October

October is my favorite month of the year. The weather starts to cool off (in theory). The sky almost always seems to be an impossible shade of blue. I have fond memories of Sundays in fall at my parents' house. It always seemed to be sunny on sundays. With the crunch of the leaves, and that wonderful smell (you know, the smell of fall), a nap in the hammock always did the trick. It'd be breezy, so the hammock would sway, but it was sunny, so you didn't freeze. It was wonderful. These days, since we don't have anything to nap in in our yard, I open the living room windows and the back porch windows, and I just enjoy the cross-breeze.

It seems like fall is taking a long time to get here. I have a pile of freshly knit hats, shawls, and even two sweaters, just dying to be worn. I got to wear my most recently knit sweater, a gray one, when Chris and I went apple picking, but it's been too warm since then to even consider it. This has made me realize that my hobby and the weather are not friends. But at least I have this awesome sweater!

Speaking of apple picking, I finally got to do that for the first time (if mom and dad took me, I don't remember. Amy's class went, but mine didn't.). Chris and I went up to Skytop in Flat Rock, NC, the first weekend of October. It was chilly and awesome, because I got to wear that sweater. We've been eating fresh apples ever since, and there has been apple pie and apple cobbler. Hopefully, some of the grannys will keep until time to make pie for thanksgiving. Chris kindly modeled our apples for me.

 

Then a kind lady took a picture that has BOTH of us in it! Yay! This may very well end up on our Christmas card, for lack of other picture.

All this talk of fall, combined with the beautiful weather outside, has me daydreaming about hiking Mt. Pisgah. So nice up there. Chris has never been. Note to self: must go to Pisgah.

But not this weekend! This weekend, we're going to Charleston. Chris' former roommate is getting married on Sunday. Since we'll already have to take Monday off (conveniently, it's fall break at Clemson), we decided to make a vacation out of it and leave on Saturday. We're going to be super touristy and see things like Ft. Sumter. AND, we get to see some old friends, which is always a nice treat. Oddly enough, Chris' family will be down there for the weekend, so we're having dinner with them on Saturday night.

In other news, Chris is still autocrossing. And enjoying it thoroughly. If you want to know something about autocross, you'll have to ask him at Christmas.

We have a pecan tree in our yard that is so close to ripe, but not quite yet. Chris has to park elsewhere, because they keep dropping on his car.

We have officially joined that new small group I mentioned last time. We're enjoying the fellowship with other couples our age.

Remember the creepy bugs I talked about last time? I googled them. They're earwigs. Apples to Apples will never be the same.

Clemson football is having a good year. We're winning and stuff. I've never been the fan of a winning team before. This is quite fun. The Greenville contingency will be going to a game in November. We even have a parking space, which is a big deal.

I finished our Christmas stockings, so we can start the holidays whenever. I'm ready. Ozaria helped me pick up pinecones the other day. I'm thinking we'll be spray painting them gold or silver. And decorating with them. Obviously. Martha would be so proud.

Speaking of Ozaria, she is doing well in school. Remembering what she learned in school is another story. She recently told me Marco Polo is from New Jersey. I have no idea where that started. Also, nearly every week, she discusses what she would do if Justin Bieber were here. It usually involves tears.

Progress with the mentor program revival is slow, but steady. We're going to be kicking-off recruitment next month. It's exciting. I just hope we can find enough mentors to match the demand for mentors.

I've discovered something lately. If you really want to know how important something really is in your life, just try to go cold turkey. I quit drinking sodas at all, some time ago. Recently, I've allowed myself the new Dr. Pepper Ten, despite their motto ("it's not for women"). I honestly think I could be fine without sodas at any time. For a while, there was the occasional craving for a Dr. Pepper, but now I find myself indifferent. I also have put myself on a yarn ban. I can knit what I have. But I can't buy yarn until Halloween. I've been under this ban for over a month already. Turns out, though frustrating, it has allowed me to really contemplate which projects I do and don't care to knit. I have several lovely sweaters lined up as soon as halloween comes along. I've been able to prioritize my projects and not buy yarn for the sake of buying yarn.

Whenever I write a new blog post, I read the most recent post, then I make a list. Good news: I'm almost done with the list for today.

One last thing. My new project at work is on scintillators. Essentially, radiation detectors. They are used in two major fields. One is medical: CT and PET scanners. The other is security: shipment scanning at borders. Now you know!

Have a good fall, y'all!