There is always so much to do in a household, to keep it running. Normal  household things, and of course maintenance that never ends. Things that go awry with normal wear and tear, needing to be fixed or replaced. Cleaning, laundry, food shopping, exterior care and gardening; whatever it is it becomes routine and a weekly schedule more or less takes care of everything. It all consumes time and energy, leaving just enough of both over to tuck into the day an opportunity for recreation. And vitally, reading. And looking after two little puppies with all that entails (not the least bit punny:).

But Irving is restless. He's always been curious about things, always wanted to go somewhere, see things, do things. Since the pandemic we've gone nowhere. So there's that gap in our lives, shared by people the world over. The next best thing to occupying his attention and energies is producing something, having a project that can be planned for, worked on and carefully tended to. When he first retired he took up oil painting and did it on a rather grand scale.

When we moved to our current house thirty years ago, he saw it as one huge project. As he had the two earlier houses we owned and lived in. All ended up bearing his stamp of aesthetic. This current house gave him greater scope to explore his penchant for building, everything from furniture pieces to altering the original interior, meant to be open flowing spaces, to distinctly singular spaces, closing them all in. And when he turned his attention to the house exterior, excavating the ground to build garden infrastructure that too was a project, one that took an entire spring and part of a summer.

After all these years you'd think he would slow down and take a break, but no. Yesterday afternoon he went out then  returned with some lumber. He's decided to concentrate on producing two stained glass doors. Which means he has to build the doors as frames to hold stained glass inserts. That done, he'll design a pattern, then begin producing the stained glass to eventually insert into the frame, and finally hang the door. We've got such doors throughout the house, but there are two plain doors upstairs that he plans to replace. He's happiest when he's busy creating something.

Today he was busy with other things. Finally, the lawn has dried, the sun is out, it's a cool, windy day. Yesterday afternoon while he was out getting his lumber, I was out continuing my initial garden clean-up anticipating putting the garden beds and borders to sleep for the winter months. There's a lot to be done and it can only be done incrementally. Today Irving mowed the lawns, front and back of the house, and then we went out with Jackie and Jillie for our afternoon tramp through the forest.

A surprisingly windy day, and cool at 17C, with the sun on occasional display, but more overcast than not. The forest too is drying out from its series of rainy days. The forest leaf mass is a wide screen of green, where in weeks to come it will become intermittently tinged with other colours like gold, and burnt umber and reds along with the green. A display that is utterly eye-dazzling. But not yet.

There is only the occasional sight of an early-turning maple, poplar, birch, sumac. But all the signs are there. Autumn takes its time; it is, at this point, more evident in fragrance than in its optics. We can smell it in the air. We can feel it in the wind and in the chill air. Vegetation on the forest floor looks tired and spent, entirely prepared to take its leave for the present, to rest over winter and return in good time when spring returns. We'll be waiting.