The first snow of the year fell overnight. The yards and houses and trees are all covered in a blanket of white.

There are still leaves on the trees. Many still have green leaves. I don't think nature is any more prepared for winter than I am. The temperature is barely over freezing, so I expect this'll turn into a cold rain and wash away by midday or evening. But it did fall.

I've been remiss in keeping up. It looks like an easy hundred days since the last post. I'll try to backfill some things, but in case I don't, here are some highlights.

The kids have started school again. It's pre-pandemic care now. Masks are optional, often worn incorrectly if at all. The kids bus to school, then stay for activities after, so we pick them up at the end of the day. Everyone likes school, for the most part; better than sitting at home, anyway.

Work is largely the same for the adults. Shifts in everyone's stories as the weather changes, and as we prepare for fall retail stuff. Some of my company are returning to the office more often, but still not a return to every day. Some discussion about a broader extension of required day or two a week, but I've promised my team to hold that off as much as I'm able. Yesterday the wife had her first office visit this year. All trudges on as it has been for the last few years.

Home is the same. Neglecting the yard, a few chores taking longer to do in the house. We haven't cleaned the garage enough to put a car or the trailer in there, so winter might be tough if there are any big snow falls. I still have time to shuffle some things around, but there are so many new and different things, and what we moved from garage to basement hasn't moved, so there's no room there! We'll get it sorted.

Extended family is the same. We've seen the older kids and grand kids a little in the summer, with a visit from everyone last weekend for breakfast. I was feeling a little seasonal ill, so a bunch of the rest went to the museum and some other things while I rested at home. Probably the first time alone, not including brief office stints, since visiting the cabin in August.

We did visit the cabin during the summer. The same cabin we rented last year. This time we invited the older kids and grandkids, and spread out over two weeks, with just a little overlap on the middle weekend. It was great to see everyone, even for such long spans. It was probably more manageable to have the whole families on a small overlap, and work with just one set at a time for the other times. It's a pretty big crowd to coordinate, otherwise.

Here at the end of fall, there's the usual air stuff. The house has had some fall allergy kinds of symptoms. I went to the office and came back wiped out for two days with congestion and related breathing trouble and fatigue, but without any fever. Kids have occasional runny noses and related coughs or sneezes, too. No positive COVID tests in the house, so probably just a regular cold. 

I'll try to get back into the swing, and try to go back and mark some of the bigger things, before they completely fade from memory. But I'm at least a little back.

Everyone is healthy.