A Weekend In Photos

It was the perfect fall weekend. Despite Friday getting near 80 degrees and me turning the A/C on after work because the house was near 75 degrees inside(neighbors were burning so I had to close all the windows), by Saturday morning the cold air moved in. It was blue skies, chilled air, and a sense of calm that I haven’t felt in quite a long time. With the calamity of my daughter’s dog saga finally behind us and the feeling of time beginning to move on, we can enjoy fall finally.

My wife and I took two nice, long walks over the weekend. Both of us have slacked on our daily walks, so getting out in the chilled air was just what we needed. Saturday we headed into town and parked at the beginning of one of our favorite city trails. The Beyer Trail runs through wetlands and along Pike Lake. We decided to take the trail through town first, then work our way back the opposite direction. Living out in the suburbs is nice. City traffic is a joke, but walking out where we are can be kind of boring, and in some cases dangerous. There’s no sidewalks or marked trails, so you’re either stuck in our neighborhood where walks can get kind of boring or you’re on county roads where speeding pick up trucks or mom vans could potentially take you out. City walks are safe with sidewalks, plus there’s more to look at. Our hometown has crime, but nothing to worry you while on an afternoon walkabout.

Saturday we got a little over 3 miles in, while yesterday was close to 4 miles. While Saturday’s walk was nice and sunny, we were walking in a mist most of the time Sunday. It was overcast and wet, yet it didn’t really bother us. We took a different route yesterday and made it all the way to Center Lake Park where we basked in all the renovations to the city’s main spot for summer swimming, picnicking, and even catching a summer concert(in the past we’ve had Quiet Riot, Don Dokken, Foghat, Ambrosia, and America so don’t be too jealous.) We also checked out some of the healthy shoreline projects my wife’s work helped to get going. The water quality has come a long way over the 49(nearly 50) years I’ve been coming to these lakes. Not swimming, mind you, but just enjoying the view and hanging out late a night after a few beers at Gordy’s(we’re talking 25-30 years ago.)

Friday after work I finally sold my daughter’s old car. The wife and I were getting worried we’d never get it sold, at least before snow fell and our home would look like a used car lot for most of the season. My oldest bought an ’89 Buick Skylark back in September of 2022. For it being a 33 year old vehicle it was relatively clean and only had 95,000 miles on it. She ended up paying $1,500 for it(the guy was asking $1,750 but she talked him down.) It’s been a decent vehicle for her. No issues, but the fact that there are no safety features always made me feel a little weary. She was 22-years old at the time and a new driver. A bit of a late bloomer as far as driving went, but she finally came around and was ready. Still, it’s not just you that you need to worry about, there’s plenty of awful long term drivers out there you need to look out for. And her being a new driver always made me nervous(family trait.)

So when she found this 2016 Nissan Rogue for sale by owner only a couple miles from us it seemed like fate. Turns out this guy has had the car for sale in his front yard for nearly a year. Never placed an ad or even his phone number on the for sale sign. My wife and daughter headed over to look at it a couple months ago and the guy was just getting home from work. It all just worked out, as the Rogue only had 69,000 miles. It was his wife’s car she used to deliver mail for the USPS. She wanted to get a bigger vehicle, so the Rogue had to go. Their loss was our daughter’s gain. Now she’s in a modern vehicle with all the safety features. It was super clean as well, so that was a bonus.

After the car was picked up Friday I watched a movie called When Evil Lurks on Shudder. Pretty good Argentinian horror movie about demonic possession. Imagine getting possessed by a demon was like catching a cold, well that’s the premise of this twisted tale. Pretty gruesome flick. Well done and some seriously disturbing images. Highly recommend it, if horror is your bag.

Saturday afternoon I headed over to my best friend’s place for some much needed laughs and chill out time. The last time we were together was over the summer when we had our hiking weekend in Brown County. We talk nearly everyday, but it was July since we actually hung out. It was a fine time; laughs were had, we watched Simpsons’ ‘Treehouse Of Horror'(classic) and The Nun 2(not good). He made homemade subs and we both laughed a lot(which was something we both needed.)

Overall, a damn good fall weekend.

I also picked up a couple albums from Karma Records yesterday. John at Karma has been holding some albums for me. There were some High On Fire and Meters reissues that all hit at once that I wanted, but didn’t have the large sum of cash to pay for them at the same time. So John held them back so I could get them when I could. I picked up HoF’s Death Is The Communion and The Meters’ Struttin’. Didn’t get into them yesterday, but will definitely give them a spin this week. There’s one High On Fire left for me to get, Blessed Black Wings, then my HoF collection will be complete.

The one thing I wanted to do but didn’t get a chance this weekend was work on some more music. I did finish up a second track late last week. Give it a listen below if you like. Or not. Completely up to you.

This Thursday we drive our 20-year old to the Indianapolis International Airport so she can take a 9pm flight from Indy to Newark, New Jersey. From there she’ll take an Uber to NYC and spend a couple days with one of her best friends. After the nearly three months she’s gone through I think this will be a great thing for her. For her friend, too, as she’s been extremely homesick in the Big Apple. There’s a part of me that wishes our daughter would find something out there and just move in with her best friend. Transfer to a new beauty school and finish her schooling out there. But then I’d miss her terribly, so then I think that’d be a bad idea.

I do think she’s on the right path here at home. She’s waiting to hear about getting into a new apartment. It’ll be closer to work and in a small, downtown area in the town she’s already living in. Just 25 minutes from us. The apartment is newer and would be perfect for her. Plus, we’re pretty sure she can have a dog there(as long as it’s certified as an emotional support dog.) Her primary care physician has already written her a slip stating she needs it. I think once she gets something from her therapist she’ll be good to go. And, she went and met a cute three-year old dog named Celeste at the Animal Welfare League. She’s very quiet and timid as she went through quite an ordeal in her first three years. When she arrived at the AWL she was undernourished, thin, and had some injuries. She’d also already had a litter of puppies. Celeste has been at the AWL for over five months and our daughter was the first person to inquire about her. She even facetimed with me last week when she was there taking Celeste for a walk.

That was the weekend. All in all, pretty great. How was yours?