This is my favorite time of year.  There, I said it.  I feel confident in saying it, too.  I guarantee that I will say it again this winter when we get a big dump of snow, and next spring when the temperature starts to warm and the valley turns brilliant green, and again next summer when the days last forever and the nights are over in the blink of an eye.  On this day, right now, this is my favorite time of year.  I can feel things slowing down.  The days are getting shorter.  The temperatures are cooling.  The garden is winding down.  There is not the sense of urgency that I feel a lot of times in the summer.  Even the bugs are slowing down.  This morning I was in the garden harvesting tomatoes.  It was still pretty chilly so I had on a dark blue sweatshirt.  As I was picking tomatoes, a honey bee flew in and landed on the sleeve of my sweatshirt.  I am sure my dark blue sleeve was nice and warm from the sun.  I stopped picking and just watched the little bee.  He rubbed his head, rubbed his legs together, fluffed his wings, and then just seemed to sit there, doing nothing, enjoying the warmth of the sun on the chilly morning.  Eventually he slowly flew away.  That is kind of how I feel around this time of year.  Take time to be outside, don't rush, and just enjoy the warmth of the sun.

With these thoughts in mind, I went for a ride this afternoon.  What a gorgeous day!  I headed north from my driveway, spinning easily to let my legs warm up.  As I was riding through town I noticed a man parked across from the post office, sitting in a big cowboy truck and wearing a big cowboy hat.  As I pedaled closer, his arm extended out the window.  He was clutching a bottle of water and waving it back and forth, offering it to me.  I laughed out loud as I pedaled by, giving him a thumbs up to say thanks, even though I did not take the bottle.  I continued north, turning onto Old Darby Road.  Out of the irrigation ditch rose a big blue heron.  It flew with me for a little while before turning off and landing in a pasture.  On I went, heading north to Lost Horse.  As I glanced down to look at my speed, I was delighted to see that it was over 20 mph.  I didn't feel like I was working hard at all.  I noticed the leaves blowing but couldn't feel the wind, so assumed it was at my back and pedaled on.  As I crested the hill on Lost Horse Road, the cows in the pasture alongside the road all trotted over to the fence to watch me as I rode by.  I could almost hear them saying, "Hello!  Glad to see you out enjoying this lovely day."  I continued on up Lost Horse to the end of the pavement, then turned around and retraced my steps home.  I was again delighted to see my speed over 20 mph without feeling like I was working too hard.  Back on Old Darby Road, I sat up to stretch my neck and shoulders.  It felt so good to sit up that I stayed that way.  I sat up, all the way up, "look mom no hands" up, and pedaled along, just soaking in the glorious day.  Like the honey bee on my sweatshirt sleeve, I slowed down, sat up, and just enjoyed the sunshine.

When I got home, I went in the back yard in the sun and stretched.  As I was stretching, I was thinking of all the things I needed to.  Unload the dishwasher, put Zoey's bed back together, shell the beans, fold the laundry.  When I finished stretching, I laid down in the grass and didn't do anything.  I just laid there.  I watched the clouds move across the sky, the chickens scratch in the flower beds, the deer slowly grazing across the pasture.  Because that's the kind of day it was. 

This is my favorite time of year.  Spectacular.