section of the river. There was a cruise commentary to give us some local history, but the PA system was a little feeble and anyway it was almost impossible to hear over the din of excited seven and eight year-olds taking photos of each other.



But I'm being much too negative. It was actually great fun spotting river-craft and wildlife, and grockling at the multi-million dollar bankside homes once we got beyond the industrial Port of Albany. And the kids all had a blast. Especially when - shiver me timbers cap'n! - they got to steer the boat!