Harry Stoddard taught me to drive when I was about ten.  First it was a huge Hudson, and then there was the Chrysler Imperial which had a record player in it. Harry loved gadgets.

He also loved golf and being outside.  Good thing, because he and his brothers owned a slate quarry in Pen Argyl, Pa.  Being outside - and at the bottom of a huge quarry hole - came with the territory.

I’ve been thinking about Harry and his love of outdoors, and sunlight, and cool temps, and trees turning colors as Fall weather arrived this week.

It was like “Snap”! Monday’s Monochromatic tree leaves began changing by sunset, and for the rest of the week the leaves became more saturated and vibrant.  

This weekend is shaping up as more than one of Harry’s “Golden Days.”  And kudos to those lucky leaf peepers who have scheduled this weekend for their Midcoast visit.

What will make this weekend even better is all the activity.  If this is going to be - weather-wise and activity-wise - a last Gasp of Summer, so be it.  Dion’t waste it.

Friday and Saturday, it’s Pumpkinfest in Damariscotta.  Street performers, food trucks, streetwalking magicians and unimaginable one-of-a-kind art works of carved pumpkins will make you wonder and smile downtown.

It’s Misfit Love Day on Saturday. at Apifera Farm.  Katherine Dunn shelters “elderly and special needs creatures” on her farm, 315 Waldoboro Rd. in Bremen. Katherine is an artist with a big heart for animals.  Llamas, pigs, sheep, goats, donkeys, cats and more have found refuge with her. She then began creating her own illustrated books. She continues to merge the lives of the animals into her painting and writing,

Each day this weekend, and Monday are the 22nd annual Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway’s Work Days.  Volunteers from all over the US, and some from overseas, come to help restore and build the two-foot narrow gauge railroad.  This year’s goal is help built another 1,400 feet of track on the Mountain Extension. (Personal disclosure - a few years ago, a train buff friend of mine and I volunteered but we lasted only about two hours.  Shoveling rocks was hard!) And the Boothbay Railway Village has its Fall Foliage festival featuring locomotives’ steam whistles and dozens of artisans and craftsmen showing their works.

We’ve got a great weather forecast, some exciting and fun events to attend, and New England nature all around us.  Besides the organized fun there are the changing leaves.  I intend to get into my car and just point it north - maybe to China, where the turnover is further along.

Grandpa, it’s going to be a Golden Weekend.