Fall

This is our third fall since we moved to Southern California, not to mention the fact that I grew up here, and still somehow I had convinced myself that the cool weather was finally upon us... 6 weeks ago. I must be incredibly optimistic! Yes, it has begun to cool down. The evenings are nice and we're looking at 90* weather all week. The skies are bright but not blaring (a very important distinction for anyone whose eyes act older than the rest of their body... mine are going quite senile at this point).

Something inside of me is desperately craving a real fall this year. If I was in Seattle, I would be enjoying the drippy grey almost-rain zipped up in fleece and sipping a latte from either Starbucks, Tully's, Seattle's Best or a fiercely independent coffee shops that shuns the aforementioned three. If I was in Ohio, we'd be wearing 6 layers of coats, hats, scarves, and long underwear in the mornings, down to shorts and t-shirts by noon, and back in 3-4 more layers by night time. Cornfield mazes would actually be in cornfields, and pumpkin patches would actually contain live growing pumpkins. Alas, our city's "pumpkin patch" is a series of bounce houses in the Kohl's parking lot. There's nothing like a large inflatable Spiderman or The Incredible Hulk over ashphalt to welcome in fall.

The best I can do is start baking like it's really fall... which will help me get some nice pudge to see me through the harsh... bitter... cold... snowy....... winter. That's going to start in November.