Charmion, you are two days older than me - early happy birthday! What you describe of your trip sounds like a well-managed vacation, even if it was very hot. Our weather is usually like that this time of year, something one would expect for North Texas, and even though we're accustomed to it we still don't like it. Today it's a gentle rain, preparing the gardens for my assault later this week.

I just heard the garbage truck pass by the house; I didn't check to see if they'd be working today (Labor Day) so I didn't put anything at the curb. I'll have plenty for them on Thursday when they make their next pass. I have cleared the kitchen table and next must tackle the dining room table (where many of my sewing projects will be laid out.) Some papers are filed, others need to be shredded, and those will go in the trash. I don't think I have anything eligible for the burning barrel so far, they've gotten pretty good at taking our important account numbers off of paperwork from the university.

Next week is our quarterly bulky waste pickup so one project in the back yard this week is to cut up the small limbs I plan to run through the chipper and haul the rest to the curb. You may remember the episode with limbs on the electric lines; I hauled the big chunks of tree out to the curb in June for that bulky waste pickup, but waited on the rest. Now is the time to process that and clear the fenceline of a large dry pile of branches.

So far retirement doesn't look different from weekends, it's just that I'll now have a lot more weekend and no week. :)