Tomorrow is the official fall equinox, which means today is the last day of summer. I love it when summer ends. It feels like the return of quiet and time for turning inward, to assess where I’ve been in the past year, and where I want to go as I move into the new cycle of seasons.
Fall equinox had a slightly different meaning in my running days, it meant the beginning of the fall racing season and better training conditions with the cool weather and shorter days. I used to love running at night in the fall. I have been going out to walk in the evenings again and I think that might turn into some running in the near future. I miss the fall equinox run that Dale and I used to do in Denver, we would always be the “olde fartes” out in the course staying all day while the youngsters would fly by us, but would never run for the full 12 hours like we did.
Today I walked a little over ten miles. I didn’t feel like running, my butt and low back have been sore but the walking feels good. It was a perfect early fall day with cool temperatures, a nice breeze, and clear skies until tonight when it clouded up and sprinkled as I took the girls for their evening walk.
Tonight I picked the rest of the cucumbers, two big bowls of cherry tomatoes, a couple of eggplants, and this week we finally finished picking all the peaches. There are still lots of tomatoes, a few carrots, some beans, and a ton of peppers in the garden. Tomorrow it’s supposed to rain and be a lot cooler. I also planted some lettuce for the fall in the cold frame in the front yard.
I had a surprise tonight as I went out on my own to walk before I took the girls. I was a block from my house, walking down the street and there was a woman walking down the next street from ours, about to go walking. I saw her and she reminded me of Kate, my old neighbor who moved to Carbondale nearly ten years ago. I haven’t seen her since then and I knew she rented out her house after she left. I kept walking but turned around again to look because I thought again, was that Kate? So I looked straight at her and she saw me and asked, “Alene?” and it turns out she has moved back! She originally went to Carbondale to be with her boyfriend after she retired from the healthcare system here. They got married, and two years ago they sold their house there and moved back here. She said they did some remodeling in the house so they haven’t been living here until recently. But we ended up walking a couple of miles together and catching up. It made my day!
It will be great to have another friend in the neighborhood. I really liked her and was sad when she moved. And she also said her new husband used to have a gallery (years ago) in Aspen. It will be interesting to talk with him. Kate didn’t know that I used to paint, we never talked about it back then when I was doing oncology nursing, and she was excited about me pursuing my art now. I can remember her being so burned out on work before she retired and moved. Things are better for both of us now.
The past week has been good, I got a lot done, and I worked on some paintings. I’ve all but finished the commission along with a similar one the same size, which I will try to sell at Palisade, and a few more fun ones with aspen. I’ve been putting off the abstract paintings until I finish the current ones which are poppies and aspen. It was Velcro’s birthday on the 19th and I baked a dog cake and we had a birthday party for her.
The other surprise was that I sent some artwork samples in at the last minute to a call for entry in an online collector’s magazine about a week ago, and I heard back from them two days ago. I didn’t make the first cut where they do a full feature on the artist, but I made the second tier where they feature one of your pieces in their magazine with a short description and a link to your website. I had to decide which piece of the three I originally sent would be the best one to grab the viewer’s eye, and I settled on the poppies after asking a lot of people via Facebook and texting some friends. I sent it back and they told me it will be in one of the issues before the end of this year and I’ll receive a link so I can share it.
And finally, as I was bringing the girls home on our walk, I spotted this new sign in our neighbor’s yard down the street. It wasn’t there this morning.
“Jesus 2024 Our only hope” is what it says. Guess I’m gonna have to get a sign of my own, now…
Hi Alene,
What a great thing to run into your former, now current neighbor Kate! And congratulations on having your poppies art being shown in the magazine in the near future. Yes, definitely share it with us when it's live. Hopefully, that will also lead to more publicity. The poppies are breathtaking.
I'm glad you were able to take a nice, long walk and enjoy that. I also like the cooling temperatures -- as well as the beautiful display of foliage color changes in the fall, particularly October. I frankly hate that October is the big rah rah breast cancer awareness month, but I have taken back October as a lovely, beautiful time of year. The one thing I don't like about fall is the shortening days. I'm a lover of a long-light day, and as I'm light-sensitive, I don't fare well during the darker days. But I cope with it best I can.
I love that you celebrate the dogs' birthdays! Certainly they deserve the celebrations. The pears look scrumptious.