The challenge is on. It has gotten much cooler at night, and when you get up in the morning the house is cool or sometimes cold. The unwritten rule is you don’t turn on the heat until the first of November. I read on social media that there were some who turned on the heat just to take the chill out of the house. There is no penalty for doing this just a little bigger heat bill.

Happy Birthday to all who celebrated their day this past week. Big balloons to all the school kids who celebrated their day. The list is arriving soon.

Our sympathies go out to the family of Bonnie Deitz. Bonnie was a mom, grandmother, aunt and friend to all who knew her. She taught math to many of the children in town in a way no one else could. All her students loved her and still do. Bonnie put her heart and soul in everything she did, and people loved her for that. She is certainly a great loss to all of us.

Beth and Bill Erickson were in town this past week for a couple of days to visit family and friends. I had a chance to visit with her for a bit to catch up. They are very happy up in Maine and have made friends that they enjoy doing things with. Bill is busy building his shop and a “treehouse” (the size of a shed on the ground) for the grandchildren, and Beth works a couple of days a week. It was great to catch up with her and hope we can do it again soon.

On Sunday morning I took a ride around town, my first stop was State Beach where I found umbrellas were replaced with fishing poles, people were beachcombing, walkers and joggers were on the bike path. I headed into town and the old Kenniston house seemed to be growing under construction. There were many parking spaces, the Dr. Fisher house had an empty tent from the celebration that happened the night before, the middle of town was just waking up, and at the end of the street the derby headquarters was just opening with some fishermen waiting to weigh in their catch. The shiny boat, the grand prize of the derby, was on display in the parking lot, some boats were headed out of the harbor to try their luck for the big one, Memorial Wharf had many people fishing, the lighthouse was standing tall, North Water street was quiet and the houses that once housed captains who went out to sea while their wives stood in the widow walks seemed whiter then I remembered.

I drove around to Fuller Beach and found the beach was so close to the road. It didn’t seem so long ago that you had to walk across a foot bridge to get to the beach. Mother Nature rules again.

As I was driving home, I once again thought how beautiful our town is.

Have a great week and keep the home candles burning.