i was drawn to the ocean

Summer makes me drowsy. Autumn makes me sing. Winter's pretty lousy, but I hate Spring.

~Dorothy Parker

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.

~George Eliot

Word of the day is
formication - a tactile hallucination involving the belief that something is crawling on the body or under the skin

Grats for today:
~ a beautiful Autumn day
~ a beautiful Autumn day yesterday too
~ walking through rustly-crunchy Autumn leaves
~ the smell of Autumn leaves
~ being a sensate
~ exercising my brain
~ my friends and chosen family

Yesterday Milena and i met up with John and we took the kids to Burger Farm.  It was nice but i definitely like Huber's better.  Would you believe it was the first time i had ever been on a hayride?!  And it was Milena's first too!  We were hayride virgins!  i indulged in funnel cake and some of the most delicious hot apple cider i've ever had.  The weather was perfect... sunny and cool but not cold.  It was great.

i think i'm finally recovered from strep throat.  Now my allergies are driving me nuts!

Last week i met with people from Evan's preschool about his IEP.  They are confident that he will be ready to start Kindergarten next fall.  He really has made SO much progress.

And here's Avery's school picture!  He's getting to be such a big boy! 

ladyoceanstar, i don't know whether i love you or hate you for getting me started in Weff Riddles.  Man alive.  Seriously though i've been having a great time solving them.  And i think Milena has too.  ;-)

Things i don't like about my favourite season, Autumn:

"Indian Summer" days.  Ugh.  You put away all the shorts, turn off the a/c, dig out the sweaters and warm socks, and BAM! It's October and 86 degrees out there.  Pisses.  Me.  Off.

Political campaigns.  'Nuff said.

30 years ago yesterday my mother married Sgt. Brown.  Of course, back then he was only a Private.



Yesterday after lunch, we went for a short walk and then we played outside for a while.  i sat under the trees while they ran around like maniacs and then we all had fun with sidewalk chalk.  It felt SO good to be outside.  It was such a beautiful day.  Then sun was shining, the sky was a gorgeous shade of blue, and the humidity wasn't too bad.  Being out there in the sunshine was like recharging.  i swear, it just did something for my soul.  i hadn't realized how devoid of sunshine i had been for SO. VERY. LONG.

In West Chester, i couldn't really sit outside or anything because i felt too "on display" with our house being right at the intersection of two busy streets.  i haven't had a vehicle for the past year so i haven't been able to just pack the kids up and go to the park or anything.  Couldn't walk anywhere in West Chester because it would have been too dangerous with no sidewalks.  And i hated it that the kids didn't get to play outside!

i love seeing the sunlight and blue sky through the branches of the trees.  i love the warmth of the sun when it's not icky-sticky-humid outside.  i am so looking forward to Autumn with her crisp October blue skies and slight chill in the air.  The earth splashed with colour as leaves dance to the ground, the air laden with the earthy, musky, leafy scents of an oppressive Summer winding down.

i love autumn. i love autumn decorations, especially natural ones like pumpkins and cornstalks and mums. i really, really wanted to decorate our porch really cute for autumn, especially since we're having guests over this weekend. But it is so damned expensive. i just can't justify spending money on aesthetics when we're this broke. le sigh.

In better news, the West Chester Coldstone is now offering Cake Batter ice cream again! And it tastes just as good as it did before, when it was all salmonella-y. :-)

~ Milena, tipsy or not ;-)
~ kerinda 'cause i just less than three her soooo much!
~ new_odyssey and how she makes me smile and laugh
~ xoraclex for her kind, caring heart. And her great sense of humour and syle.
~ a trip to a nifty nearby park today to let the kids romp and the grownups detox a bit with Mother Nature
~ beautiful leaves, starting to change colour and flutter to the ground
~ learning
~ not letting negative feelings carry me away to the bad place
~ hope
~ the very few things that i am good at, or seem to have a knack for

i am not doing so well today. i feel profoundly empty and sad. i think it is probably hormonal. *shrugs* But i have gotten quite a bit accomplished today, so that is good. i took out the trash, tidied the living room, office, and kitchen, did several loads of laundry, folded several loads of laundry, made lunch and dinner, made fresh iced tea, refilled the ice trays twice...i'm sure there's more but i can't remember right now. Dinner tonight was turkey meatloaf, green beans, mashed potatoes, and drop biscuits. i only dropped them from the spoon onto the stone though, not onto the floor or anything. So that's good. i feel very destructive. i have fantasized about ripping off the ugly wallpaper in the kitchen with my bare hands, about going nuts with spray paint (don't worry, we don't even have any) and other stuff that i don't really feel like mentioning here and now. i am working on channeling that destructive energy into a more positive, creative energy. That would be better.

i really, really wish my dad loved me. And i really, really wish that i didn't care that he doesn't.

i'm also feeling the need to make music...to play my flute or to drum or chant or do Stomp-ish things.

Beauiful October, dazzling me with your brilliant crimsons and saffrons, soothing me with your sage and earthy timbers, you are a harbinger of death, indeed. But there is no ending without a new beginning. My online name used to be dancingleaf. Some of you will probably remember that.

Enough random babbling...and now for something completely not different at all.

Gratitude List:
1. Milena
2. xoraclex
3. minxieone
4. kerinda
5. KISSING THE WITCH, the absolutely delightful book that box_o_spiders loaned me
6. ideas
7. restraint/self-control
8. being able to be helpful
9. being able to be helped
10. October
11. learning
12. my love of reading
13. MaryGina
14. memories
15. weather.com
16. Live Journal
17. trying new things
18. hope