A Weekend to Envy

Last night I saw the season opener for the Columbus NHL franchise, the Blue Jackets. It's a promising year for the Blue Jackets. Some big moves made in the off season. Ryan Murray coming back from an injury that took him out of last season. Marian Gaborik looks like a beast. Bobrovsky just won a Vezina. It looks like it could be a good year. We lost 4-3 after we only answered one of the Calgary Flames 3rd period goals. The Jackets offensive squad looked uncharacteristically slick. Sergei Bobrovsky looked uncharacteristically mortal.

Today, after Emily makes breakfast we're heading to the pumpkin patch and apple orchard. We shall buy pumpkins. And we shall pick apples. Last year we did the same thing. We wandered about the pumpkin patch, picked a few that looked good, then wandered into the apple trees. We saw people picking apples and putting them in bags. We didn't have any bags. There was a woman handing out bags. We asked her if we could have one. She chastised us for not being in our car. She can only give bags to people in cars, she insisted. And, indeed, she was handing the bags exclusively to the drivers in a long line of cars. But we still didn't understand. Couldn't she just give us a bag? She could not. This year we will make no such mistake. Once we get our pumpkins, we will get in our car and get into the apple picking line, so that we can get a bag, park our car, get out of our car, and pick some apples.

 I don't mean to sound smug. There actually is a good reason we needed to be in our car. The reason is so we would pay for our apples. They collect money for the apples at the end of the car line. If people were getting apples on foot, they could just walk in any direction (except one) away from the apple orchard, and the orchard's limited staff would be powerless to stop them from taking home some free apples. It would be problematic, for the apple orchard, if people didn't pay for their apples.

I just interrupted the sweetness of a hug by pretending to eat Emily's arm. But I didn't do it in that sweet, teeth-only, sanitary way. There was some saliva involved. She acted disgusted. I accused her of pretending to be disgusted. But I don't think she was actually pretending. She pretended she had been pretending. That was sweet.

After we pick apples and buy pumpkins, we will come back home. We will make dinner. Red Curry Vegetables and Rice. And we're going to make some sort of apple pie. Or tart. Something. Then we're going to a Pumpkin carving party. Today is going to be a full day.

 Tomorrow, my friend Ben and I are doing a triathlon. It's this one.  It's not a real triathlon.  It's canoing instead of swimming.  But it's a great fitness goal for Ben, and it's a decent warm up for my upcoming marathon. Last year it poured the entire time we were in the canoe.  The same looks like it might happen tomorrow.   All good though.  It's all good.