Life is such a sweet insanity.

With the rustling of the leaves and the crispness of the autumn winds, I have found myself with an inner yearning to get in better touch with Mother Earth. Earl and I celebrated this feeling yesterday, at least a little bit, with a trip through the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, in the Finger Lakes of Upstate N.Y. We took a drive down the observation road, watching geese and ducks rest a bit in the wet areas before continuing their flight south. I guess Montezuma is a migratory service area of sorts, along that familiar Thruway in the sky that birds follow when they head south for the winter.

I'm always amazed with the precision birds use when they fly south. Their "V" formation is always in perfect alignment, each bird lining up with military-like precision. One wonders if their honking are orders from a command bird or more of a commraderie type of encouragement. "Just a little bit further, we're almost there!" "Service Area - 2 miles". "Tell Esther to flap a little bit harder!"

One of the odd things about the Montezuma Refuge is that the New York State Thruway passes through the upper 1/3 of it. So you have resting birds and whatnot, deer, various other animals and then snotty people with their SUVs breaking the speed limit and not giving a care to the beautiful world surrounding them. They're too intent on their inboard DVD systems. Whatever.

After the trip through the refuge, we continued the trek into the Finger Lakes and did a small winery tour, stopping at three different wineries, tasting lots of wine and bringing home three cases to stock up the wine cooler for the impending holiday season.

Today Earl is making a delicious crockpot full of homemade chicken soup and I'm enjoying a cup of Echinacea tea. I need to give my immune system a little boost after this last bout with the common cold. I want it to be the last cold of the season. Let's see if the tea and the zinc tablets help this year.