*POOF!* It's autumn!

Just like that. Daughter-in-law Lisa was here for the first half of the week, up from San Diego and anxious for some "mountain weather" and we were in tank tops, shorts, sandals. We had the fans running. It was HOT.

Wednesday evening I was getting into the car, the radio came on and I caught the tail end of the local weather forecast - "and a chance of the white stuff at higher elevations."

What!? Snow?!

Yesterday there was that "before the storm" feel to the air. Still warm, but you could smell the weather changing.

And then this morning, suddenly, it was cold. Hubby went around shutting doors and windows all over the house. And yeah, it was that cold. But I won't give up my fresh air that easily. Or maybe I'm just ornery. In any case, I went around opening everything back up again while hubby grumbled that the only way he could stay married to me AND stay warm was if we moved to the tropics.

After walking around in my pj's for a few minutes however, I realized I would need to find something more seasonal to wear. I had to dig out a pair of jeans and a short sleeved shirt. And socks. And shoes. I'm still missing one of each pair of tennis shoes from my regular stash of shoes - they went missing while I was in England in May and despite all the organizing I've done over the summer, I still haven't managed to find them. It's the most bizarre thing to be missing. Anyhoo, I found some leather mary janes and squeezed my feet into them. At least, it felt like that after wearing nothing but flip flops for months.

Along with cloudy windy weather, the valley is filled with smoke. Apparently a big fire. Someone said it was over in the coastal mountain range. Another person said it was coming down from a fire in Oregon. All I know is it's way too smoky to simply be from folks lighting up their woodstoves. I can't even see the mountains, it's that thick. Yuck. I hope it clears by the time are outside for the football game this afternoon. William's first high school home game. Very exciting!

I also had my first cup of hot tea today, always a marking point in the change of seasons. I chose a cup of Chestnut flavored black tea with a teaspoon of sugar and a splash of soy milk. It came in a sample pack of autumn flavored teas from my big order from Adagio Teas last year. Do check out their website. They're my favorite tea company presently and I have been happy with the dozens of different teas I've ordered from them for myself and as gifts. Some of my favorite flavors are their flavored black teas - forest berries, rum, chocolate, currant, caramel. I sent my sister a box of their white and green teas and she loved them.

In the mood of the day, I wanted to find an "autumny" mug to drink my tea from. I settled for a cup with a silly Boynton beaver holding some sticks with "It's just one dam project after another!" written above his head. I thought "hmmmm, I need an autumny mug" and then I thought "duh! I have a bunch of autumny mugs - in my Halloween boxes!" I guess it's time to drag in a box or two of seasonal decorations. At least the dishware. I was waiting for the equinox, but it's close enough. (Sept 23 this year)

And if that's not enough seasonal firsts, hubby has someone coming with two cords of firewood today. Of course he didn't think about the fact that we were gonna be gone for the football game but hey, at least he finally got around to getting the wood. We usually try to have it all stacked and waiting in the spring, so it has a chance to age, but that didn't happen this year. We still have a couple of cords to use up before we have to use the new wood, so it will be plenty dried by the time we dig into the new stacks. Hubby wasn't even going to order any new wood this year until I mentioned I was getting nervous about it. He seemed to think two cords was enough!? Well, yeah, if we were to have an extremely mild winter. And there's no guarantee of that. In fact, isn't this supposed to be an El Nino year?

I've been perusing magazines full of Halloween ideas for weeks now. With a little help from the family, I'm on my second bag of candy corn. The grass is getting dry no matter how much we water it. Jackets and flannel pajamas and Halloween costumes are showing up in store aisles. Apples and peaches are falling from the trees every day - plop, plop, ouch!, plop. Ironically, the heat up to this point has my garden at it's peak, everyone's garden has been about a month behind this year. But it's very exciting to have the weather finally catch up with my excitement for the incoming season.

I'm knitting a new scarf for myself with this really cool nubby orange and black yarn I found the other day. Maybe I'll bring it to the football game with me.