It occurred to me on my walk with the dog this morning that my blog is called “Views from the Hammock.”  I haven’t spent much time in the hammock this year.  Like me it is getting old and used – frayed around the edges and broken in a few places.  But still hanging in there.

I take a walk with the dog most mornings unless it is raining.  The app on my phone says the route is 1.65 miles x 7 days a week that is 11.55 miles each week.  Since I retired in March I have lost 6 pounds – only 7,000 to go.

I noticed a change in the air this morning as I pulled on a windbreaker.  Autumn starts next week and the nights are cooler. I was sweating by the time I finished the walk and the kids in the neighborhood were out in force in shorts, barefoot on their bicycles.  What a difference half a century makes to a body.

I pulled out a used sweatshirt and planned a rehab for the fall.  I am painting autumn leaves on the front and cut off the cuffs.  It will at least look different even if it is used.  I only have three navy sweatshirts – you can never have too many.

I’ve been reading two post-apocalyptic works lately: Gordon Bonnet’s Summer’s End http://gbfiction.blogspot.com/2011/12/summers-end.html  and John T. Bigg’s Sacred Alarm Clock http://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Alarm-Clock-John-Biggs/dp/1633730697/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1442680520&sr=8-1&keywords=john+t+biggs. Both discuss the world as we know it ending – being some of the last to survive and what it is like to be alone and scared.  I wrote one myself a few years ago.  The Apocalypse Sucks http://www.amazon.com/Apocalypse-Sucks-Peggy-Chambers/dp/0615969410/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1442680635&sr=8-3&keywords=peggy+chambers was written as a humorous take off on a serious subject.  Why am I suddenly reading end of the world stories when it is the end of summer?  I don’t know it just came up.  But endings sometimes conjure up subconscious thoughts as I wander down the road with the dog.  She is chasing locust hiding in the grass; I am chasing thoughts for a blog.

Autumn brings the smells of dry leaves and warm fires.  It isn’t an end but a beginning of cool weather, toasted marshmallows and cozy sweatshirts.  Enjoy it.  Christmas is coming and the hammock will have to be tucked away once more.