"Merry Christmas," he says.

As my alarm went off for about the 10th time, and as I hit snooze yet again, I couldn't help but feel like I was in the mid-winter slump--and that was before I looked out of the window! I drug myself out of clutch of my warm and inviting sheets, knowing that I had to hustle to get to church on time, hastily took my shower, and then decided to check the weather in order to dress appropriately...could be light jacket weather, you just never know. And then, are you kidding me?! It was a fall winter wonder land, complete with snow still swirling out of the steel gray sky. It is October 4th. OCTOBER 4TH, people! The trees haven't even lost their leaves yet! This is some kind of sick joke. Autumn is one of my favorites. I love the brilliant colors, the crunch of leaves under my feet, the strangely delightful scent of rotting foliage past its prime and the filtered October sunlight. Instead, today, branches full of leaves ripe for the turning snapped straight off the trees and rested like fallen angels all along the ground. (Not that it wasn't kind of cool looking, to be fair...)

Now, don't get me wrong, I love winter, I love snow, and I love the cold. I just love it when it happens at the end of November. So, it was curiously appropriate when the pastor started it all off this morning with a hearty and cheerful "Merry Christmas". The Idaho weather always offers something to love and something to hate. Today, I'm a mix of love and hate. I love the first snow...and it did look majestic on all of the bright flowers and deciduous trees--unusual, albeit, but majestic no less. I hate it because I think we may have just skipped an entire season! (And I still have soccer practice and games to go yet...sigh.)


The view out of my back window.



Again, the view out of the back window. Actually, this was off of the back porch. If you could picture this, it may make the photo that much better: here I am with my hair sopping wet, wearing my super-awesome house pants, with my camera in my hands and my toothbrush hanging out of my mouth. Now, just to the left of the actual picture is a neighbor from the opposite building who looks up the moment my flash goes off. Awesome. I'm pretty sure I looked stunning.



Mom and Dad's property.



This is the Marquardt hedge rose that is usually twice as tall...unbelievably heavy snow. My friend Erica claims it was the perfect consistency for creating snowballs...or so her 4-year-old son felt. :)



If you could only see the bright flowers underneath all of that snow.



And yet another picture of the snowing autumn. Notice the super happy petunias just hanging there. It's just too weird.

Eddie Rabbitt

Oh, I love a rainy night! Or day, in this case! Not that I wasn't just in Washington, and not that it wasn't completely beautiful and green, but it was missing (happily, i might add) one key Evergreen State component: rain. It is raining like mad today, in spurts, but still, raining like mad! It makes me remember all of my fabulous Washington-childhood memories. You know, things like building forts in the woods across from our house (while it rained), walking down to Al's (while it rained), going to that lion park by Granny and Papa's house (while it rained), turning over huge rocks to find little crabs at the Sound's shores (while it rained)...you know, those kinds of memories.

Or, getting caught in a mid-July downpour in New Orleans. I swear, I have never seen that much rain at once! The streets were rivers, the sky was a pool, my flip-flops were a slick and poor choice for the day, and a couple of dead bodies could have popped right up out of the ground and floated on by with a mangled wave. (Ha! No pun intended there!) But, the picture of my sopping wet friends and I was worth it, and bears testament to the Louisiana deluge of 2007 every time I see it framed on my desk at work.

It also reminds me of when I was in college, too cheap to take my car to the car wash and too lazy to drive it out to Marci and Randy's place. It was raining (yes, like mad) so I grabbed some dish soap, a dish rag, and some flip flops and scrubbed that baby down while it poured loads of free rinsing agent! (People, this only goes to show you that necessity and laziness breed ingenuity! Truly, ground-breaking auto care here...) I look back on it and think, wow, that would have been kind of embarrassing if I hadn't been in college.

And finally, the thunder continues to grumble out there. It reminds me now of a soft whispering, as this storm passes, but it is delightful. (And slightly reminiscent of the sound my stomach was making during today's Mentor Academy 1 presentation.) Clearly, it's bound to be a great day. I can't wait for the sun to set and another storm blow in, preferably with some lightening attached to it. Yes, today is a day that Eddie Rabbitt would have been happy with indeed. Does anyone understand this allusion?