The hummingbirds decamped weeks ago, and the remaining birds are refusing the seeds in the feeder in favour of fermenting berries. Then, with a good buzz on, they perch in the big oak tree out front and shit processed berries on the white Subaru just for fun. It's an embarrassing mess.

The good news is that apart from a few dazed wasps and crickets, the bug population out here in the woods is much reduced. The remaining spiders are enormous, and I had to lift a few webs out of the way to wash windows this afternoon. The sun is brilliant and low and comes straight in the windows in the late afternoon, and it just had to be done.

The weather has been shockingly fabulous for the past week - sun and heat, and the trees are just starting to get red and yellow in the last couple of days. We're hoping this is what we get until we're good and ready to cope with the difficult stuff. (About a week ago there was big wind and a few brief periods of white pellets. Bit of a shock, but then it was over.)

I rowed this morning in the sunshine, but rolling up the pant legs and wading out to pull the boat off the beach was just a bit frigid. My feet in my flip flops were pale blue when I got home. Still, I'm reluctant to say it's time to pull the boats. We sailed Peggy on Saturday, and our neighbour John was out on the water too, so we crossed tacks on the sparkly water, and enjoyed it all.

Turkey with Randy's family on the weekend, ham with my family next weekend. We are never bored. Still holding our shared boat-breath. There are three people currently doing some serious thinking about ND. All this at the time of year when we would normally be packing to head back to the boat. Hard to know whether we're feeling relieved or conflicted about staying put. Both. Looking forward to taking a deep breath.

See below for some recent photos.