Taking Advantage of Dry, Warm Weather

I hope everyone enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday. My time spent with my son and daughter and grandchildren was precious and fleeting. We had some great food, played games, and walked at the park, thanks to the great weather.

During each of my walks outdoors by Wasena Park over the last few weeks, I was sure it might be my last of the season. Surprisingly, it has remained warm enough to continue walking outdoors vs. at the mall. Of course now we pedestrians must share our outdoor experience with the construction teams that are digging away at the river bank. Work seems to be progressing quickly and I'm glad that they chose this time of year instead of having to cope with the mess and the noise throughout the summer months.

Naturally, with the holidays approaching, the mall traffic (auto and pedestrian) has increased and it's more difficult to walk without bumping into anyone. It is nice to see all of the decorations though and it makes the walk more interesting. I have noticed increased security at Tanglewood including guards who drive around the parking lots in a security vehicle. There's also additional security cameras and new faces on the guards patrolling the mall on foot.

Many vendors that have set up temporary shop in the center isle on the lower level which also cuts down on the pedestrian space. There's also some new vendors that occupy store fronts that have been empty for quite some time. The sad thing is that they all look like flea market stalls. There seems to be no sense of window decorating or merchandising. Just stuff thrown up onto walls and hung in windows. Exceptions are a new store on the upper level that sells all types of batteries and one on the lower level that specializes in 'tailgating' gear. GO TECH!

One More Glorious Day

Since I was at church for All Soul's Day mass until after noon, I decided to walk afterwards at the river instead of going this morning to the mall. What a glorious day! Although most of the leaves on the trees are still green, there are a few that are completely turned and really beautiful shades of gold and orange. The river water is running clear and there were a few fishermen dropping lines from the bridge. The resident Blue Heron was also standing in the water looking for his next meal.

Last week's rain storms carried lots of debris toward the bridge and it's now clogging the water flow beneath the bridge. I hope that the debris can be cleared soon as it detracts from an otherwise pleasant view.

We didn't get any Trick-or-Treaters last night so now I have to hide all of the candy we bought. I will save it to give to my grandson when he visits at Thanksgiving. My daughter tells me that he enjoyed being a monkey. How cute!