Falling into fall

New display at the Food Co-op

Yes, it's that time again: fall is just a couple days away, meaning that the summer is finally past for the year, and now we begin the time when all the leaves on deciduous trees turn colors and carpet the ground with leaves, and the temperatures will hopefully moderate. I am just not a fan of heat and endless sunshine, much preferring clouds and sun, along with cool breezes and the need to wear gloves and other such cold-weather attire.

Fall begins this year at 11:19am on Monday, September 22, here in the Northern Hemisphere of Planet Earth, Pacific Time. I am always amazed that our planet is large enough to have a Northern and Southern Hemisphere, meaning that the Equator is where we change from one hemisphere and we move from warm to cool weather, and on the other side, we move from cool to warm weather. I've never spent any time at the Equator, although I did go there once when I visited the Galapagos Islands. From my very insulated perspective, I am at the center of the Universe, and my planet and star are right at the center of everything. Of course, this only seems so because I am a small insignificant little organism, one that (in the Cat Stevens song) "only dances on the earth for a short while," but the rest of our vast Universe is unknown to me and the rest of us on this tiny blue sphere. I feel quite blessed to have been born at a time when my species has begun to expand our knowledge through telescopes and astronomers who study our place in the scheme of things. If I had my life to live over, I would have become an astronomer. But instead, I spent (or may I should say squandered) my earlier years studying boys and the fashions of the times. I was only a mediocre student, not really interested in the world at large, much less the vast universe in which we live.

But I discovered science fiction at an early age, in my teens, and that was what expanded my horizons. Unfortunately, nobody was at all interested in my interests or even my lackluster grades. Plus, I was a GIRL during a time when nobody expected me to excel at anything, other than perhaps how many babies I might have. Times have changed, but I can only ponder how different my life would have been in a different setting and time. But in any event, as I look back at my life, it's been a very good one, even without children to continue to raise or grandchildren. Instead, I have a fantastic partner, who is my age, and who takes care of me wonderfully, even through his own tribulations.

We got our Covid shots on Thursday. The local pharmacy has walk-in clinics in the afternoon, and we got there just as they opened their doors around 2:00pm. We filled out some paperwork and sat down to wait our turn. I was the first person seen, and before I knew what had happened, I had received the shot. It was one of the new batch and different from previous shots I've received. It stung when it went in, no surprise there, but by the time I was ready for bed, my arm really hurt. Friday and Saturday it was pretty sore, but this morning, Sunday, there is only a tiny residual soreness. We wanted to get our shots before they might be curtailed by the government, although we live in Washington state, where it might be awhile before we start to see some problems that other states will deal with first. Our state has joined together with the other West Coast states (and Hawaii) to create our own Covid commission, giving us the latest formulation and ability to access them without having to pay,

One of the best things about have a blog is being able to search for stuff that happened already, and I found it was last September when we got Covid. I didn't remember being all that sick, but the post reminded me that it was no picnic. You can read the post here, if you're interested. Since I re-read how sick I was, I am not willing to go without a Covid shot. I'm a year older, too. My Guy received not only the shot for Covid, but also one for the flu. I am not willing to do both at once, and will get a flu shot later in the season.

Anyway, I realize that I am running out of time to write much more, before it will be time to get up and start the rest of my day. John will be here in less than an hour, and I need to get my exercises done and take my vitamins before that happens. And by the time I write in here next week, hopefully I will be healthy and happily looking at all the new fall colors in the trees. They are already looking wonderful, but there is more to come.

With that, I will begin the rest of my day. I've already read some blogs and done the Wordle, and had a nice conversation with SG, who got up to visit the bathroom and I took the opportunity to read what I had already written to him. But the time is slipping away, so I will bring this to a close, with a fervid wish that all of us will be happy and relatively healthy until we meet again next week. It's a beautiful time of the year in my neighborhood, so hopefully I'll get some pictures to share with you then.

Don't forget to appreciate the world we share. It's beautiful here and hope it is where you live, too. Until we meet again next week, I wish you all good things, dear friends.