10:37 AM
Observatorium· TV· Weather Stacks and stacks of tapes

As you might have guessed by my last entry, I've been lost in TV land this week, watching the premieres of new and old shows all week! After the long rerun hell of summer with only two new shows, one fabulous (The Wire) and one a dud (Witchblade), I finally have a lovely stack of tapes with all sorts of new stuff sitting next to my vcr waiting for me to watch them. I love fall!

And it is fall, finally, really, amazingly, it's actually cooler here in September for once, temps in the 80's instead of 90's like most years or 100's like we had two years ago. I've got my windows open and the A/C turned off and it's wonderful!

My aunt wrote this:

This morning I realised FALL IS COMING. There was that SNAP to the air this morning. October country will soon be here.

For some people, it's the closing of the year.......for me it doesn't feel like that. It's an END to the oppressive jungle funk of summer....of baked dry creek beds........mosquito and tick and chigger bites. It's the OVEN heat inside a parked car. It's the unending BUZZZZZZZ of the cicadas. The itch......the sweat......the MELT of summertime, when the "livin' is easy"......ONLY for catfish.

The leaves are starting to turn to cool flame in the woods.....the sky is achingly blue and clear and the mornings are downright CRISP. There's the hazy dewfrost on the grass in the morning. There's the smell of woodsmoke on the evening air.....and the eyeblinking brightness of dappled light in the woods. There's the snort and rustle of surprised deer.

The smell of fresh pumpkin pie and roasted turkey and the mouth-watering fragrance of sage cornbread stuffing.....the hot buttery aroma of turkey gravy. The clink and whisper of silverware and table linen and special glasses as the table is set in the dining room. The distant roar of football games on tv.......the hiss and crackle of burning wood in the fireplace.

Fall is coming.

She lives in the country just a bit further north than me so she does have deer wandering around her house in the mornings and the trees do turn colorful but it's all the same things to me, she's 12 years older than me but we have most all the same reference points, the 60's, rock and roll, being liberals and all those Thanksgiving dinners together when I was a kid.

Fall has always been my most favorite time of year, I did hate the summers with my cousins up in Wisconsin coming to an end, especially when I got a big crush on one of the boys across the lake but especially since I got out of school and started working and don't have those three month vacations up there anymore, I love the fall. I love winter too, I love the cold and the steely gray skies and bringing out winter coats and sweaters. I love walking in it, feeling the cold on my cheeks, the chilly wind thru my hair and turning my ears to icicles. And dragging out the big thick quilt for the bed and the cats sleeping next to me, one on each side, pinning me to the bed and slipping reluctantly out in the morning to jump in a hot shower.

My favorite time of year!