Fall, Fishing, and One Month to Go!

It's easy to hate my job in October. Right when the weather gets cool and the leaves change colors and my favorite season kicks off in earnest, the appeals courts come back to work after their long summer terms off and start specifying issues and granting arguments and generally requiring work days that end long after the sun goes down. (A big thanks also to daylight savings time, one of my least favorite things.) To make matters worse, it's election season so all of the legislators down the street seeking reelection become suddenly interested in "the military" which lately means "the sexual assault epidemic" which translates to their offices demanding information holycowrightnow so that they can dosomethingquicktogetmilitarysupportingpatriotvotes and get reelected.

Plus I swear when the holidays approach the natives (meaning prison inmates, meaning our clients) get restless and all decide they have issues desperately demanding the courts' attention immediately.

And all I want to do is enjoy my annual pumpkin spice latte and jump in piles of newly-raked leaves and pick apples.

Luckily, I also work for a boss who also despises spending early fall in the office and enjoys playing a bit of hooky occasionally, so after a long week navigating Congressional inquiries and prepping complex arguments and dealing with whiny clients, Friday we went fishing. The whole office. On a boat, in the Chesapeake Bay. Seth agreed to come (now how much arm-twisting do you think that took?) and we made a weekend of it. We landed a few rockfish and Seth got to drink some beer, and we spent the rest of the weekend sleeping in at my favorite resort, ordering room service, lounging around in a bathrobe (me), Sika deer hunting amid chiggers and all kinds of other vermin (Seth), and kayaking in the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge. It turned out to be an incredibly relaxing and much-needed mini-vacation.

I came home to this (the result of our "last few things" baby order from amazon), having left Seth in a treestand on the Eastern Shore, and was profoundly grateful that- as nice as our getaway was- we had decided to come home in time for a "life maintenance" day at home. We had a lovely, lazy Sunday of yardwork and house-cleaning and putting together baby accessories in front of football games.

Afterwards we popped down to Belvoir for dinner with my parents, something we hadn't done in awhile (and always wonder why we don't do more often.) We stuffed ourselves with BBQ and Mom's pizza and this truly spectacular apple pie, and Seth and Dad busted out the whiskey and yelled at ESPN. I was only a little jealous. What better way to celebrate fall?

 

As for Babywatch 2014, yesterday I hit 36 weeks, and it's starting to look like we're in the homestretch! Which is terrific because- probably as nature intended it- I'm starting to get uncomfortable and unwieldy, and we're starting to feel like it's time. I'm busy clearing my desk off and Seth's squeezing in a few more hunting days, and the last-month countdown is on. 

The photo of the week is, of course, Seth practicing remarkable restraint by not throwing the entire baby swing out the window.