First Taste of Fall......

Here in the Deep South we've had our first taste of fall. It came through just in the last two hours too. It was still quite warm when I came home from line dancing, but just now when I took Gus out for the last time before bedtime, there was a definite chill in the air. It rained most of yesterday afternoon, off and on today, and we had some fairly heavy rain just a little while ago. It is still raining just a little, but I was amazed at how much the air had cooled off. And how quickly. I was shivering when I came back inside. That may also have had something to do with the fact that just before taking Gus out I had eaten a (sugar-free) popsicle.

I'm always sad to see the end of summer, particularly when the pool folks come and cover the swimming pool. Poor Sweet Girl came home unexpectedly last weekend, looking forward to having some time by the pool, and we had covered it up just the day before. Who knew? I hate to see the leaves fall, not because I have to rake them, but because they get tracked into the house. I hate to see the daylight hours shrink, although it means that we are headed into the few months out of the year when we don't go to bed in the daylight.

When we get that first taste, however, I tend to rush things just a bit. When it rained yesterday afternoon, I felt compelled to make a big pot of vegetable soup and some cornbread for dinner. Never mind that the air conditioner was still running full blast. Now I'm looking forward to chicken stew (we finally found a recipe that appeals to both Hubby and me), chili (once a week in colder weather), and a delicious black bean soup. I found the recipe for that one on a box of crackers, and I make it several times over the course of a winter. it makes a huge batch, and I freeze it both for leftovers and for lunches.

My quilt is also getting to a point that screams for cold weather. I've made two of the larger squares, and now they need to be attached to a row that I have already done. That's a whole lot of cloth to hold in my lap, and it's hard to do when it's 90 degrees outside.

I'm not foolish enough to believe that the cooler weather is here to stay. We will probably still have some days in the 90's and a bunch in the 80's. Just when we think it's time to get the sweaters out, we will have a stretch of days that feel a lot like July. It happened one year the week of Christmas. I had all those cute Christmas sweaters, and I was hell-bent on wearing them, but I was dying in the heat. One year it may be bitterly cold on Thanksgiving or Christmas, and the next we might be outside in our shirt sleeves playing with our new toys. If we had new toys.

Fall also means baseball play-offs. Braves, please don't fold your tents now. We've come so far.

And college football. Moving right along......