The weather prognosticators made the promise last week…The weather station above the microwave this morning gave truth to their predictions with a reading of 66°. The air on the front porch gave promise of better days coming soon.

Even before the sunbeams found the highest branches, the cool north breeze danced lightly through them. Only on occasion would the breeze drop down to lightly plant a cooling kiss upon my summer fevered brow.

For the first time since spring, the doors on this old farmhouse stand open to the morning sounds. The stuffy airs of summer being pushed lightly out by these cool autumn airs.

Sitting with my coffee on the front porch as the sun rises on this fall morning, I find myself amazed at the lack of that sheen of perspiration that normally coats my balding head…Amazed and delighted at the promise of mornings to come.

This cooler air carries sound from the highway much closer. The roar of the tires on the concrete, the thump thump of the expansion joints being driven over, all are much louder than they were last week. I know it isn’t my aging ears that have the whistle from the freight train passing Walmart sounding as if it was just behind the house across the road.

Oddly, the buzz of the hummingbirds wings are about the only muted sound this beautiful morning. The loud buzz that normally announces their arrival at the feeders on the porch is missing. They are visiting, but, quietly. It is almost as if the weather change is a reminder to them that it’s almost time to move on…

And on another note…

Sherry and I have come to the conclusion that as much as we would like to make a home in the mountains of the Blue Ridge, our family and friends are here. So we are beginning to plan our future home right here where we are. We thought about updating this old farmhouse. But after looking at some bids we decided that even after spending a lot of money we would have an old house with some updates. After spending untold hours looking online and in person, we have come to the conclusion that in order to get the house we want we will have to build it.

After looking at the project from many sides we will probably be building a new home in our very own backyard…Then having this old farmhouse moved out and the out buildings torn down. We are in the very early stages of our planning, so nothing is locked in stone yet.

So for the next few months I’ll probably be spending time in design mode tweaking the floor plan to get everything where we want it. Then I’ll need to worry out the site plan to make sure we don’t screw up what it is we love about these few acres…

But then again…

It has been a long, long three years since we made our last run up the to the Blue Ridge Mountains and it is time for a little altitude adjustment. Sherry has a week and a half off the first of November and I am hoping the fall colors hold on a little later than normal so we can enjoy another fall in the mountains.

Since we were not sure she would be able to get off, we haven’t even made any plans yet. I am leaning for a SW Virginia week this year. The lower elevations seem to hang onto more color than the area around my Valle Crucis that late in the season. So, if any of my friends from around Floyd are reading this, there is a better than average chance we’ll be in the area come November.

I am so looking forward to some of this…