The weather is definitely turning now that we’re into October. The rain is so needed and welcome, but the sunshine is also extra welcome right now because we know it’s precious and rare and soon enough we won’t see it for a good stretch of time.

Like the last few years, I’ve been intentionally getting outside when the weather is decent, and what I find is that almost every day there is some stretch of time where the weather isn’t so bad for a walk. I’m grateful to have a job that allows me to step outside and enjoy the weather when it’s good. The cold, wet, dark months are so much less difficult when I get outside and see the sky every day.

Friday’s Frugal Five

1. The husband, kiddo, and I all marched on Saturday. Kirkland had it’s own march for reproductive justice in solidarity of the marches going on in Texas, Florida, Iowa, DC….. places where women and those with uteruses don’t have control over their own bodies.

The walk in Kirkland was packed with so many more people than I expected, and it was pretty freaking awesome. I have to say, having my guys march with me and yell out “her body, her choice” made me pretty dang emotional. There weren’t too many men there, but the ones who were, sure made my day.

There were so. many. marches. on Saturday. And yet…. did you hear about them in the media? I get the NYT newsletter daily and there wasn’t a single mention. If you didn’t look for it, you’d think nothing happened over the weekend. As one friend said, if it bleeds, it leads. And clearly these marches were too peaceful and not destructive, so they got no media coverage.

2. A local friend and her mother in law also marched with us, and we ended up deciding to have a potluck dinner together that evening. We hadn’t gotten to meet her in laws before then, and we had a wonderfully lovely dinner out on our back deck with food from our garden while we discussed hunting, livestock, gardening, and eating locally. Plus living with lower impact on the earth – real dishes and cloth napkins – no disposables for a group dinner for us here.

I’ve really wanted to work on cultivating friendships with those who live near to us, and this family makes it so easy. They also have two little boys around the kiddo’s age, and the three of them get along so well. I clearly love my friends who I spend time with mostly online, but there’s something about those who live within a walkshed to be able to have those in person connections.

3. Speaking of local connections, a neighbor had a birthday party for their newly five year old, and we were able to walk down the street and join them for a bit. The weather was lovely, and we got to hang out in their backyard and spend time together.

When we first moved into our home, there were almost no children in our neighborhood. Since having our kiddo, there are now so many, and it’s awesome (including our newest neighbors who recently moved in with two little boys). The kiddo may have limited interactions with kids his age since he’s still being homeschooled during a pandemic, but we have some great neighbors which mean he does still get friend time for the time being.

4. We ended up also going to a pumpkin patch / harvest festival with those local friends over the weekend. I almost opted out because Saturday had felt too busy, but the kiddo and my friend both pushed us to go. And I’m so glad we did – we ended up staying there for four hours, and the kiddo had an absolute blast. There have been so many things he hasn’t been able to do these last almost two years, so when he gets to do something really fun, it fills my heart with joy.

Also – who am I? Pre pandemic, I was the kind of person to get home from a packed FinCon week where I literally had no time to myself except to go to the bathroom straight to a neighborhood block party. To now? Having more than one thing in a day feels like too much and I just need some time to do my own thing at home. I don’t know that I’ve gone full introvert, but I definitely have introverted tendencies now that I didn’t have just two years ago.

5. Apparently this Frugal Five is all about neighbors and our local community. Another neighbor just had a baby, so I cooked up an extra large batch of Cuban black beans and rice one night and delivered food for them to eat as well. When our kiddo was born, some of the best gifts we received were the gift of having dinners cooked and/or delivered to us, so doing the same for others is a priority of mine.

For so many friends, that means ordering a meal to be delivered, since they don’t live nearby. For this family though, I got to make the meal myself and walk it over while it was still hot. As much as I talk about wanting more land to have more ability to homestead, I’d never want to do it without having neighbors close by to walk over to visit.

Exercise Update

Friday I took the bus to work, and now that there is no direct bus, I did a good amount of walking each way. This works for me, but it really is subpar service for anyone who doesn’t get around well. We have community transit, but…. not the same as a regular bus service. I digress.

Saturday was the Kirkland women’s march. Sunday I went for a run by myself and then walked all over the farm for four hours during the harvest festival. Monday was more walking and a little bit of low impact aerobics (can my heel/ankle heal fully so I can do high impact again, please??)

Tuesday and Thursday were both runs with the kiddo, with a break on Wednesday with just some walking. My ankle is getting close to normal, but I’m trying very hard not to overdo it. I’d love to get into a routine of running every other / every third day like I did this week, but I need to make sure not to hurt myself again.

How do you feel about the weather changing to fall? What do you do to help get through the bleaker winter months?