Fall flowers on an unidentified bush:

It has been a quiet weekend, Dennis off at his studies and just Britches and me at home. We have many games, among them the mouse-on-the-fishing-line game, wherein the mouse runs all over the house, Britches in pursuit. She knows it’s a fake, now and then playing with the fishing line instead of the mouse, but she mostly suspends disbelief so she can have fun. I wonder if inability to suspend disbelief contributes to anhedonia? The time changed last night- “fall back”, always much preferred to “spring forward”- and so when I woke this morning it wasn’t too long before the sun started to rise.

Before the sun came up I read a story that made me cry, it was so tough and tender at once. Raking leaves yesterday reminded me of childhood, raking and jumping and playing. I love the smell of the leaves, the sound as I rake them onto the tarp and haul them to the curb or compost. The squirrels Dennis has been feeding are so fat their bellies are touching the ground. They’ve had to rely on their natural food sources while Dennis has been gone, for I haven’t taken food out for them. Family is coming for Thanksgiving this year, a first since the next older generation has been gone. The next weekends will be full of preparations- cleaning, making sure we have enough bedclothes, shopping. There was an earthquake last night in Oklahoma, felt here, apparently, but not by me.