The Flowers That Bloom in the Fall, Tra-la...

We had one of the best Columbus Day weekends in memory, weatherly-speaking (your scribe will NOT use the grammatical abomination "weather-wise" unless a gun is pointed at his head and life or death are the only options). Record-breaking temperatures, sunny skies, mostly-green-but-partly-red-and-orange foliage, all enhanced by an explosion of floral color throughout the Town. Herewith a few pictorial examples, taken yesterday (click for the CineMax view):

This is the triangle by the post office. And here's the same area a little further towards the entrance:


Next we have the World War I memorial in the center of the PO plaza:

Followed by the plantings in back of Richards (the purple bushes were a lot more purple a few days ago - should have taken this shot last weekend):


Here's the firefighters' memorial across the street, recently adorned with a wreath:


And finally a pocket garden in front of St. Mary RC Church helping to brighten Greenwich Avenue:

One would almost think it's spring, not fall, to judge by all the attention being lavished on flowers around here.

Your scribe is pleased to report that the tank trap formerly known as the Post Road (a.k.a. Route 1, the major US highway linking Maine to Florida) has now been almost fully repaved. For the past week or so, it's been a real mess of bumpy scraped pavement and extruding manholes; the traffic jams have been horrendous. However, local residents can now rev up their SUVs to full throttle again, and go back to their old habits of ignoring speed limits and red lights as they sail along the smooth new pavement chatting on their hand-held cell phones and turning around to pat the dogs and yell at the kids. Business as usual, folks.

In other news, Gene Wilder's new book is wending its way Miss Erica-wards after the PO's long weekend hiatus. Is the AuthorBabe right? Will Miss Erica hate it because of its title, and chop it up into little pieces and mail it back to your scribe in a black envelope? Only time will tell, dear reader. Stay tuned.

BTW, one of your scribe's favorite sentences in the aforesaid book reads thusly (the hero is speaking to the heroine, who thinks she is not very beautiful):

"I think [beauty] is something that's half on the outside and half on the inside."

Y'know, that's really true. Your scribe has dated some gorgeous girls who were ugly as sin on the inside, and some Plain Janes who were real sweethearts. What is it they say about not judging a book by its cover?

Well, that's pretty much the weekend report. Oh yes, your scribe took his annual Columbus Day hike at the Fairchild Audubon sanctuary yesterday, where the usually boisterous stream running alongside the Deep Gorge trail was utterly silent because of the prolonged dry spell we've been having. Then it was over to the Wilderness Trail and finally down to the meadow, where a hawk circled high overhead looking for a late lunch. Very beautiful, and very peaceful.

Today it is cold and blustery and rain is threatening. Back to reality. And back to work.