Guys, we didn’t even hit eighty today…stayed about 77 in our backyard all day.  Hurray for fall!
Actually, our summer hasn’t been that bad down here…we never did get
to a
hundred.  (All the grass and trees in our neighborhood helped, I
guess.)  I love this time of year.  But I love knowing that
spring comes next  year, too.  I really can’t make up my mind
which season is my favorite.  I love them all best when they first
blow in.

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another favorite quote:

In a battle of the cities Philadelphia vs. New York, old money vs. new
wealth.  Imagine elegant, sophisticated ladies, with true
“high-society” accents…


“There are those who would consider New York to be the only true city in the country.”

“And there are those who wear bibs when they eat, but generally speaking they are not persons of influence.”

Home safe, yesterday.
Exhausted still.
Pictures later.

p.s. It was awesome!

i love driving my car on the freeway at night.
the moon setting.
ben folds’ fighting it isn’t the most lyrical song…
but it can make me maudlin just with the melody.
the moon is hanging so low, sometimes it looked I could reach it with a ladder.
like something off the set of Peter Pan.
there’s nothing like driving with the windows down, arm out…
getting a little more humid at night, but the effects of the front still linger.
i’m amazed that we can tell by looking out the window that it’s nicer outside.
can air look crisp?
the sky today reminded me of the blue of the sky in Paris on my birthday two years ago.

i want to go out and drive some more.
i want to work on a song arrangement with my sisters in the car.
we always figure stuff out on a drive.
we’ve actually taken off part way into town just to hash out some harmonies and lyrics.

what possessed me to post twice in one day?

why do i feel so busy.
the race coming up?
i’m not even the one training!
ah, the way we sisters live.
it’s called bearing one another’s burdens.
*smiles*
we head to the Colorado River in central Texas
tomorrow.

lovely weather 

or lovelier. 

cool front yesterday morning,

not a big deal,

but the temp has dropped

a few degrees

and it’s drier. 

even smells a bit like fall. 

soon, soon.

i love fall.
new adventures,
old routines becoming exciting.
memories of all the things i’ve ever
done in the fall.
french class,
evening ballet lessons,
football,
sweaters and sweatshirts
(if it ever actually get’s cold enough before January),
and my lavender suede jacket,
and the promise of hot chocolate
becoming a necessity.
amazing how weather can affect us so much!
why does fall smell different from the rest of the year?

what is fall to you?

The first thing I want when I can chew properly again is a hot dog,
with chili, cheese, mustard, and LOTS of onions.  I’ve been
craving one since last Tuesday.

I was inspired by several conversations to pick up Pride & Prejudice; it’s been nearly six years since the last time I read it.  The
book fell open near the end, and my eyes fell upon the following. 
Those of you familiar with the story will remember how eager Mr.
Collins is to please any and all who can benefit him, and how concerned he
was over Lady Catherine’s displeasure in her nephew’s attachment to
Lizzie.  This is Mr. Bennet’s reply to Mr. Collins’ letter of
warning:

   
“Dear Sir–

      “I must trouble
you once more for congratulations.  Elizabeth
   will soon be the
wife of Mr. Darcy.  Console Lady Catherine as
   well as you
can.  But, if I were you, I would stand by the nephew;
   he has more
to give.–Yours sincerely, etc.”

I think Mr. Bennet may be my favorite character this time around.

I have got to get to that Body Exhibit this week.  Yikes! 
And it’s like twenty bucks!  But I have to go…it’s bodies! 
This may be my only chance since rejecting medical school.
http://www.hmns.org

I was tagged…sometime…with a “book” survey.  My record for
actually doing these things is pathetic, but I do read a lot, and this one sounded interesting.  I said I’d try. 
So here I am to torture myself (and you). 

Disclaimer: I must
confess to hating “pick one” questions.  I can’t seem to commit–so my
answers may not be brief.

1) one book that changed your life:

Besides the Bible?  (obvious
since it has everything to do with my greatest hope)  Actually,
the book of Exodus (ch. 4, more specifically) had a profound
affect on me when I heard a sermon on it last Sunday.  I like this
new church–I never knew Exodus could be so fascinating.  But I
should have known…all he had to do was point out God in it. 
*smiles*

I could list a recent read, Revolution Within
(Dwight Edwards).  I haven’t actually even finished it, but the first several chapters have really worked on me.

Fiction has also had an affect on my life.  The books I read as a child shaped much of who I am now…Little House on the Prairie
series, C.S. Lewis, Louisa May Alcott, and Louis L’Amour. 
And now, lately, almost anything by Francine Rivers. 



