Last night was cold. It got down to the 30’s, but the day has bounced back to the 40’s. The sun is brilliant. The sky is clear of clouds. It is a lovely fall day.

My front yard and back deck are covered in dead, brown oak leaves. Every time the wind blows it rains leaves. The backyard is a wild place with trees and bushes and layers of leaves. It is the dogs’ realm. I only venture into the yard to pick up the stolen goods Nala has sneaked out the dog door. Both dogs love this weather and spend a long time in the yard. Nala suns while Henry sniffs.

When I was a kid, I wanted fall to last forever. It was still warm enough in the morning not to layer warm clothes for the walk to school, and I still didn’t need the dreaded hat and pink longish underwear. I’d walk through the piles of leaves in the gutter on my way to school. The leaves crunched under my feet. They’d whirl and fly into the air. I could ride my bike in the afternoons and on Saturdays, my days for adventure. I never wasted a fall day. Winter was too close.

I remember when the mornings got cold enough so I could see my breath. I’d hold a twig like a cigarette and pretend to smoke. The afternoons usually warmed for the walk home from school, but the nights were cold, blanket cold.

I always liked this week because we had a mini vacation from school: a half day on Wednesday and two days off for Thanksgiving. I remember school on Wednesday was a waste. We usually got out around 10:30. We’d spend the morning coloring or making turkey decorations. I remember my turkeys always had multi-colored, spread out tails made from construction paper. My mother used to put our turkeys on the Thanksgiving table as decorations.

Today is dump day. I need to get dry dog food so I figured I might as well go to the dump while I’m out. I have only uke practice on Tuesday so the rest of my dance card is empty. We’ve started practicing our Christmas music. The other day I practiced Silent Night, just the music, not the lyrics. I was pleased my fingers remembered.