The Fog Stole My Feet

Oh October, how you beguile me. One moment it's radiant light, dancing lady trees, quivering aspen, and scarlet burning bushes. Then the next day you shroud yourself, hiding all but the tiniest glimpse of your splendor.

The fog slithered along the ground, my feet disappearing as if underwater. The soggy, snow covered leaves assured me I was still on terra firma, yet looking down, I was footless, as if walking in water. Thick, goey clam chowder water.

I couldn't see across the street, only the faint glow of the still-lit street light. As I waded through the bright yellow carpet of fallen leaves, a few would pop out of the fog and twirl in front of me. I know where the stairs are, so I was safe, but it was surreal ascending them without seeing my feet.

I turned back to look at my house (the purpose of my venturing forth in the fog to begin with). I could see a tube from the aquaponic garden poking out of the fog towards me. Lumps that were cars. My faint street light. The closest branches of our autumn blaze maple, with a couple of lonely leaves.

Driving was even weirder. 15 mph was about the extent of visibility, but of course cars (without headlights) would come out of nowhere, as if they'd just exited some wormhole. I turned on my fog lights. (Swedish cars need fog lights...)

Pulling into the dreaded carline was bizarre. There was no school. I was in a line going nowhere, could only see one car in front of me, and we just crept along. Finally I could make out a flagpole, and the school appeared as I entered the circle, as if just deposited there by some kid done building a Lego set.

I inched my way home and wondered about the extreme contrast from the day before. It didn't escape me that I had only one day of my favorite month left – and I could see very little of it. It's as if October was saying, “Pay attention! Look closely! I'm still here, but not for long. Cherish the day.”

Today she's back in her full glory for one more showy day. I'm crunching through my dancing leaves again, marveling at the now blood red burning bushes around every corner, and wishing that time would stand still, just a little longer.

~Tina

October

Oh precious October, you are here, the most welcome of months.  I want to cherish each day, yet I know you'll slip by, unlike the relentless heat of July and August which lingers long into September.

I'm always waiting and watching for you, yet you surprise me every year. I look up from my hurry-scurry schedule and leaves have begun their seasonal change of clothes. The light has a different slant. The sun comes in my kitchen window, blindingly bouncing off the cars in the driveway and I can't sit at the table, it's so bright.

Gentle breezes, cooling, refreshing breezes blow in my window. I crunch on leaves that skitter-skatter down the sidewalk. So do my tires, as the dancing leaves skip into the street where they'll have much more room for their ballet.

Oh, the colors. The bright yellow of the quivering-shivering aspen, the gentle gold of an ancient oak. 

Then there are the dancing lady trees who give us the best of three worlds, and have yellowish tinted leaves as their petticoat, then the first, almost transparent layer of their dress is golden, giving way to the scarlett-burgundy last layer. If it's still, you can't see the underclothes, but when the wind whips by in a whirl, you get a peek. She shares her secret, as she twirls with the breeze in a cotillion of her own.

Bushes burn, catching autumn slowly as the redness spreads until the entire shrub is shrouded in fire-engine red. You can watch that color spread each day, if you're looking.

And oh do I look. I roll my windows down to catch every breeze. I gawk at the parade before me. I cast my gaze towards the mountains and watch the aspen slowly emerge from the pines. Little rivers of yellow flow slowly down the mountain, until I don't have to drive very far at all to catch the show, this splendid October show.

~Tina, savoring the season

5 Things That Make Me Happy!

I got tagged, which is almost as cool as an award, so I'm a happy camper. JoJo of Tahoma Beadworks and Photography tagged me in this "5 Things That Make Me Happy" thing. Yes, you recognize her name, she is one of my Tina's Terrific Team members. So here's my 5:

God, family, friends are a given, and I love them immensely. However, I'm going to share five less obvious choices, because that's the mood I'm in.

Knitting

This is my current project. 

It's a baby blanket for my cousin, GorgeousGirl who is having her first baby. She's a Patriots fan, which I tolerate, and her husband, who has very good taste in football teams, is a Bronco fan, as we are trying to convince her is her logical choice. She (wisely) choose two skeins of Bronco yarn, a skein of Patriots yarn, followed by two more Bronco ones. This yarn is really fun, as you can see, because it makes the same side look like both inside and outside - not the proper terms, but Farmor taught me knitting, and that was in Swedish and I don't know the proper words...  

I love knitting because it totally relaxes me. I can zone out (except on row three...) and watch TV (great excuse, eh?) without feeling guilty that I'm not cleaning up the clutter which constantly plagues our house. But you've heard all about that before...

Sunflowers

I've written lots of words about them, which you can read here, and see lots of pictures of all my sunflower stuff, including my ankle tattoo.

October

I'm always too hot, so I HATE summer. Autumn is my favorite season, and October is the best month of all. Here in Colorado, we get an amazing variety of colors when the leaves change. The sun slants differently, giving afternoons a special glow. Leaves crunch under your feet. The weather becomes bearable! Campers become more scarce, so we have more privacy when we head for the hills.

Flamingos

I know it's almost cliché, and that it's a polarizing “like” but THEY MAKE ME HAPPY. I have flamingos in my car, because The Engineer has slowly, over the years, convinced me to remove other flamingo decorations in the house by just plain wearing me down. 

I'm not proud of it, but some battles aren't worth it. Save your ammo for the biggies. Like he cooks on weekends. Period.

These Shoes

Yes, they are ugly. I don't care. They are the most comfortable shoes on the planet and because of them, I can walk and hike and do stairs and be a mobile person. I have severe arthritis. I was supposed to have a hip replacement. I refused. I searched for another solution. I tried Feldenkrais Therapy, which is curing me, and my practitioner recommended these shoes.  

They line up your feet as if you were barefoot, which is how our bodies were designed to walk, and in turn that lines up all the knee-bone connected to the thigh-bone stuff and your hip stops hurting. Seriously. Magic shoes.

***

I'm tagging these bloggers, who are encouraged but not forced, to mention their own 5 Things That Make Them Happy.

Rachel of When a Lion Sleeps, Let it Sleep

Lucy of Lucy's Reality

Jenn of Quirky Pickings

Jo of Jo on Food, My Travels, and a Scent of Chocolate

Andrea of Maybe it's Just Me

What things make YOU happy?