Autumn

Autumn is finally here! Now if only it would actually start to cool down.

Signs of the Time

Here we are again. Summer is winding down. It has been relatively uneventful. We took no trips any were. Well, I did have a girl friend weekend Back in May. I got to see some of my old friends and made some new ones. We mostly played games, shopped, and got our nails done. My first pedicure! It was really fun. I can't wait for our next weekend. Still, the summer was uneventful none the less.

I know there's still a little over a month left until it is officially Autumn. I can't help it. I can already feel it in the air. I can see it in the trees. In fact, I noticed a couple of weeks ago that the small maple in the front yard has already began to change. The art included in this entry is from that very tree. I had actually made this a year or two ago. The colors were good then. I'm hoping for good color this year as I won't be going the mountains this year. The weather has been hot with hardly any afternoon thunderstorms this summer. But I know when it's getting close to Fall. The rain chances start to pick up and it rains for hours. Where as with summer afternoon thunderstorms it doesn't usually last very long. You can just tell by the gloom it's the weather preparing the world for the seasonal change. It seems that every season as its own gloom as far as rain goes. Winter has a gray gloom. Spring, a clean and bright gloom. Summer has a dark and chaotic gloom. And Autumn has a dark and somber gloom. Another thing about the Autumnal rains, good movie watching weather(or book reading weather). Just this past Sunday, it rained all day and most of the evening. I watched BBC's 2006 production of Jane Eyre. It's about a four hour movie, perfect for rainy weather. Even the tones of Jane's life at Gateshead and Lowood school match the tone of the rainy weather. Perhaps even her life at Thornfield Hall has it's gloomy tones, but they are much brighter than the former.

The days are getting shorter. They actually start getting shorter at the summer equinox. I have been tracking it ever since I downloaded an app on my smartphone that tells me when dawn, sunrise, the solar noon, sunset, and dusk is. I can go forward and see the times. You can see that dawn and sunrise are getting later, almost minute by minute. Sunset and dusk are getting earlier just the same. I personally can't wait for it get closer to my time to get up. Even though I have thick curtains, I tell when it's morning due to the light that manages to come in and wake me up sometimes over an hour before I need to get up. Sometimes I just need that hour of sleep even if go to bed at my usual time. Speaking of which, I'm thinking that I'm going to head to bed here in a bit. It's actually about an hour early for me. So goodnight world.


----------------
Now playing: Sarah McLachlan - U Want Me 2
via FoxyTunes

So Many Things....

It's been too long. I had intended on posting a happy Autumn post back on the first day of Autumn. But I didn't get to. My laptop died last week after weeks of having it looked at. The special banner I had made in Photoshop was on it. It's not lost though. My brother was able to gleam my files from my hard drive and store them until I can get a new laptop. Which may not be until after Windows 7 becomes available. I liked the look and layout of Vista, but it was otherwise a pain. But anyway.....

















This past weekend I went up to Clayton, Georgia for the Anita Conley Area fall retreat for Mary Kay. You could see the hint of changing leaves in the trees. It was cloudy from Friday to Sunday morning. Which was not good weather for taking pictures of fall foliage. On the way home, we stopped by Tallulah Falls Gorge State Park, which isn't all that far from Clayton. The sun came out for some good picture taking. In between Clayton and Tallulah Falls in one of those "blink and you'll miss it" towns called Tiger. In this small town of Tiger is a roadside attraction called "Goats on the Roof." I couldn't resist stopping and taking a picture. And yes, there are real goats on the roof. There are little goat houses and with grass and a rooster on the roof. You can send goat feed in a tin can up a conveyor belt to feed the goats. It was the most hilarious sight to see.



















Back tracking a bit though. My mom and I stayed an extra night. And after an all day cloudy day Saturday, the day was closed out by a pink (how appropriate for a Mary Kay weekend!), gold, and purple sunset. The picture to the left is the view from our balcony. We weren't so lucky Friday night. It rained off and on that night. But in some ways I feel like that sunset was the best part of the trip. Out of the photographic opportunities, this was one that had to the most color. I tend to like rainy days, but I do like a splash brilliant--but not bright--color. I like my colors rich and deep. I found that in this Autumn sunset in the mountains of North Georgia.

In a later post, I will share a little bit more about Goats on the Roof and Tallulah Falls Gorge State Park with pictures. Meanwhile, I'll add one more picture. I can't resist it.

----------------
Now playing: U2 - Magnificent
via FoxyTunes