Hi all and welcome to Fall!

It's hard to believe it's almost October. Here in Maine we're already seeing highs climbing up only to the 60's most days and dipping down into the 40's at night. The trees are beginning their annual show of fall color, with the greens quickly morphing into reds, yellows and golds -- a mixture of colors like the crayons in a child's crayon box.

This is the time of year we see how long we can wait until we turn the furnace back on, trying to eek out every day possible until finally the house just gets too cold and we break down and turn it on for the winter season.

In our house we delay that day as long as possible, because once we move the furnace control from OFF to ON, the thermostats take over and the furnace is seldom off for long until sometime in June. Those 300-500 heating bills from January to March can be painful. It was such a short summer this year, I'm not sure many of us are ready yet for another long Maine winter.

Our Husky mix, Samantha, might disagree with that. She loves the snow and is often found curled up on a snowbank on our deck in the winter,and she moves to wherever the snow is left in the spring. We haven't seen Barney in the winter yet so that will be another new experience with him. But given how much he pants in the house and his love of sleeping outside at night when it's 40-50 degrees, I'm guessing he likes winter too. We'll find out soon!

In other news, my latest community volunteer projects are related to preserving open space and the right to share public spaces with our canine family members. Read on for more below if you like.

Share Willard Beach!

The sharing of public spaces in this case is specifically related to our local beach and parks. I'm a member of South Portland Dog Owner's Group (www.sopodog.com/) and we're trying to round up support in the community to promote a "Share Willard Beach" campaign (http://www.sharewillardbeach.org/).

The purpose of this campaign is to raise awareness about a move to ban dogs completely from our neighborhood beach during certain months and remove off-leash privileges altogether. The move to ban dogs was begun by a small group of beach front property owners who have recently moved to the area and now want to close the beach to dogs completely in the summer and with limited hours in the winter when the beach is practically empty. This move may also expand to include other parks as well.

Willard Beach and many of our local parks have been open to everyone (including dogs) for as long as people have lived here. Many residents get to know their neighbors via the daily beach walk with their dog(s). I encourage all SP residents to get out and vote on November 3 and vote NO on the dog ban! And if you're not a resident but care about sharing our public spaces then please visit the SoPoDog website noted above for more information and to contribute to the cause if you can. SoPoDog also conducts monthly beach clean-ups to remove human trash and provides volunteers for other community events.

South Portland Land Trust:

Preserving open space for hiking & biking trails

The other group I've recently become a member of is the South Portland Land Trust, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of open space. The is working toward the ambitious goal of expanding the area's current network of trails throughout South Portland and connecting them, along with connecting to trails in other cities around Maine (http://www.splandtrust.com/).

The photos shown here are from a recent Volunteer Day held to finish building a trail that connects our local mall area to another trail in this commercial section of town called Clarks Pond.

This was very much a family event, and I thought it was great to see so many teenagers and small kids participating. It's so cool to see community service instilled in kids at such a young age -- teaching kids to be good citizens and give back to our world instead of just taking up space in it. After all, this next generation is our next generate of stewards for our environment; and what better way to instill that privilege and the responsibility that comes with it than by leading by example in our generation. I see many families with kids as young as 3 or 4 participating in all kinds of volunteer activities where you don't just write a check or attend a party, but really get your hands dirty. Wicked cool!

The greater Portland area already has many trails throughout the region, and the ultimate goal is to link all these trails together allowing hikers and bikers to travel from one area to another in a safer off-road environment. Since many kids here either walk or ride their bikes to school and other areas (as do many adults), this is especially important in to the many active residents of the region.

If you're interested in more information or would like to see more photos please visit the SPLT link noted above. I've also posted these and additional photos on my facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=105644&id=598089573&saved#/album.php?aid=105644&id=598089573) if you have a FB account.

If you don't have a FB account then visit the travel blog at: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ctssyount/4/1253383434/tpod.html.

As always, may you celebrate every day with lots of love, laughter, and the happiness that comes from sharing in good works with those you love.

Hugs from our pack here in Maine, Carla