autumn

in between times

Seriously, I do not know how autumn has managed to hang on this long. We've had so many years where autumn is a one-week blip or a two-week tease, so this 6 weeks stuff is blowing my mind.

Went to the sweetest little wedding last week so far out in the woods and hills that even the Tom-Tom got lost. Cool story. This homemade bracelet was shipped from Houston regular parcel, arrived overnight just in time for the wedding. Wonderful accident? A kind secret Santa postal worker? That was some serious good luck karma.

I am so glad I got antibiotic for sinus/ear infection before Thanksgiving. Felt like I was driving a helicoptor through traffic, badly. Still made it to the fitness center! Ha, I look so serious here. Too funny.

Ran into these in one of the Walmarts and about fell over. 25 years ago I tried one of those work at home things and bought a kit, learned to bead earrings, they always rejected my work, figured they must have a scam going and dropped it, just make up my own patterns now and bead earrings as gifts, no big deal. But I can't get over the horrible colors and crafstmanship, ~seriously~? Theirs first, mine second.

Staying home this year to watch Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade while Scott does the Turkey Trot, barring unforeseen whatever. Football, food, and then lounging the next day away while I snicker at the frantic Black Friday shoppers on news blurbs. I worked retail for a few years in a big chain, nice rush being a part of something big, but I truly don't miss it.
this year has been intoxicating

25 days ago.

Yesterday. I haven't seen an autumn last this long around here in years.
- 7:26 am
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Daycation

I took my last long drive of the year out with my dad last Saturday, and it was so reminiscent of my childhood, especially the last couple of hours being uber carsick. Don't worry, I didn't throw up. I'm grown up now. My sister was kinda cringing over against her door... I never thought about other people suffering through my suffering as a child, bet she's got poignant memories herself. But other than spending most of 12 hours in a vehicle, it was pretty cool and I got a few pix.

This first one nearly got my camera banned on the spot. We'd already been to McDonald's next to the intersection in Seymour, and half the customers were Amish with their buggies parked outside and horses smartly trotting their buggies across the big highway, and I didn't get my camera out once, it's not polite, right. But there's a 6 mile stretch of highway where you meet buggy after buggy coming through, so I super zoomed through the windshield from the back seat and snapped. There was a little bit of discussion over whether it would be ethical of me to post it to my blog, but I argued that the horse wouldn't know the difference.

Accidentally got a pic of my feet. I am so in love with these shoes, ASICS® Gel - Kayano 18, not being paid to say that.

This is how I grew up, with atlases and maps in the car. Whichever kid got the front seat would be up to their eyeballs in maps 'navigating'. Dad loves our tom-tom, cracks me up watching him hold it and accidentally bump the screen every two minutes, one time had to reboot and another had to reset the whole route. It's like an electronic teddy bear for the car.

I let everyone else hold the map. I know we drove up C and wound up on the old Route 66.

This next part is mostly for any cousins who might happen to come through. We wound up at the Honda shop in Lebanon, #veryexciting. My dad and his brothers all had motorcycles, and Dad owned his own shop years ago with one of them. I've been told I was conceived on a motorcycle trip in California and have memories of being sandwiched between my parents on motorcycle trips (and mom was pregnant with my sister), and going to rallies and stuff. Anyway, what tickles me is Dad is this old Mennonite farmer and looks like he can barely get around with his bad knees, but he had to sit on several bikes around the store and yap with the owner for nearly an hour. He looks so cute. He sure wanted to take one home and relive some good old days. His favorite was the Honda Shadow.

This one is more my speed.

I still have one of Dad's old matchbooks. I think somewhere I've got the Dick & Dee Dee / Triumph Motorcycles 45 RPM, and I can still sing all the words.

After that we swung by Cackle Hatchery where I got my pretty girls, but they were closed, so then we jogged on up to Bennett Spring and hung out awhile.

The water in the spring was so clear that I could zoom through up to 30 feet and you couldn't even tell. We tried to figure out how big that rock must be, at least waist high, the top is barely above water.

Random pix.

Last bits of autumn there. I think these would make great 1000 piece puzzles.

These click to bigger if you want to read them.

I was pretty worn out by then, so this is all I got going home.
autumn peak in the Ozarks

I can always tell when my regular readers get frustrated that I haven't updated, some of them start doing frenzied dances all over my weblog and every Lexx tag I've ever made. I know! I'm sucking! I need to update! I love you guys! You look so cute dancing all over my stuff like that!

