While the Fall Weather Holds

Fall continues to be beautiful here on Cape Cod. We made it through Hurricane Sandy and the  nor'easter that arrived conveniently the following week with only minor damage done by each. My apologies to those who had large limbs across the road or their cars, of course. My neighbor's tree had a big branch twisted  off with each storm; one fell over my side of the fence and one on his. They are just hanging there waiting to be removed. Everyone here on the Cape thinks the nor'easter was much worse than Sandy - two days of strong wind and heavy rain were not much fun, plus it was much colder. The wind speeds from the nor'easter were about the same as Sandy here, and I think there was as much beach erosion with it.  From inside my house I felt like I was living on the highway because the wind sounded like trucks going down the road. Poor Roxy almost blew over one morning trying to do her "business". The Cape did not get any snow at all, and I am not at all disappointed. Because I had to secure my deck furniture in advance of the hurricane some of my fall cleanup is done already. I have not had my faucets & irrigation turned off yet. Must do  SOON.

Today we are enjoying a warm day, maybe the last warm one this week. After I finished my errands Roxy and I went for a walk at the Lowell Holly Reservation to make the most of the day. We walked about half a mile in and came back. In that time we saw easily half a dozen other groups on the trail, most with dogs. No one wants to miss out on a chance to get out for a walk because no one knows how long the weather will hold. I gave up on Furnace Wars just before the nor'easter came in - I thought we would lose power and with colder temperatures coming in with the storm I wanted to be sure the house was at a reasonable temperature. Also I was going around the house with the hood of my sweatshirt pulled up. I have the thermostat set at 60 degrees, so it's hardly tropical in here.

Looks like Thanksgiving will be a large and well attended meal. I'm looking forward to it, and to enjoying the traditional foods. We'll be frying a turkey again, plus baking a ham. As I look over the menu Shana and Lisa put together I think I can safely forecast a lot of people laying around helplessly after the meal.

Holiday knitting continues apace, with a lot of progress happening. Of course as soon as I finish one project I think of something else I'd like to add to the queue. One of the yarn stores here is going out of business, so I was able to replenish some of my basic stash for a reduced price. I've been knitting mostly from stash for a year, so it was almost an "emergency".