Today is my father’s 85th birthday. We celebrated with a Thanksgiving/Birthday dinner at our house.  My mother has not been out of the house (except for two doctor appointments) since she collapsed on September 8th so the dinner today was extra special because my mom and dad were able to join my family (husband, daughter, son-in-law and grandson) to celebrate these two events.

The weather this weekend has been lovely with warm temperatures and lots of sunshine. On Saturday I managed to clean up the outdoor plant pots, pull the weeds and trim the plants in the flower beds along the side of the house.  Sadly by the time I finished this chore I was completely exhausted.  Someday I hope to be able to spend all afternoon puttering around my yard without having to “pay” with several days of utter exhaustion.
 
The window in my den is open and I just heard a huge flock geese as they flew over my back yard. They were making quite the racket and I suppose they are looking for a place to bed down for the night.  I got up to watch them and they were flying low enough so I could tell that they were Canadian geese. This is always a sure sign that it is fall and that winter is imminent.    

My grandson does a “last swim of the season” at Thanksgiving before the pool is “closed” for the winter. This has become a family tradition; he swims the length of the pool and back and of course we video tape the event.  The water temperature today was 58 degrees so there was a fair bit of noise when he first hit the water. After grandson’s swim this afternoon, my husband put the winter cover on the pool, sand filter and heater; a sure sign that summer is over.

“The greatest gift I ever had 
Came from God, and I call him Dad!”
~~Author Unknown.