Only 7.5 days?

Lake Champlain in October

Looking over the waters of Lake Champlain, I wondered how many water bottles can be filled with that water. At 6.8 trillion gallons, it would fill 27.2 trillion quart water bottles. 

The population of Canada and America is about 390 million. For perspective, 1 trillion is 1000 billion and a billion is 1000 million. Easier to think in terms of zeros. 

1,000,000  million 6 zeros

1,000,000,000 billion 9 zeros

1,000,000,000,000 trillion 12 zeros

So, everyone would be well hydrated. But, for how long? At 6-8 quarts per day for folks to drink, my math inquiries don’t want to think how to calculate that answer.

Aha! Search assistant.

How many days can 390 million people survive on 27 trillion quarts of water?

7.5 days (with less than 6/8 quarts per day)

How useful is the information we wonder about on a sunny afternoon? It isn’t as much about the usefulness as it is the experience. Wondering, pondering, exploring what ifs are good mental exercises. Our brains enjoys figuring things out. Easy or difficult, the terrain of questions is our own doing. We can go easy or have a muddy slosh wearing sandals. 

I for one, will lean away from questions that may involve math.

 

Guess who snuck out of the house

Mid afternoon sunlight

Upstate New York
Crown Point Historic Area
Lake Champlain
Adirondack Mountains

 I had a coffee from Dunkin. I figured by the time I arrived at Fort St Frederic, it would be cool enough to drink. 😎

It was.

The long weekend

An unusually long line of rush hour traffic surprises me yesterday. I’m not usually doing errands that time of day. The bank clerk mentions a long weekend. Huh? Why? What weekend?

Indigenous Day, 12 October 2026, banks closed, no mail delivery. This weekend is also the peak foliage leaf peeper weekend. Folks will be all over the place. 

Except for me. I’m staying home, no foliage tours. My nest needs a lot of attention. There are enough projects to keep me busy. 

It is time to stack up winter projects and to create a cold weather reading list. 

I ask myself what do I want my winter to be?

The ideal is on a sunny beach. In reality, sledding is a must. Fiber arts, crochet, knit, sew will be weaving through the days. Use up found objects. My new small circular saw will be a big help in that regard. I like a hand saw, but it doesn’t have the accuracy needed to cut frames and hardboard.  And, Lots of painting is a huge goal this winter.

Are you preparing for winter?

Autumn 2026

Tip of the day:

Don’t apply nail polish in dim light.

Day 282 Week 41 October 2026

Thinking of how passages of time textures our memories is like scrolling through a photo library. Winter is in shades of blue. Autumn is a splash of golden orange. As the scroll flows, you may notice there are more splashes than shades of blue.

History is like that, movements contouring the evidence of us. 

Boxing old books this morning, I open an ex-library rebound copy of the Irish poet, Thomas Moore’s (1779~1852) poetical works. The intriguing aspect is the library check out panel glued on an end paper. 

A wow moment it is that the first library loan return date is January 5, 1914, 112 years ago. The First World War began in 1914. 

I bought the book at a library sale circa 2002. 

The last return by date is April 1981. The book was in circulation for 67 years. It sat in the shelf for 21 years before being discarded. I think it would have been interesting if the library saved old titles until they reach 100, and then sold them as antiques. It isn’t every day a piece of a community’s history has a price tag.

Have a discovery fun weekend

Visit your local library

Have a backyard barbeque

Read about local history

Sing to a fallen leaf

Dance to the sound of your heart

Paint a pumpkin patch

Make hot chocolate mix

Tell a squash a funny story

Choosing a motif

Berries have been a favorite motif for as long as  I remember. First it was blueberries with pine branches. Then white bayberries. Bittersweet’s lovely orange color gave way to red berries mid 2000. 

Traditions can give us peace, that sense of safety in belonging. Creating new traditions is daring and adventurous. During the holiday season from October to pack it up and put it away, going different can be liberating. 

How to select a motif takes thinking and seeing.

🛎️ Magazines are a great resource. Start a magazine circle where each subscribes to a publication. Members pass the magazines around for one or two weeks. Gather once a month at a local library to share experiences.

🛎️ Brainstorm. Write down things you like, notes on style eras, materials you like to work with, ways to up-cycle. 

🛎️ Visit art galleries, malls, window shop, see what is out there that captures your attention. Be deliberate in what you chose. 

🛎️ Sketch out your ideas. Compare them with a list of favorite things from berries to branches to blue plates and cake. 

Have fun!

Hangs there all year because
I love berries, pinecones & acorns