Perfect Day

If I had a machine that could control the weather, I would have it permanently set to produce a day exactly like yesterday.

This week has been quite a sharp contrast to the ever-present drizzly Gloom of late September. Since Erin's been here, we've had a string of unusually nice weather days: blue skies, warm, sunny. Yesterday topped them all. From sunrise until sunset, it was just a gobsmackingly beautiful day all day. The sky was a beautiful bright blue with occasional dots of puffy white clouds, the sun shone all day keeping it right around 73 degrees-- Slightly warm in the sun, slightly cool in the shade. There was no breeze at all, just the sun and the bright blue sky. The trees have started to turn their fall colors, and it was honestly one one the most stunnigly beautiful, perfect days that I can remember. Ever.

Erin and I took full advantage of the gorgeous day by taking a day trip to Keswick. Keswick is one of the towns in "The Lake District." The Lake District is essentially right in the same area where we live, but a little to the east. There are maybe ten or so small lakes in the area, all surrounded by green rolling hills and untouched countryside. (Untouched, except by sheep. Everywhere you look out here, there are always sheep.)

The town of Keswick is right on the shores of a lake called "Derwent Water." There was an outdoor street market happening yesterday, so we walked around the town center and sampled some of the local foods: pasties, chutneys, curry sauces, muffins, and so forth. After exploring the town, we took a walk through a leafy park and then wound our way all the way down to the edge of Derwent Water. Next, we hopped on a boat cruise that took us all around the shores of the lake.

Everything was GREEN! and BLUE! and fantastic. I doubt that the pictures will do it justice, but here goes:

This is a shot of a boat exactly like the tour boat that Erin and I took:

However, our boat was much more crowded than the one in the one in the picture. Somehow, Erin and I got mixed up in a senior citizen's day bus tour of the lake district. The boat was totally full from the tour group, and we were the only people in sight that didn't have white hair.

Here are a few shots of the fall colors around Keswick:

All in all it was a beautiful, and very memorable day.