FALL FEST

I know I’ve written in the past, that I love all the seasons, and I do.  But WOW, right now Fall is at the top of the list.

When we get blue skies, lots of sunshine and the trees are turning, there is simply nothing more beautiful.  I get so distracted by the colors I have to be careful not to have a wreck when I’m out and about in my car. 

You can see the leaves beginning to change early on, but when all the reds, yellows, browns, burgundy and still some greens really pop, it takes your breath away.

I was 9 when my family moved to Florida and I remember well how much I missed the seasons.  I remember having dreams that I was making snow angels and running and jumping in piles of fallen leaves, something that you simply do not get to experience in Florida….at least not where we were living. 

Currently we have a 3-season porch, and I love sitting out there at this time of year, cuddled up in a fuzzy blanket and reading my current book. 

Not every Fall is totally colorful.  It takes a particular combination of events to make it so the colors pop.  The right combination of temperatures, rainfall, etc. When it comes together perfectly you get the spectacular colors.  And this is Ohio, not even New England or the other areas of the country where the tourists head to see the color.

Now I promise, if we have a truly awesome winter with lots of snowfall, I will get just as excited…but for now, it is the simple experience of loving Fall, that counts. 

HAPPY FRIDAY

Yesterday was a very nice day.  Not anything truly earth shaking.  Not anything that will stick in my mind forever….but very nice.

It started off with a text message from my dear friend, Judy.  Judy and I have been friends for probably close to 50 years.  During most of that time she has been a volunteer at the Cincinnati Zoo.  So, the text message informed me that on Friday morning, the TV show Good Morning America was going to be doing a live segment from the Cincinnati Zoo.  Of course this was very exciting for her, and of interest to me. 

The one minor glitch from my end is that I am rarely out of bed before 8 AM.  GMA starts at 7 AM.  I decided to at least wake up by 7 AM and I could watch from bed.  It would have been helpful if we knew precisely what time the segment would air, but of course there was no way to know that.

So, Friday morning, I woke up about 6 AM, rolled over and fell back to sleep, hard.  Woke up again at 7:30!!!  I was somewhat concerned that I had missed the segment, but laid in bed just in case I could still catch it. 

OK, I don’t mean to be a bitch….but who watches this show??  In no time I was aggravated because it was 90% advertising and 10% content.  The content is so brief that it barely gets your attention.  But I hung in there. 

Around 8:15 or so, up came the Cincinnati Zoo segment!  It was adorable, for the short time it was on, it featured baby otters.  So, cute.  I would have loved more, but ya gotta love what you get and I did.  A little later they did a 90 second highlight of Ohio, part of their celebration of the US’s 250 anniversary.  They are featuring all 50 states over the course of the next year. 

Anyway, they did a nice job of those 90 seconds and I learned something.  Never knew that Ohio was the birthplace of professional football.  Who knew??!!  Interesting that they mentioned that but didn’t mention that the Cincinnati Redlegs is the first professional baseball team.  Oh well!!

Moving on, the rest of the day was a typical Friday in the life of a retired lady, me!  Right up until 7 PM Friday night.  At 6 PM Pete and I headed south to Bethel, Ohio where our 3 grandsons live.  Our middle grandson, Eli, has been a star football player on his high school football team, the Bethel Tigers.  And last night, as a senior, was his last game of his high school career. 

 

 Eli & Pete

Oh the memories.  I have gone to every game that I could possibly get to for the past 4 years.    I missed the last 2 games due to my fight with my gallstones.  But I did make it last night. 

He is just so much fun to watch, not just because of the game (my least favorite sport of all of them), but because of him!  He is the most generous, caring, fun loving guy ever.  I can read him like a book from the stands.  When his hands are on his hips.  When he slams his helmet on the ground.  When the coach is leaning on him.  When he jumps for joy from a play that ended well.  The whole 9 yards.  I can’t even express how much I’m gonna miss this time.

 

Last night, he was the last guy to leave the field, saying goodbye to one of his great loves.  There is a path forward, just can’t wait to see where it takes him.

 

I AM NOT A PSYCHIC ….BUT

 Is it purely coincidental that many major US cities, now have military occupation just as the “No Kings Protest” is approaching?

Those of us who are Baby Boomers vividly remember the violence of protests in the ‘60s and 70’s.  Protests that started out peacefully, but all it took was a innocent slip of ‘whatever’ on either side, and suddenly a vicious war broke out.  The protesters were always the losers since they were not equipped as the police/military presence was.

I will be totally surprised if we get all the way through Saturday without an incident, somewhere.  I am totally expecting multiple incidents everywhere.  And since Trump himself has suggested to the military that US cities could be used for military practice, the results could be catastrophic.

If that occurs, I fully expect to read that Trump says, “See, I told you so.”  And since the military presence is only in 'Blue' states, then of course all the chaos will be the fault of Democrats.

You don’t have to argue with me, save your words.  By Sunday morning we’ll know if I’m a Psychic or not.  I sincerely hope I am completely and totally wrong!

FALL IS HERE

             I can tell in a couple of different ways.

First, baseball season is over….at least for the Cincinnati Reds….darn it!!  I didn’t used to try and watch every single game of the season, but I think there must be a genetic element that gets activated by family life cycles.  By that I mean (jokingly of course) my Dad was a huge baseball fan.  My earliest memories are of running around baseball fields as Dad pitched at whatever game he was playing.  He and his brother Harry tried out for the St. Louis Cardinals in their early life.  Neither made it.  When we moved to Florida in 1957 I remember him lying on their bed listening to Reds games over the radio on WLW.

Then there was my brother, who was a huge sports fan of almost any sport.  He played baseball, basketball, soccer, golf and bowling.  When he moved in with me and Pete toward the end of his days, he was torn between the Rays and the Reds, and he was a fan of both unless they were playing each other.  Then it was always the Rays.

It was after Jim passed that I suddenly had the urge to watch every Reds game.  I guess I figured I had to carry on the tradition.  I haven’t quite figured it out yet. 

Then there are the Halloween decorations that are now everywhere.  Geeze, they even showed up in yards in mid-September.  I enjoy the holiday as much as the next person, but witches and goblins up in your yard in September???  A little too soon in my book.

Another harbinger of Fall is the harvest season is here.  With a long genealogy of farmers in my past, I kind of pay attention to what’s going on in the farm fields around us.  Today is the first day I saw the soy bean fields being harvested.  So glad we don’t live near those anymore.  If you haven’t had the experience, it is dusty, dusty, dusty work.  Can’t even begin to keep your home dust free during this time if you live nearby.  Soon I will see the corn fields also in harvest mode, and of course the farmer’s markets are at full bore. 

Finally….it appears the hummingbirds have headed south.  We have two feeders up, one right outside our front window.  I love sitting in my favorite chair watching them flit over the feeder or fight each other for dominance at the feeder.  Well, it’s been 3 days and no activity has been seen.  I’ll give it a full week and if there is no sighting, will take the feeders down for the season.  I’ll miss them through the winter.  But it will be another reason to welcome Spring in a few months.   

Every once in a while, you get these goofy surveys on Facebook asking different questions.  When I get the question, “Which is your favorite season?” I always answer, ‘all of them.’  I do love them all….how can I choose?