Progress Was Made Today ...

... but alas not enough! I'll be typing all day on Saturday, right here at my desk in case anyone needs me! But I think I'm going to treat myself to some Gilbert Grape in a little bit here, anyway, before I doze off. I worked hard today.

I meant to tell you about something new that I noticed at Wal-Mart, a place I actually dislike very much but you'd never know it because I go there twice a week on average. It's just too convenient, I guess! There's a brand new Wal-Mart about five miles from my house. That's farther away than the one I had been frequenting since we moved to this side of town two years ago, but I go to the new one because it's close to where I normally get on and off of I-20 to go on my reporting expeditions. Anyway, at the brand new Wal-Mart at least, they have these new sensors (in the floor I guess) that "wake up" the glass-doored frozen food cases as you approach them. They'll be all dark inside, the contents sort of shadowy in there, like everyone's asleep, and as you saunter along with your cart the interior light flickers on so that just before you get even with the case, you can look in and all the boxes and bags look nice and bright and tempting. It's almost like the cases are playing peek-a-boo with you ... or so it seems to me, but then I don't get out much. Maybe they're doing their part to be extra-helpful and boost the economy.

It's the first day of autumn ... I love the fall of the year. I love spring second best, summer third, winter last. Fall is the very best time. Sometimes I miss the way fall is up north ... much crisper mornings and colder nights, and generally much more color in the leaves. We don't get much in the way of color here in South Carolina. Our big old oak in the front will pretty much just go brown and release about fifty million leaves onto our yard in the front and our pool in the back. We never cover our pool; we just let the leaves sink to the bottom and make a sort of sludge, which we vacuum out with a special leaf attachment right around Easter time. I hate the look of a covered pool. There are winter days in South Carolina when it can be in the high 60's, and it's nice to sit outside by the water with a book. I can pipe Josh Groban out there to keep me company because we have outdoor speakers that look like rocks. Rock music as it were ... and sometimes in the morning I'll look out and there will be mallards paddling around in the pool. You have to be real quiet or they take off in full flight right out of the water! I have gotten pictures ... I'll hunt around and see if I can find one to show you.

Fall makes me go all reflective ... and not just about my wardrobe! I do so love to wear a sweater ... and I love warming up some apple cider and stirring it with a cinnamon stick, and lighting the fireplace for the first time, and the good crisp munching apples you can find at roadside stands, and pumpkins in all the stores, and planning a weekend trip up to North Carolina to see the leaf color up there. I love the way the leaves whirl and dance on the road in front of your car on those incredibly clear fall days that Emily Dickinson called "a blue and gold mistake." October is definitely my favorite month, and it's almost here. I've put the tiki torches in the pool shed along with all the pool toys and tubes and cans of sunscreen that for many weeks have littered the outdoor table. The umbrella is down. Soon it will be time to buy some flats of pansies to put in my outdoor planters, to cheer me all winter long. Remind me to get some extra boxes of white Christmas lights too, to string along the privacy fence surrounding the pool. It makes it look so festive out there all winter, and not so dismal dark.