Fall colours

Nick spent Thanksgiving in Burlington with Sinead’s family and then came home later in October for Reading Week (a bit of a misnomer since it’s only two days plus a weekend). In between was Homecoming Weekend, a tradition where students, alumni, and anyone who knows someone at Queen’s, gather for a weekend of football and partying in the streets. It’s also tradition that copious amounts of alcohol, mob mentality and the youthful belief in invincibility, lead to crazy stunts and multiple arrests. Nick’s gang of Ottawa friends came down for it and crashed on whatever spare piece of floor they could find, but he assures none of them jumped off buildings or hung off hydro wires.

Fall is Ray’s favourite time of year, which is a bit surprising since he spends most it raking leaves and chopping wood. In case that wasn’t enough exercise, he joined a gym and has been doing spin classes and power yoga. He took Nick to a spin class with him and, of course, it turned competitive. Nick finished just ahead of Ray in the simulated race, but the fact that Ray can almost keep up to his son, who’s one-third his age, is pretty impressive. They’re both in tremendous shape.

Ray also did a cross-Gatineau traverse with the Alpine club, a 9-hour hike through the Gatineau hills. He and Nick did the same hike a few years ago and it rained the entire time. This year it was a perfect day with the leaves at their peak.

We took Juno to the local dog park for the first time, where she leapt over smaller dogs in a single bound. We’ll see if that athleticism transfers to the agility ring. We start a beginners class next week.

For me, fall is the most difficult time of year. I hate the cold so I’m not a fan of winter, but for some reason October and November are when my mood and energy level are at their lowest. To counter that, I schedule my week so I don’t end up lying on the couch in my jammies all day. My weekly schedule includes three running classes, two sessions with a personal trainer, two sessions of reading with the grade 3 students, and two dog training classes. And plenty of lying on the couch drinking Chai lattes in between.