6th grade

This unbeatable autumn continues

We have had such a great streak of perfect autumn weekend weather!

But first, in breaking news, the dogs still love their mom.

In much less adorable news, a few weeks ago we found a snake in the basement. We chalked it up to a one time thing. Then, Friday, Melissa found this little dude meandering across the kitchen.

Does anyone know how to pull of arson safely and effectively? Because at this point, I think the only viable course is to burn the house down.

Primarily to get out of the house, Saturday morning I got up early for a training run for the NYC Marathon, coming up in just two weeks!

I'm running with the Boston Children's team, along with my friend and former athena colleague, David, whose son Joe-Joe receives treatment at BCH.

Back at the ranch, Bruschi continued to neglect his duty to keep our home free of snakes.

As you may have heard, the Northeast last week experienced a "BOMB CYCLONE," which used to be called a "storm," but now apparently has to be called something apocalyptic. We lost a pretty big pine in the back yard, which took out not one, but TWO neighbors' fences. And thank god, because if it had toppled the other way it would have taken out our garage.

Of course a beautiful Saturday meant we were back in the woods with the mutts.

Then, pizza night with Megumi.

This morning we participated in a charity 5K here in town, called Pam's Run in memory of a Wayland resident who passed a few years back.

Another gorgeous day for it!

Syl was super psyched to run by 101 Plain Road.

I was proud of this kid. She hasn't run for the better part of a half year, but she powered through 2.25 miles before a cramp had us walkingfor a bit.

Later in the day, we did some roller blading in the driveway.

A few more shots of the glorious autumn we're experiencing...

The trees in our front yard are out of this world this time around. They actually cast a golden light into the house for most of the day.

Around here, we love the fall

Syl and I were on our own this weekend, while M headed to Ohio for a last-minute join of her High School reunion. Although the kiddo was dealing with a nasty cold, we made the most of the autumn weekend. First, we headed to Verrill Farm in Concord to snag some pumpkins.

Quite a haul this year - one for every member of the family, and an extra for good measure because we liked its shape!

The extra, unfortunately, fell prey to a vegetarian zombie.

This morning was gorgeous, which was a good thing since I had my last (and longest) training run to get through. 20 miles through the most perfect fall New England landscapes one could imagine. We really live in a beautiful place, especially at this time of year.

Back home the mutts greeted me and asked, in their mutt way, why we hadn't taken advantage of the day to go hiking at Mainstone Farm. So we did.

See how serious they look?

These two trees at this time of year are my favorite part of our yard. They never disappoint.

Still serious.

Mainstone was glorious today.

Not so serious any more!!

This might be the best shot of the season right here:

Eagle-eyed Syl spotted this strange trick of nature... a pinecone encased in a leaf.

Until next weekend, Nature...!