not complaining...sort of

After all my ranting a raving about how stinking cold it was last winter (see here and here and here and here) I can hardly complain about warm weather lingering late in the season. However... I'm getting the itch for Fall and it's still in the 80's and sunny. We had a few days of cool and rainy a while back and I thought that was the turning point so I packed up all the family's summer clothes and pulled out the sweatershirts and jackets and thought we'd actually start wearing socks again on a daily basis. But then it turned nice again and we're back to shorts and sandals. It's not that I'm looking forward to winter. I don't want to be cooped up in the house and risk freezing my eyeballs just to run to the mailbox. It's FALL I want even though that means a step closer to winter. It's that crispness in the air and the changing leaves. It's picking out pumpkins and snuggling up in a cozy sweatshirt. It's that certain lighting at dusk with the bare trees silhouetted in the background. It's getting the baking bug and cooking warm comforting foods like stew and biscuits. It's hurrying inside, not out of survival instincts but because it's chilly (not arctic) outside and warm and cozy inside. So, I find myself wearing long sleeves and pants when it's actually hot outside and poring over pumpkin recipes when I could easily still be making popsicles or homemade icecream. Ben, on the other hand will wear shorts until icicles begin to form on his leg hairs (see here). Like I said, I can't bring myself to complain about warm weather but I will be happy to see Fall.