~changes~

     Autumn arrived in its fullness yesterday the 23rd of September and with it we bid adieu to summer and all of the things about it that make us happy for the better part of 3 months' time.  It is sad sometimes to realize that it is gone until next year but at least the season of fall brings with it some beautiful things as well.  The smell of pumpkin scented candles, the crunch of dried up leaves along the sidewalk, the colors of the trees in all of their splendor, fires in the chimineas outdoors as the evenings turn quite cool, and the arrival  of the holidays ahead are great reminders of the days that are yet to come.  Autumn is "ok" by me and perhaps you feel the same.  Winter?  Well, not that much.  In fact, not really at all.  But to enjoy the seasons that we do, there are times when we must take the ones that we don't as well.  This year I feel a special kinship to autumn and I look forward to what it shall bring for me here in this place they call south western Colorado.  In the dance of the seasons I always feel as if fall is quite polite as it taps upon the shoulder of summer and says,

"Don't worry.  I'm here to help you.  Take some time off now and get some rest.  We'll need you back here in about 9 months' time.  You can't go on forever, you know?"

The leaves as they were changing on the way to Telluride last year about this time.

Two beautiful trees back from my old neighborhood in Hutchinson, Kansas from a couple of years back now.  I miss the "old" block that was lined with Maple and Elm trees galore.

     It will be seven years ago tomorrow on the 25th that my mom passed away, only two weeks after her 87th birthday.  I think of her so very often but even more so during the month of September.  Mom loved the beautiful colors of the trees as the seasons switched in and out every year.  She would always enjoy it if one of us kids would stop by and pick her up and take her out for a drive to see the Master's paintbrush at work in the neighborhood of East 14th Street and beyond.  After we would be out for an hour or so looking at all the pretty fall colors, we would often find ourselves in the McDonald's drive thru on 4th Street back home as we picked up an ice cream cone and ate it on the way back to Mom's house.  It's a nice memory for me and one that I hold really close in my heart.
     On what would have been the occasion of her 94th birthday, now a couple of weeks back, I took chocolate chip cookies to school to celebrate with "the 22".  I explained to them that it would have been my mother's birthday and if she were still alive that she herself would have wished to have made a special treat for them.  We played the "Happy Birthday" song just for her and I did pretty good.  No tears.  Just a smile on my face as I imagined her there with us.  She would have loved those kids.  Each and every one of them.
     The older I get, the more I appreciate things like fall colors, the changing of the seasons and my parents.  I look at life a lot more differently and am learning that it is so true what I have heard said before.  As we move along through the years, we begin to desire less and less of the material things that life has to offer and we crave more and more the things that have much deeper meaning to us than money could ever buy.  Perhaps you feel the same?  I imagine that many of you do.
     I was kind of sad and disappointed to learn that one of the things on my list of 60 things to do before I turn 60 will probably not come to fruition for reasons of economics.  I had wanted to be sure to return to Wichita, Kansas some day soon and enjoy a meal at Doc's Steakhouse over there on Broadway Street.  Garlic salad, garlic salad.  That's all I have to say.  I heard from friends back home that it will be closing very soon, much sooner than I could make it back over the big mountain.  I have had the chance to eat there over the past 4 years or so several times with friends.  Always have looked forward to and enjoyed going there.  That is to be no more I guess and now that I think about it, the garlic salad IS good but maybe it really wasn't about garlic salad at all.  Maybe it was just the lovely time I had as I had the chance to sit and visit with a friend or two.
     Yesterday at school the opportunity arose to find something new to replace that item on my bucket list, to switch out eating garlic salad for another thing perhaps.  After school was out, I headed down to the classroom of another teacher and began my life as a student of the fine art of crochet.  My good friend Mary was kind enough to offer to instruct my other good friend Nikki and I in the making of something from yarn.  More on that later.  But one thing I noticed about spending a half hour after school was out doing something totally new and foreign to me was this~

It was fun!
     Now it wasn't enjoyable because I was able to, in one half hour time frame, whip out an afghan to cover the back of the couch or even something as small as a head wrap.  Shoot I struggled with even making a chain, however after sticking with it I now have a pretty decent looking one  that is about 3/4 of a mile long.  It was enjoyable because I took a "break" from the seriousness of life, walked away from the gazillion things I needed to finish up in my classroom, and laughed with a couple of good friends over the merit of whether or not my crocheting could win me a blue ribbon at the state fair in Pueblo next year.  For the record, not yet.  Ok, ok.  In all likelihood, probably not ever.  But it doesn't matter.  It never would have mattered.  What did count was the fact that for that brief moment in time, the smile never left my face and my heart could not have been happier.  We all need times like those and yesterday this Kansas farm girl, now at home in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, had an enjoyable one.  Laughter is very inexpensive medicine and if the truth be told, it's the most powerful one.

Have a great Wednesday everyone out there.  Take care of yourselves and of one another.

     I am most blessed to work with an entire staff of wonderful people every day at Olathe Elementary.  These nice ladies are two of many.  Thanks for the nice time Nikki and Mary and the "break" that it brought to us all.