Fall Memories

The last week has been absolutely crazy, full of dissertation editing and formatting, "real" work, and attempts at keeping my house out of the "condemened" status at the same time. I finally gave up on the house and decided to sleep instead, which I think is the only thing that got me through the week (although it has taken me yesterday and today just to find my kitchen counters and the bottom of the clothes hamper...). But Im not here today to talk about how crazy this week has been, or to thank Queenie and her Hub-Unit for feeding me several times and yanking me from the workmosphere of my home into the relaxed and cozy atmosphere of theirs for a couple of hours. No. Im not here to do any of that. Im here to talk about FALL. Not the tripping thing that I do often when Titania and I try to go down the stairs at the same time, but that lovely time of year when the leaves change color, the air gets crisp (most places, here it just gets wetter), and everyone starts shopping for sweaters and pumpkins. AUTUMN. I love it. It is without doubt my favorite time of year and as I was driving around in the pouring rain yesterday paying rent and picking up my retainer (I now "lithp"), I had this memory. Now, I may have shared it before, so if I have FORGIVE ME! and read it again anyway. :-)

Rainy Autumn/Winter Days at Shenandoah Valley Academy

Kristi Straw, a.k.a. "Audrey" and I, a.k.a. "Katherine" (we were/are quite enamoured of the Hepburns)used to LIVE for days like these. Kristi and I met... well, I dont remember how we met, but we became GREAT friends (still are, I think! Hi Aud!) during my Jr and her Soph year of high school. On days like this, we would get out of class and/or off work (since K was a year behind me our schedules were opposite with classes in the morning/afternoon and work in the afternoon/morning), throw on thick sweaters (Mine was navy blue with red and white squiggly lines on it), knit caps (red!), and tennis shoes, get town leave passes signed, and be off. We would hike past the beckoning doors of 7-11, shunning such juvenile pleasures as a SLUSHEE, cross under the highway and over the railroad tracks, past the Tastee Freeze and around the corner to the right (past the hotel where I think it was Grant stayed during the Civil War) and into the musty confines of Paper Treasures. We would browse until our time was nearly up, then make our purchases (usually a couple of books each, total cost: about $2.00) and head back out into the elements. On the way back to the dorm, we would stop off at the Johnny Appleseed (just this side of the railroad tracks and across from Tastee Freeze) and order cheese omelettes and french fries. The plates would arrive with the steaming omelettes oozing their cheese onto the crisp fries and we would drink our hot cocoa and feel so VERY cosmopolitan. Those times are one of the best memories I have of high school. In fact, I would say the memory ranks right up there in the best of all my memories ever. And whenever Im at home, and the weather gets all drippy and cool, and the trees are a million colors (or the branches are bare and the leaves swirling around the sidewalks), I still get a craving to go for a walk with my friend, buy a book, and eat an omlette...