I didn’t expect to spend the first half of October assigned to a wildfire (it has been such a weird year) but despite logging more than 100 hours of overtime this month and subbing a few yoga classes for a fellow teacher, I still found time to read five books, which was a pleasant surprise!
I’m a gear person now. I don’t even know who I am anymore.
I mean. I even have A GEAR CLOSET.
Ever since moving to Flag in 2020 (thanks COVID!), I spend a SUBSTANTIAL amount of time outside.
Because, well, what else is there to do in Flagstaff?! (Well… a good amount, actually.) But: recreating outside is definitely one of the more popular things to do here in northern Arizona, and if you want to make (and keep) friends, you have to be open to the idea of going outdoors.
And if you want to go outdoors… you need the stuff to do it.
After several seasons of trial and error, here’s a comprehensive list of all of the rec gear I use and love.
Fall is forever my favorite season.
While I miss spending the entire fall season in central Michigan — Saturday afternoons tailgating my college football games with Fireball in hand, Sunday afternoons wandering through hay mazes and pumpkin patches with apple cider in hand, weekday afternoons navigating my class commute, wading through ankle-deep fallen foliage — I have to admit that northern Arizona’s golden aspen groves make my homesickness just a little easier to deal with.
So, when my friend Jenni invited me to hike up to Lockett Meadow with her this past weekend, my answer was an easy “yes.”
Five books this month, including two thrillers, an absolutely incredible sci-fi-slash-thriller novel, some contemporary fiction and a teen favorite.
Temperatures are dropping, the leaves are starting to turn here in Flagstaff, and I am in full fall mode!
Despite it being fire season, I did have some time to do a few non-work things this summer.
I mentioned it in my last post, but a recent trip to Michigan gave me a chance to drag Ryan up to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and show him all the fun things Traverse City has to offer.
We didn’t leave Ypsilanti until later Saturday afternoon because we were both exhausted from non-stop family visits after our 6 a.m. flight out of Phoenix. (6 a.m. flights mean we have to wake up at 1 to make it down to Phoenix from Flagstaff.)
But, I never thought I’d get a chance to bring Ryan up to Sleeping Bear during the summer, because fire season.
So, we crammed as much as possible into our brief overnight trip up north.
TWO Michigan visits in one summer?
We’re now past Labor Day weekend, which means it’s fall now. Right? Right?
That means KNITTING.
Earlier this week, my friend Lexie invited me over to see her new house (congrats again, Lexie and Nate) and to sit on her porch and knit.
I’m pretty sure heaven exists, and I’m pretty sure knitting on Lexie’s porch is heaven.
Lexie’s invite gave me an excuse to pick up my long-abandoned knitting project that I started in January of this year.
Well. The July edition of this post was pretty damn heavy with wildfire-related gadgets and gizmos, and I hate to say it, but — thanks to a later-than-usual monsoon season that extended Arizona’s wildfire season into mid-August — so is this post is as well.
Here’s some of the stuff I’ve recently bought, or rediscovered, or have found to be worthy enough of my time, money and energy to share.
Well, the first half of August was insanely busy thanks to a few surprising late-season fires.
I didn’t have much time for reading throughout the first half of the month, but luckily, monsoons are here! Which means I’ve spent a lot of rainy weekend afternoons reading over the last couple of weeks.
Despite ignoring my Kindle for the first few weeks of August, I was able to finish four books this month — all fiction novels this time around.
