Summer Loosens Her Grip

...but will she do it before I lose mine?

She's not letting go easily. It's still going to be in the 80s for a few more days, but it has definitely become cooler. It was cloudy most of the morning and we drove around with the truck windows open and were not hot. In fact, when we were out early this morning and later tonight, the breeze coming in the window actually chilled me a little. (With the hot flashes these days, being cold is a good thing.) One could almost, almost feel that little bit of chill, the sharp scent in the air that tells you it's gingerbread and hot chocolate weather. It's hard to believe it's Columbus Day weekend again and this blog is two years old.

We went to Hobby Lobby and wound reveling in their autumn decor area: lengths and lengths of autumn leaf garlands in brilliant saffrons, pumpkins, scarlet, gold, and russet, and autumn and Halloween and Thanksgiving bric-a-brac. We emerged at the Christmas trees; as I mentioned last year, we are going to need a new tree—poor "Serendipity" is developing loose branches and is shedding needles like a real tree. I've looked at artificial Christmas trees in several places and the prices are appalling. You almost cannot find a non pre-lighted tree any longer, many of them have long needles, which neither of us like, and there doesn't seem to be any such thing as a "middle-sized" tree any longer. There are 4 1/2 foot trees and then there are seven foot trees, and nothing in between. I had been wanting a six foot tree and haven't seen one yet this year and saw very few last year.

We also checked out the new Hallmark ornaments. There were very few either of us wanted last year, except for getting the new airplane (full size and mini). This year...oh, dear. There is a Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer mini, and a Lady and the Tramp ornament, and the "Puppy Love" ornament is a West Highland White terrier...

James was excited because there is an Enterprise A this year; we've missed most of the classic Star Trek starships because we went to look at them too late (we did get NX from Enterprise). Well, they have the display copy, but we couldn't find any more on the rack. The clerk said they had a bunch of ornaments they had not yet unpacked and took James' name. Cross fingers.