Says AOL News….

Shocking!

Maybe I should start making my own predictions…

Leaves in the northern half of the country will change color and drop within the next two months. 

Shocking!

Nights soon to be cooler.

Shocking!

Heating costs will rise this winter.

Shocking!

Please pardon my sarcasm, but I couldn’t help thinking, “No sh*t Sherlock” when I read that headline this morning.  🙂

And I must say, I’m ready.  I could never live in a part of the country that doesn’t experience the seasons.  Maybe it’s because I’ve grown up with four seasons, maybe it’s just my personality…(I’m the type of person who needs to rearrange the furniture now and then, and change paint colors every few years.)  The change from Summer to Autumn is only second to Winter to Spring in my heart.  I LOVE Autumn!  I love the cooler nights, and warm days.  I love the fall skies.  I adore the changing colors, and the crisp smell that comes in Fall.  I love picking apples, and baking apple pies with friends.  I love shifting my menu from grilling meals to crockpot stews and soups, and baked hams and turkeys.  I love the swish swish of people walking past my house through the leaves that have dropped from my maple trees.  I love our Balloon Festival, and the freezing cold dark morning that draws us out of our beds before dawn, coffee and donuts in hand, to see the morning liftoff.  I love the return of a schedule and predictability, although the summer break from those are most welcome. 

My only slight regret is that my girls go back to school next Thursday.  I will miss having all my little chickadees at home.  However, they are ready.  They are beginning to get on each other’s nerves, and I find myself needing to play mediator more and more often…definitely time to get them back to their own lives and friends.  And I would be lying if I didn’t admit to looking a little forward to some daily alone time that Mister’s naptime will give me.  (Okay, so maybe I’m looking a lot forward to it….sue me why don’tcha!)  😉

And speaking of hot air balloons, we had the good fortune to come across these on the way home from the fair on Friday night.