Fall Flavors And Following The Line

It's fall (at least in the northern hemisphere)... I don't have to tell you that, I am sure you know it already. I just had to remind myself yesterday, when I walked out of the office. I didn't notice the smell when I got in the morning, but in the afternoon it almost knocked me out of my shoes. Blooming holly trees around the plant create a wall of scent. Allergic people really never get a break around here... South Carolina's Upstate is not called allergy capital of the U.S for nothing.



I took a picture of the holly tree yesterday already, but it was all grey and foggy and rainy. So today, it was just an amazing mild fall day and that is a so much nicer backdrop for the picture! Enjoy and envy, if you live in other parts of the country/ world, where it's not that pretty right now! ;-)

The leafs take their time this year to turn the color. You see a couple of trees in bright red and yellow, but it's going to take them another couple of weeks until the peak. Beginning of November we are planning to take part in the "Leaf Tour" (not to be mixed up with the "Tour de Leafs") organized by the Greenville Spinners. By then, I need to get my cycle legs back otherwise the hills are going to be a sufferfest.

In the last couple weeks I started to get back into the pool on a regular basis. There is hardly anything I hate more (exercise-wise) than swimming in the morning. But going in the evening is not really an option, because the pool is always full and I don't mind sharing lanes in general, but sometimes that's a little irritating too. So I got my lazy butt in the pool this morning once more and I bet it's funny to see me there. I just dread to get into the cold (it's a competition pool and I think the water is way too cold) water and most of the time, I sit down a little and stick my toes in there a couple of times until I can work up some courage. But once I am in there, it's great. A lot of people don't like to go swimming, because they say it's boring. But for me it has some therapeutic value to just swim and follow the line on the bottom of the pool... Not being distracted by anything, my mind just wanders and works through whatever bothers me. I guess my form suffers when my mind is somewhere else and without my lap counter I wouldn't know how much yards I made.

And now, I will get my reality TV fix and watch Biggest Loser! :-)