Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jog

 Here I sit, at my little house in the mountains, waiting for it to be light enough to go out for my morning walk.  There are many markers of seasonal change, some smaller than others.  When we first moved here, back at the end of July, I could go for a walk at 6:00.  I still could, but now I would take a flashlight.

In South Florida, because there is so much ambient light from overdevelopment, there's never a need for a flashlight.  But I would much rather be here, where there are hills to challenge me, and trees and a wide variety of creatures.  So far, I haven't seen a bear, but I have seen a fox and bunnies, along with the usual critters, like birds and squirrels.

On Thursday, we drove the loaded car to my sister's house, the same trip I took 2 weeks earlier.  It was interesting to see how the trees had changed in subtle ways:  a yellow leaf here and there, trees with a more reddish tinge than green.

Yesterday we drove back to North Carolina.  We had thought we might spend a few days in seminary housing, but we have some last tasks in North Carolina to take care of (like getting license plates), so we decided to come back early.  A much earlier plan had been to drive up in 2 cars and leave me there while my spouse returned to North Carolina.  In so many ways, I'm glad we changed our plans.  It was much easier with 2 drivers and 1 car.  Driving 2 cars and trying to stay together was tough when we did it back in July.  I'm glad we weren't trying to do it again.

We had thought we might have a more leisurely morning and leave at 11 or so.  But after looking at the radar, we decided to get a head start on the weather that was expected to roll in.  All along the way, we watched the clouds all around us, wondering when rain would fall.  For the most part, it held off, which made for a good trip.  I prefer to drive under cloudy skies, not sunny, not raining.

I was still fairly exhausted when we got home at 5:00.  I tried to stay awake, but finally, I decided to admit defeat.  Plus, I was feeling a bit chilled and shivery, which made me worry about what my body might be fighting off.

Happily, this morning, I feel a bit better.  I had hoped that I was feeling shivery because it was raining and chilly last night, and I think it's the case.

And now, on to the tasks of the week:  getting driver's licenses, getting smart phones, moving money so that I can pay for seminary classes, doing some shopping for my seminary apartment.  I am going to need some lamps, and I'm trying to remember where I saw them in our thrift store shopping a few weeks ago.  Plus I may do some food shopping so that I get to campus with some time before I need to shop.