You'd think this whole being allergic to autumn thing would deter me from frolicking out in it, but I installed a scaffold framework under my left eyeball so it couldn't ooze down my face (loaded up on benadryl, I'm still floating) and spent the last three weeks running around all over the place. (I know! It's not a Lexx update! But that's right around the corner!)

We took off for miles two weekends in a row, one to Stockton Lake and one to Silver Dollar City, both during what turned out to be a lengthier than usual peak autumn foliage in the Ozarks. We have the potential for spectacular color around here, but so often get cut short by sudden sheering winds and nasty cold rains that the leaves get stripped off before we have the chance to bask in their glory. THIS year, autumn walked in casually, hung its coat and hat on the rack at the door like a gentleman, sauntered to a comfortable seat and quipped with the waitress before ordering a pot of coffee, settling itself in to regale us with made up tales of courage and daring do. We got more than two weeks before most of the leaves even thought about the oh-why-not leap into whirlygig freedom around my parts, and it turned into a slow almost choreographed Disneyish promenade that is still happening on my street. Because the last several autumns have been so disappointing, I had my camera *ready*. There is no "I'll go back and get that tomorrow" in Missouri. And now, true to nature's ways, here come the cold winds and rain, and tomorrow the magic part will be all gone, just in time for the spooky Halloween part.

The hardest part is trying to catch the real magic on camera. Some of the trees around here go through more than one color change that slowly dots through the trees until you see everything from green to yellow to orange to red to bronze and brown all at the same time on one tree, and it's stunning, but it keeps changing so quickly that the next day the variegated colors are done. Another tree might turn a bright yellow, then shade to an slightly oranger yellow, kind of like peaches, and then get a burnt sienna overlay that makes it look delicious when the sun hits just right. And while some of the tamer red maples go red all over and lose their leaves quickly, the wilder indigenous ones will flame up more slowly, with the red creeping through the green and then the edges of the red leaves crisping up like the edges of a berry pie in the oven, until brown laces all the red leaves. When the bright sun comes out, the trees glow, and I've never been able to truly catch that quality on a camera, even an expensive one. The pictures will come out brighter and more colorful, but you have to be *in* the woods under the canopy while the sun comes out to be part of the glow, like the magical Elven wood Lothlorien. In the upper left corner of this first one you can see a little leaf sticking up that is yellow AND red with the slight brown edging that I was talking about.

Persimmon trees remind me of peach pie.

By now, regular readers of my silly survey blog are recognizing my aspie 'train spotting' quirk as a tree obsession that goes into synesthesia overload when all the colors come out. Since I grew up in the desert without a lot of trees, and now I'm surrounded by them because I live in the woods, it's all magical. I LIVE IN MIRKWOOD, guys. Yeah, *spiders*. The Ents around me may not be fully awake, but the whispering never stops.

People living along the coasts might be surprised to know that we get some of your seagulls coming through the heartland. Hundreds of them circled in while we were at Stockton.

No idea what this was about. We get a few fun loving eccentrics hiding out in these hills.
- 9:41 am
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killing time in between thunderstorms

Killing a little time before the next crazy thunderstorm hits. The last lightning storm lasted nearly 5 hours. We're under a tornado watch, so I'm watching the weather maps.

This is the kind of pictures I think would make good 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles.

I like how driving through the Ozarks feels like the bones of the earth are showing. Don't drive with a camera in your hand just because I do sometimes.

This is only one set of towers within 5 miles of my house. You'd think I'd get way better broadband, but I don't, despite having the best. We live in a weird pocket, my street is like the Bermuda Triangle.

I'm not terribly fond of driving through junky little towns, but this one feels like there is something special about it. I think it's all the trees hiding the town...

I love the shockingly brilliant red maples standing out before all the others turn orange and yellow. In a few more days half the county will seem like it's bright red.

I feel like I'm on the top of the world at this point because you can see so much horizon all around. That's one thing about living in woods that I miss, I grew up with lots of horizon in a desert.

My street feels magical because of all the trees. When the leaves fall it's like driving through a movie, and when it snows you feel like you're way far away in a magical wood, in a different world.

I love the way the world looks from my yard.

Looking out the window in between thunderstorms.

Kinda having a little trouble trying to keep up with a half dozen eggs every day. Those girls are machines.
- 7:38 pm
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