As much as possible, I strive to “live in the moment” and not look back.

But because it was raining one day late last week, I did not check that impulse – ordinarily a very good idea – but looked back in my journal to count the days in that stretch of fine weather and fantastic foliage we’d just enjoyed. And to remember how and how well I’d spent them.

Remember? It began on Thursday, Oct. 5. I regret to say that I went to a long committee meeting and did errands. Friday, Oct. 6: Noted that the “foliage is spectacularly beautiful.” Spent the better part of the afternoon on a chaise on the lawn, mesmerized by the changing light.

Then came Saturday, Oct. 7. Pledges in hand and homely sneakers on my feet, I got to the Rumford Community Home in good time to sign in, pose with other Arc team members for a photo, don a team T-shirt, and start off on the 3.5 mile Memory Walk. Bright sun but chilly, the walk warmed us up in more ways than one.

When we turned onto Route 2, I fell into step with two young women and an adorable golden retriever puppy. Mya (I am guessing at the spelling) is our pup’s younger sibling, both bred by Megan Jones of Mexico. Yours is 18 months old and she’s still really, really frisky! At 18 months? I was asked. “Yep,” I replied. Oh boy.

We cut back over Prospect Street toward Sunnyside Terrace. At the canteen truck, Mary Turnbull and Tom Hines and his son Ben and I made a party and talked of many things. Mary is a resident of Horizons Unlimited in Rumford. While she munched on an apple, Mary told me she had lost 80 pounds in the TOPS program. A role model. Three or four drivers stopped their vehicles to say hi to Mary so Tom and I got to talking about war. Iraq. Vietnam. Korea – his dad served there. War, we agreed, all war, is atrocious.

I thought we had been walking at a good clip, but when we got up the hill to the Community Home, the parking lot was nearly empty.

My first walk for a cause, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Back at home, it took no time at all for my husband and me to decide on a leaf-peeping ride to Errol, N.H.

Heaven. Umbagog. The head of the Androscoggin where the rapids run too fast for us to brave canoeing but beautiful to gaze upon.

Home via the East B Road. Lovely day, Oct. 7.

Sunday went as Sundays do. But reading the paper on the porch in October is memorable. Columbus Day, Monday the 9th and Tuesday the 12th were uneventful. I dug up the dahlias, taking a long time about it because of the warm sun and the gold leaves. The lawn got its last mowing.

The oil man cometh

Tuesday morning, Oct. 10, the last of six divine autumn days, while we were having more coffee on the porch and promising the dog a long walk, we heard a hauntingly familiar sound. The oil truck was backing up our drive to make the first delivery of the new heating season.

And so because it was raining one day late last week, I baked the last zucchini loaves of the year (one a parmesan cheese laced version). And while they baked, I counted those six golden days just past and was happy.

Linda Farr Macgregor lives in Rumford and is a freelance writer and author of “Rumford Stories.”