A beautiful day! Temperatures are in the low 60s, there's a breeze, the trees continue to get a little more colorful each day, and it was actually nippy this morning. It's going to be in the 40s and low 50s at night. This is supposed to continue for the next several days, with some rain added in on Friday. I may get out a shawl for tonight and tomorrow morning. I am always happy when I can wrap myself in a shawl!
We rented this cottage for another week. We had paid through this coming Friday (the 18th), but we are not having much luck in the hunt for a place to live. People are not calling or emailing back very much. A few are. But they either want only 1 person, or the place is being renovated or whatever. We went by one place the other day, but it was too far out—no bus line. And the place looked like a small motel or something. It was kind of depressing and I imagined doing winter there and could not. Plus it was an efficiency—400 square feet. That would work for Bill and I, but with 3 of us it just didn't seem reasonable. So we called the guy and said we didn't need to look at it. So we look some more. Rents are high and the market is tight. We may not make any progress by next week. But we're paid up here until the morning of the 25th, so we have a week and a half to see some movement. If we are still in the same situation by next week at this time, we will decide where to go next. We could either go back to St Paul or Bismarck and rent a place there, or we could go to New Mexico and camp for most of the winter if we need to. We will have to investigate the possibilities. Bill has done some looking and it looks like there is much available in all of these places. But we shall see. We would both like to be able to stay here, but we would need some shelter for the winter and if none is forthcoming, then we'll go elsewhere. If we do end up having to leave, we would make a decision about where to go and make haste in that direction. We would not take our time as we did to get here. I find myself really fascinated to see how it will all turn out. In ways that are completely unexpected, I am sure.
I was already in a great mood this morning as I took deep breaths of crisp fallish air, felt the breeze blowing, looked at the red, yellow, and green leaves, and walked back from the office after having extended our time here. We had some coffee and then went to get some more groceries. As if the day could not get any better, in the entryway of the grocery store was a shopping cart with books in it and a sign that said “FREE.” I grabbed a couple and Bill grabbed one. Free books. I can get into that!
