While we were waiting for the sea lion show to start, Little Omi treated the audience to this impromptu performance:
It's just 3 days until Thanksgiving, and my sister is in town. She's already whipping things into shape around our house, and for that I am eternally grateful. For our Thanksgiving dinner this year, we will not be eating turkey. No, no, it's not for some moral reason. It's because my sister always gets sick on Thanksgiving, and we think it might have something to do with the turkey. So, we're going to make a pork rib roast instead. Tomorrow we will make the first of what will surely be 25,000 trips to the grocery store for ingredients and supplies. Wish us luck!
The weather has been all over the place around here lately. Yesterday, Little Omi was wearing a very summery sleeveless dress for our pecan-gathering outing in the morning, then today it was back into long pants, turtlenecks, and sweaters. I'm hoping the cold air tonight will finally be enough to finish off the mosquitoes, because both Little Omi and I were attacked by the little bastards yesterday & the day before. Poor Omi-chan's face is covered with bites and she looks like she has measles!
At 18 months, Little Omi is really getting the hang of sorting objects. Today we spent quite a bit of time in the back yard picking up pecans. For some reason, the dogs haven't been able to eat them all yet, so we collected quite a bounty!
What's that, you say? You say my birthday was way back in August so what's up with the celebrating? Let me explain: Back in 2005, my Dad gave me a gift certificate to L.L. Bean for my birthday (incidentally, I also found out I was pregnant with Little Omi on my birthday that year). I have sat on that gift certificate ever since, keeping it in a safe place and visiting it from time to time. I've spent it dozens of times in my mind, going as far as putting items in my basket on the L.L Bean Web site only to chicken out and dump everything at the checkout. I really suffer from analysis paralysis when it comes to gift certificates. I love having the possibility of the new item so much and deciding which item takes away that potential. Well, a few days ago I finally broke through my AP and ordered these wonderful Keen clogs. They arrived today and I already know they will be my primary shoe for the fall and winter (until spring when I can switch back to my Keen sandals). I love them. Thanks, Dad!
Big Omi, Little Omi, and I had a very good Sunday. Our power was out for most of the morning (the power company is replacing all of the power line poles in our neighborhood), prompting us to get out of the house and enjoy the beautiful weather. We stopped by Big Omi's lab so he could turn on a vacuum pump and then stayed on campus for a bit enjoying the plentiful mums. Little Omi did some serious running around, exploring, and collecting pine cones.
I have absolutely nothing to report on today. But it's been a couple of days since I posted, so I'm feeling the pressure to put something up. So, here's a pretty picture of my mom's sumac changing color.
I *h e a r t* corduroy. I just picked up a couple of yards of this lovely chocolate brown mini-wale on sale at our local Hancock's and immediately starting thinking smocks, bonnets, and skirts. This is the first skirt I've ever made. I used bits of this tutorial, but drastically reduced the amount of fabric for the width since I was using a heavier fabric. The trim on the bottom is from one of the Civil War-era reproduction fat quarters I received a while back. I like sewing for Little Omi because the clothes are so small, they're almost like little mock-ups of bigger sizes—so if you totally screw something up, the disaster is on a smaller scale, too.
Autumn, like its cousin Spring, arrives in increments to these parts. First, there are the obvious signs: school starts, football season begins, but the weather remains stubbornly hot and all the back-to-school clothes stay tucked away in drawers and hanging in closets, waiting for that perfect cool day when one can wear both a sweater and a skirt. Then one day, as you are driving through the intersection that you pass through every day at the same time, you notice the sunlight has changed. Are the shadows harsher? Is the air thinner? Are the sun's rays hitting the air at a new angle? Something is definitely different. And then, this morning, when I let the dogs out, I was hit with a short blast of cool 61°F air as I opened the back door. My mother, who lives across the street from an elementary school, said that all the kids were tardy today, undoubtedly because their parents were frantically trying to find jackets for them. Autumn hasn't really arrived yet, but it is definitely creeping into town.
