chilly, fall days...

i'm a city girl...

wait - let me clarify - i'm a southern california, city girl. what does that mean, you may ask? it means i don't do weather. we don't have it. ok, we *have* weather - but not anything like what my mom grew up with in the mid-west - you know, all the trees losing leaves, fall colors, snow (and walking to school in 4 feet of it, uphill - both ways...). but sometimes, i wish i were around more of it. this was one of those days...the last few after dance, park days have found the girls rounding up leaves from all over the park. i haven't yet determined why they do this, except that there is some element of fun in it for them. we moms enjoy it even more when a toddler sibling throws himself into the pile of leaves with glee. the joy on his face drowns out the whining of the 8 years olds upset at his joy of destroying their work. the photo above represents their first 20 minutes at the park today. as you notice - there are no children playing around it. so - why do they *make* the pile? one still wonders...


but photographing the leaves in the park made me wish we lived in less of an urban setting. a place where there were woods to run off and explore. where a nearby stream trickles with rain water or freezes over in the winter only to melt in early spring when it resumes the soft trickle of water. such a beautiful thought...

and then i came home, only to discover my michael's coupon at the door waiting for me to make that quick 10 minute drive to the store to buy whatever soothes me on any given day.

between the nearly constant sunshine, lack of foul weather and a michaels but 10 minutes away... yep, you guessed it. here i stay...