It's Fall! Well, or so they tell me. . .

Happy Fall, everyone! I hope yours has started out well. Mine started with a day at Laguna Beach, studying tide pools with the girls and our Girl Scout friends. Unfortunately the first day of Autumn for me included my first ever bee sting. :-( Other than that, it was a beautiful day!

I still am not quite used to SoCal "Fall." There are very few deciduous trees right around us, and they don't show their color until January! Palm trees have their own beauty, but I miss my Maples. In the mountains there are places we can go in the next month or so that will have color similar to what I enjoyed growing up in MI. My ideal family outing in Autumn consists of getting cider and doughnuts, picking pumpkins, going on a hayride, and enjoying a bonfire during the crisp, cool evening. Some of those things can't happen here either because of their not existing or the danger that they would cause. Just the other day we were up in the San Bernardino Mtns., and the fire danger sign read "High." I will look into how to have a fun, family day here this season and see how many of my ideal elements of Fall can be experienced. Thankfully I have wonderful memories of MI. I can see the blazing colors in my mind (and in pictures we have), almost smell the leaves and/or wood burning, and pretend to feel the chill in the air (instead of 90+ degrees). Kris thinks I'm trying to recreate those MI temps in our house. Ha ha I don't think setting the air on 74 degrees is too low though, and he thinks 76 (or even 77) would be great, but we've compromised at 75. Anyway, I'm going to get out our Fall decorations in the next day or so and plan for some seasonal foods.