I told ya’ll I couldn’t pick just one.




2) one book you have read more than once:

Ha!  All of them?  It
would be faster to list the one or two I probably didn’t read again. 
Oddly, as much as I liked it, I never re-read Till We Have Faces. 
Why is that?  Mostly, if I didn’t like a book I never finished
it.  (That is not to say that I don’t like all the books I’ve
never finished.)



3) desert island book:

How to Win Friends and Influence People, definitely.



*impish grin*  Okay, I’ll behave…

Well, considering that by the time
I’m stranded alone (or not alone) I will have memorized great portions
of Scripture (hey, we all have our delusions of grandeur), while
the Bible would have otherwise been my first choice…well, I’ll pick Robinson Crusoe or the Swiss Family Robinson, as these may contain information pertinent to my situation.  What is it with these Robinsons anyway?





4) one book that made you cry:

Again–ha!  It doesn’t take much.  I will list, most recently read, the Mark of the Lion series (Francine Rivers) and Rilla of Ingleside
(L.M. Montgomery).  The first grabs me with the real and raw
emotions so well described, and the intensity of each character’s
encounters with God.  The second…WWII,
deaths, homecomings, and Dog Monday’s that wait for a year at the train
station for his boy to come home.



5) one book that made you laugh:

While that also does not take much,
for I “dearly love to laugh” out loud, I do laugh hardest at any
books involving children and their antics.  Rainbow Valley and Little Men are listed among my favorites.



(I think I switched those last two questions.  I suppose the survey police are on their way over.)




6) one book you wish had been written:

All books are new discoveries to me, and I always wonder, how can you wish for something you didn’t even know existed?



I could say that I have sometimes
wished for a guidebook that would help me in ordinary, every-day living
as well as the intense experiences that often surprise us, but I have a
sneaking suspicion that It’s already been written and I just don’t read
it enough.



7) one book you wish had never been written:

any and all secular romance novels



8) one book you’re currently reading:

Once again I must choose from among
many–I’ve never been able to finish one book before stumbling upon another
that deserves my immediate attention.  Among the currents, The Jedbourghs (excellent recounting of some of the secret forces sent into France during WWII), and The Story of Liberty (reprinted from the original 1879 manuscript).  And just this afternoon I finished re-reading a novel, Sanditon (by Jane Austen and “another lady”, it’s Jane’s last novel, which she never finished herself).



9) one book you wish you were reading:

Must I choose?  Bondage of the Will (Luther) or The Guns of August (Tuchman)–one I started and didn’t finish before I had to take it back
to the library.  (But I go to the library almost every week, so I
can get it again.)  And Emma.





In the absence of an even number of
questions, which bugs me, I have one of my own for anyone who wishes to inform
me–curiosity brought on by my own experiences…



10) one book on your shelf that you’ve never even started to read:

I’m ashamed to admit the number…I seem to love collecting books as much as reading
them.  Thus I have no problem limiting my answer to one: The Answer is God, an autobiography by Dale Evans, wife of Roy Rogers, which is possibly out-of-print since I can’t find it on Amazon.

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Okay, there’s your survey.  I was called “a thinker” by the
person who tagged me;
I’m not sure if I did his opinion justice with
this post.  But I only said I’d try.  No promises.

Isn’t it amazing what you can do with a little time on your hands?

p.s.  I hate tagging with a passion, but I am
curious how my siblings and several dear friends would answer
this.  If you qualify (*grin*), have at it.

        You will show me the path of life;

         In Your presence is fullness of joy;

         At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

~Psalm 16:11

we have lightning bugs in our yard now. 

why is that?
what makes a place good for fireflies?

is it kind of like having squirrels?

once
your neighborhood gets old enough,
and your trees get big enough,

they come and visit?

why do lightning bugs visit?

and more importantly…


                           
why didn’t they before?

           
   “Starting tomorrow I am going to be unspeakably fatal.”
                          

           
           
   

           
              
           
            (red lipstick
and all)

by request, favorite quote from Thouroughly Modern Millie

you know how
when you’re younger,
when something bad would
threaten
your world,
you’d expect the grown-ups
to do something about it? 

After all, they were grown up;
they were in control; they had
power!
And if they couldn’t fix it, you wondered
why, and maybe figured they didn’t care enough.

And then one day,
you find out that sometimes
even adults
can’t do anything. 
Sometimes even grown-ups are
powerless to stop an
event
or a change.
And sometimes
they’re upstairs in the bedroom
crying.

and you know, because now you’re a grown-up, too.