The Last Long Weekend of 2011

Photo courtesy of portwallpaper.com

It's finally here.  The last long weekend of 2011.  As we Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving, we are also hoping to enjoy three sunny and unseasonably warm days, with temperatures forecasted to be in the mid to high 20's Celsius (for my American friends, that translates to high 70's to mid 80's).  Considering that the average temperature for October is only 12 degrees C or 54 degrees F, you can imagine how excited we all are at the prospect of 3 unusually hot days this time of year!  Please, just this once, let's hope the forecasters got it right!!

I'm on my way up to the cottage.  We'll be closing things up for the winter shortly, so this will probably be the last weekend we'll be sleeping there this year.  It's always a bittersweet time, mixed together with the slight melancholy I tend to feel as autumn draws ever closer to winter.  The days get shorter, the temperatures drop steadily, we start layering on more and warmer clothes and begin to condition ourselves to accept the coming of winter.

But not just yet! Not this weekend.  This weekend, we're going to revel in the sun and the warmth, enjoy those bright blue skies that only October can deliver, providing the perfect background for the vibrant colours of the leaves, and stuff ourselves with turkey and mashed potatoes and apple pie and think about all the things for which we are thankful.  Wherever you are, I hope you will be enjoying yourself too!