Side Tracked

Coming back to the DC area in mid-July has given us a luxurious three months of summer, something we've longed for after spending a year at 64 degrees and partly-cloudy in Bogota, preceded by decades in the Pacific Northwest where the sun can be, well, scant some years. But now it's truly fall and we get to enjoy a colorful change of seasons - also something we've missed out on living near the Equator and in the Evergreen State, where things tend to stay mostly green year 'round. We recently headed out to the explore our new surroundings: the towns, mountains and countryside of northern Virginia. 

There's a strong storm descending upon us in the coming days which will undoubtedly strip our lovely pumpkin-colored trees of all their foliage. So I'm glad we were able to enjoy the following scenery in time and share it here. Brought to you by the Shenandoah National Park - I give you the Blue Ridge Mountains and their surroundings in October:

Let me hear your best John Denver now: "Country roads, take me home..."

Meanwhile, back at the FSI ranch - I've just completed two weeks post-ConGen of some really great classes which have included everything from writing annual evaluations to driving backwards at 30 mph; from recognizing stages of learning to recognizing stages of hypothermia and shock; from setting employee goals to setting our sights on targets at the range - it's been a whirlwind of training! But everything will soon settle into a steady routine soon as I head back down the hall to the Spanish Department. 

Coming next: Back to the land of language training