And Then, Later On Tonight, We Should Build a Fire To Celebrate The School Year Upon Us. Um, Okay.

Chitunga bought me a fire pit for father's day, and although we landscaped the backyard to accommodate it, we haven't put it to use. He went to work on Labor Day, and I labored from home, but afterwards, we took the dogs for a walk at Sea Side, and when we came home he suggested, "We should work hard so we can enjoy a night by a fire before your school year kicks off."

I said, "Funny, I was thinking the same thing." We sat by the fire after I cooked steak and until it was pitch black outside, talking about my mom's family and what she filled me in with after visiting cousins yesterday, and talking about the rhythm and flow of adult life and how my greatest memories are sitting still with my father on Oneida Lake fishing for whatever we might catch and having a few beers with him over his fire apparatus in his back yard.

We are cavemen, after all.

A couple of Octoberfest Ales also helped out, and although the photo above looks like it was bright outside, it actually grew dark rather quick. We managed to burn all the debris from the yard collected from the spring and summer. Now we have nothing left, so our next autumn fire will require some ingenuity on our part.

I also channeled Abu who wanted a different potato recipe during the summer and found a nice paprika, parmesan cheese, garlic and pepper recipe. Simply sprinkle olive oil on the taters, bake, and the rest is history. Delicious.

Today begins another semester and I'm on campus until about 10 p.m. - time to upset Glamis's summer of having me at her disposal. We're going to try our best to keep her walking routine (and she's exhausted from the long walks along the Long Island Sound with Pam, Patrick, Jake and Mae.

You can see how dried out the lawn is and that is because we've had no rain and Hermine didn't even offer a sprinkle. I don't know...something tells me this winter will make up for the dry summer. We shall see.