October

Welcome to my favorite month of the year.  I get a little giddy this time of the year.  (FYI this is Alex writing, Arthur wouldn't use such lowly language as "giddy" to describe his feelings.) October is almost the only month in Kansas that has somewhat perfect weather.  Of course if it snowed next week we wouldn't be all that surprised but the first two days have been glorious in terms of weather.  Which means people have something positive to talk about since weather is a major conversation topic. Finally it is tolerable to go running outside again without feeling the risk of dehydration or heat stroke.  This afternoon we went out to a local park and wandered about the nature trail.  The trail lead along the edges of corn fields waiting to be harvested.  Crunchy leaves also covered the trail-- is the a better sound than leaves crunching?  My celebration of fall have begun with wearing a plaid shirt yesterday and eating graham crackers with pumpkin spice cream cheese spread.  Pumpkin spice cream cheese spread is like a grown up version of frosting making me feel a little more mature while snarfing down large quantities of graham crackers for snacks.  Also I'm feeling a baking spree in my future to make some pumpkin bread.  The magic of fall makes me want to do crazy things that I wouldn't normally do-- like spend time in the kitchen baking for fun.  My prediction is that in the next week we will begin to see the trees start to turn on the fireworks of yellows, oranges, and pops of reds throughout town. I can't wait!  Omnia Vincit Amor.