A Transformative Friday Five

It may only be mid-August here in Outer Podunk, but hints of fall abound: nightfall creeping in earlier and earlier...cooler evenings...goldenrod and asters beginning to make an appearance on the roadside...the faded and insect-ravaged foliage of late summer suggesting a turn of the season on the horizon.

So this week's RevGalBlogPals Friday Five resonates:

For this Friday's Five, share with us five transformations that the coming fall will bring your way.

Bonus: Give us your favorite activity that is made possible by the arrival of fall.

1. Well, the big one for me is loading up the aptly named Intrepid, and the Jeep, and moving from Cold Comfort Cottage. Considering that I already spend half my time there, and seem to have half my belongings there as well, this may not actually be much of a change, practically speaking. And given the current real estate market, unless my rich neighbors decide to snap up my two-lot parcel to extend their family compound to the end of the road, we may still be hanging out at CCC for many weekends to come. But it's still a change. And I'm a bit anxious about Hank, the disembodied presence of my father whom FT is convinced still hangs out in the man cave back in the garage. I've only ever experienced one Hank manifestation, pre-FT, coming home from work one lunchtime to find the neglected garage radio blaring my dad's favorite talk-radio station. So I'm still something of a skeptic, especially because this whole thing really throws a wrench in my theology/cosmology. But if Hank, or part of Hank, is out there, I'd hate for him to be lonely. FT thinks he enjoys her tinkering around in there, and the dogs and cat coming in to visit. Since we're taking Hank's grinder and other selected tools back to The Big House, we might suggest to Hank that he hitch a ride to some new digs...although from what I've heard from ghosthunting types, ghosts aren't very portable.

Oh...and I will now be living in my current community's traditional cross-town rival, which still means something in small-town America. Garrison Keillor fans, think of the infamous Millet, down the road from Lake Wobegon. That's where I'm headed: the Millet of Outer Podunk.

2. Given that my Bucket List has been sadly neglected this summer, I suppose it needs revisiting. Golf lessons maybe. Or perhaps I'll let myself be seduced by all those do-it-yourself-language-class commercials on Discovery Channel and finally take the plunge into Spanish.

3. As soon as The Kids leave, after next week, FT and I are becoming gym rats. No kidding. We have decided that we are only going to make a true, lasting commitment to getting fit if we actually pony up some money, make ourselves go to a gym and work out together in public. (As painful as witnessing that may be to the rest of you...we're not exactly Bow-Flex Babes, if you get my drift.) FT's doctor gave her an all-clear to start using exercise equipment that doesn't stress her healing hand. We figure this plus a walking regimen will do us good.

4. This transformation has already taken place mentally, but...I want to make my current job my former job; even if it means temporarily working part-time or in some low-mental/emotional-commitment position. I feel like an eight-track-tape salesperson in 1978;it is time to move on. Now.

5. Finally -- and this is a tricky one -- I see my role at church changing somewhat; but I don't know how. I just feel it coming. It may have to do with a class or small group.

Bonus Question: Leaf-peeping is one of my very favorite activities -- especially accompanied by pleasant, mosquito-less picnic-ing in the great outdoors -- so I am looking forward to that. Ditto apple-orchard crawling.