We'll Call It "Autumn"

A friend recently posted on her blog about how she's having a hard time letting go of summer this year, despite having always been a fan of fall. Last winter was rough for her. I nodded at my computer screen as I read -- last winter was long and cold and unpleasant. I kept reading, though, and was very modestly inspired by her attitude. She is working on compiling a mental list (or, for all I know, a physical list) of the things she will enjoy this fall and winter. And her post ended on an optimistic note!

Huh. Fall has always been my favorite season. Always. Forty plus years in Florida, and I loved that slight freshening of the air that October brought, and then here! Well, fall in the Appalachian foothills in North Carolina is just as gorgeous and dreamy-crisp as a person could ask for. But last winter was so utterly dreary that when Ed pointed out some red and yellow leaves on the trees on our ride up the mountain to church last Sunday I could have cried. Rationally I know that my attitude is stupid, but... this is me we're talking about, so why bother to bring "rationally" up? Still, my friend's post was a good reminder for me that curling up in a ball of woe is not the only response to impending winter, and I've been trying to take a more positive approach. Such as remembering that in winter I have an iron clad excuse for spending days curled up happily reading under blankets on the couch! That's a happy thought, right? Plus, as the post title suggests, we will call it "autumn," not "fall." It is more romantic.

And...

today was the last day of the art class at the library that the kids have enjoyed so much. But they might offer a follow-up course! I hope so. Anyway, two hours at the library (Katie volunteered for the first hour, while Travis read in the car) is pretty great. One can't possible do laundry or get dinner started when required to be at the library! I caught up on some reading (Augustine is going very slowly, though I do love him!), but then I happened to notice this new book on Seneca on the New Books shelf. How exciting is that? I've ogled it at Amazon, but wasn't quite convinced enough to commit to a purchase. Our library is run by fabulously sweet librarians, but they do tend not to have the sorts of books I want to read. So when they do....! (Actually, given the size of my TBR stack and my "book lust in excess of available hours" issues, I should be grateful for our modest and popular-fiction-leaning library. I probably really would have died under that perilously teetering bedside stack by now otherwise!)