A Slower Pace

I may not have slept as much as I wanted this weekend, but it was a calmer, more restful couple of days than the last one. Ruthie had a great time at camp. They told me she was definitely a little timid and was following the other dogs rather than leading, but they said that's pretty typical for a first-timer. They also took an adorable photo of her when we first got there:

While she was there, I went for a long walk, washed all her bedding and her blanket, washed and repaired the couch cushion covers (she's a terrier, so she likes to dig), vacuumed the family room and under the couch covers, and even found a little time to sit down and finish up this hat:

I added two additional repeats this time around and used up 375 yards of yarn (though this particular skein had something like 462 yards total, so there's still a bit left). I have to say that holding fingering weight yarn double is a great way to go through it and is making a real dent in my fingering bin! I've cast on another charity hat in fingering doubled, though I'm using up scraps this time around. It's not much to look at yet, but as this one is just stockinette, it should grow quickly.

When I picked Ruthie up, it was clear she was very tired -- I took her for a short walk, and she was walking slowly. When we came home, she ate everything in her food bowl, then plopped on the couch next to me. Shortly after, I glanced over to find her like this:

I thought she'd sleep in yesterday morning after a day with so much activity -- but no, her first bark came at 4:55 a.m.! I made her wait a little bit until I came down to let her out of her crate, and she was overjoyed to see me. It almost made up for the extra-early wakeup. I was glad that after our midday walk, we could both take a little snooze.

Though the weekend wasn't much for sleeping (at least not for me), I will say that it was a gorgeous fall weekend. The mornings lately have been chilly, but each day the sun has come out and warmed us up into the 60s. I believe today we might even hit 70! We also haven't had rain since we got the remnants of Hurricane Isaias a couple of weeks ago, and the low humidity has been great for running. With the exception of the Friday before all that rain came in, when it got humid again and made breathing more difficult, I think I've managed to run at least 10K (6.2 miles) without stopping to walk every day I've gone out to run. But now we're in a streak of perfect fall weather. The leaves are changing and falling, I've had to duck from falling acorns, and the days are getting noticeably shorter. I'm enjoying all this while it lasts and before all the color fades away.

We've got a pretty typical week ahead. The Mister has another trip, though he'll only be gone one night, and I've got more work coming in. Molly took good advantage of her day off on Friday to get a lot of schoolwork done and even get a little ahead. I expect we'll all be busy for much of the week, so my hope is that it's a manageable amount that allows us to pause every now and then to enjoy this last week of the month. And that's my hope for you, too, friends! I will be back on Wednesday with a big sweater update, a peek at my new hat, and some book reviews.