Fall blows in
Fall in these northern parts really starts mid- to late-August. Sometimes I am so busy, though, that I miss the signals. And sometimes I close my eyes to the changes, hoping to stretch out the glories of summer just a little bit longer. I plead guilty to both this year. Much of my blindness to the change came from my wish for another weekend or two of sailing. But then my boss, who lives on the river, remarked that water levels had gone down. I relayed the news to Robert, and we realized that we had to get down to the boat. We remembered last year, when Robert had to winch the boat out of the muck at the end of the season. We got down too late in the day Saturday to go out on the water. There was little or no wind, the clouds were dark gray, and the water levels were on their way down. As we sat in the cockpit, we talked about our schedules, and realized this was it. It was time to take down the sails. We aired them, then lowered them down and stuffed them into their bags before the ra...
