It feels like fall here. Charlie and I returned home from a trip to cold, windy weather, and a yard covered in leaves. We had to turn the heater on in the house for the first time this season. I’m sipping some cognac while I write this. Nothing fancy, Gilles Brisson VS. Good sipper.

There isn’t much to report from the beginning of the week. Lots of packing for our respective trips and hoping our colds go away.

Amanda went to London for Kat and Nate’s wedding and Charlie and I went to Ohio to go camping with Grandma and Grandpa. All three of us flew out of JFK around the same time on Thursday, so we were able to go the airport together.

Charlie is a really good flier. There and back we played with cars and magnatiles, made up stories about the safety instruction card illustrations, and had snacks. Turbulence didn’t bother him at all.

One of the helpful things for long car rides to and from the airport was the Thomas & Friends Storytime podcast. Charlie loves it. He’ll quietly sit and listen to it with his headphones for a while.

We went camping at East Harbor State Park, near Marblehead. Charlie settled in to camping pretty quickly. He helped us start a fire, slept well in the camper, dug into breakfast, and rode his bike.

We spent most of Friday exploring. We went to the lake at East Harbor, Marblehead Lighthouse, and Castalia Fish Hatchery. We all enjoyed finding fossils in the rocks at Marblehead and feeding the rainbow trout at the hatchery.

Saturday was Trick or Treat at the campground. We made a makeshift explorer costume (backpack, lantern, binoculars) for Charlie and hit the pavement. He ended up with a huge bag full of candy and some spooky tattoos! Some campsites had more decorations than most houses our city. They must have brought a separate trailer just for their decorations. Some people really love halloween. Not for me.

Saturday night brought a huge thunderstorm that Charlie slept through, but none of the adults did. Sunday was rainy and we headed back to my parents’ house. Charlie, always the helper, pitched in on packing up. He particularly liked pushing the buttons for the retractable awning and slide outs.

It was a nice trip. I was 100% offline from work, which was much needed after the last couple weeks.

While at my parents’ house, my Dad helped me get some deer hair from a hide, some squirrel tails, and a pheasant tail. I shot that particular deer and the squirrels about 15 years ago, and the pheasant tail feathers my Dad found while walking in the woods. Now I have some more fly tying ideas! Bookmarks are collected here. I’m excited to use materials the have some extra meaning and history.

After Charlie and I landed at JFK, we drove back to Peekskill, went grocery shopping, had dinner at Chipotle, and started getting ready for the week. Amanda comes back Wednesday.