It’s always hard to say goodbye, and that includes the change of seasons. We had a summer dominated by heat and humidity, definitely the latter. After a wet spring, we dried up this summer and some places are reporting drought conditions. It’s shaping up to finish as our driest summer in a decade. But, given the recent stretch of cooler weather (we started Saturday morning in the mid-40’s), we made the tough decision to close down the swimming pool early. Last night we removed the ladder and very soon, we’ll be putting the cover on. Even if we get a stretch of 80 degree days, it’s not going to help warm up the pool which was 69 degrees yesterday.
For me, I was able to use the pool more than I have in a while, despite the early closing date and the limited amount of time that I usually had. We opened the pool on Mother’s Day weekend but, due to the cool, damp second half of May, I didn’t take my first swim until June 11. It took until the first weekend of summer before I swam regularly. When I went to Kennywood for Bites and Pints, it was one of the more active visits for me since COVID. It’s been an active summer, in a good way.
The new season of the Great British Baking Show premieres on September 5 on Netflix. While I’ve watched a few episodes in the past, I’m going to enjoy a full season this time around. Does it replace Halloween Baking (probably but not setting that in stone yet). The Great British Baking Show has aired since 2010 and has its name due to Pillsbury owning the Bake-off trademark. For Christmas in 2023, I got my mom a cookbook from the show. This show along with The Paper will on my list of shows that I’ll view during the month of September. If the Holiday Baking Championship returns this November, I’ll most definitely be watching.
This weekend marks the end of 15 months of French lessons on Duolingo. September is a time to try new things. Beginning Monday, I’m going to learn German. With these early Fall months comes Oktoberfest, so I feel German may be a good fit for me. My ultimate goal is to have 100000 XP on four of the main languages I’ve learned on Duo. I’ve got a nice start on German and Italian and I’m almost halfway there on Spanish. I started with Spanish in April of 2022 before branching out.
Tomorrow begins the new Fall menu at Cutie’s which is one more sign that Summer is winding down. I’ll come down after I wake up. My first choice on the Fall menu will be the Maple 🍁 Cutie Latte. I would go Thursday but that’s Olive Garden 🍝 night for me; however, I’m off Friday so that will likely be my next Cutie’s visit. With rain likely, it may be a perfect morning for some Fall coffee or breakfast. I’m thinking Caramel Waffle Latte will my next drink (maybe for next Monday’s Bible study). I just saw the Carrot Cake latte on my Instagram stories and can’t wait to try that too. After a quiet August, I’m ready to get into the groove for Fall, and I look forward to trying my Market District coffee as well.
Coming to the blog this week, I’ll recap my Cutie’s visit and look ahead to September. I need to pace myself because my October is looking pretty good. It’s the start of football season with Friday night lights, College on Saturday, and the NFL kicks off Thursday night with Dallas and Philly. Steelers-Jets on Sunday, along with Detroit vs. Green Bay and Baltimore vs. Buffalo later on. I’ll also be recapping our Toastmasters meeting.
Happy Apple Fall, everyone!
Stylish 🍒 