I spent the early afternoon catching up with friends on the phone, and jumping because the children like to sneak up on me and put their cold hands on me. (Fall weather has finally arrived here)

"HEY!! THAT'S COLD!!" I screech, just like I had been surprised by the sudden appearance of a cold-fingered child.

[child giggles and runs away]

Two minutes later, the next member of the tag team sneaks in to 'surprise' me with, you guessed it, their cold fingers :->!

It reminds me of the time when everyone was five and under, and they used to sleep in shifts, so that one of them was *always* awake and needing my attention... Ahhh, the old days of sleep deprivation. I am proof that whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stronger, lol!

It seems like yesterday that I was dealing with diapers, strollers, slings, sore body parts that you cannot mention in public, The Big Comfy Couch, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (all the incarnations up to 2000), Barney (shudder), Power Puff Girls (so glad they got Buttercup to take that bath... ewww!), and the Donut Man (I was beginning to feel like I had a hole in the middle of my *head*!!) and yep, sleep deprivation. Now, my contemporaries are discussing marriage plans for their children.

It is not my turn yet for that, I have maybe a year or two before that begins, but it seems like yesterday that I was seventeen, waiting for my life to start, and now it is [deleted] years later, and I'm middle aged... time is moving too fast!! I'm still trying to get ready for Y2K, for crying out loud!!

Ah, well. Getting older is better than the alternative :-).

It's been a pretty quiet day today, no fires, no rampaging dogs, just an ordinary day on the 'farm'.

The weather is getting colder, by SC standards... those of you who are living up North, where it has begun to get *really* cold at night, probably think that we are soft and pampered... and we are [smile]! However, with the cold coming on, we are starting to see the arrival of the fall colors on the trees.

It seems as though we were waiting, just yesterday, for the cold weather to stop, so that we could plant our spring gardens, and now it is time to prepare those same gardens for winters' bite. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the concept of a three-season (depending on the weather) garden. What luxury, to be able to eat fresh food from your garden (almost) all year long!!

No photos of the fall trees yet... check back in a few days... they should be out in full force then :-)!

that's where I live. Actually, the country lane runs next to my property (on the right in this picture), I don't actually drive on it much, because right in front of my driveway is a perfectly good paved road that heads to the highway :-).

But, I still think that it is pretty, especially when the trees that lose their leaves begin to turn (it hasn't begun here in full force yet... give it a few more cold nights). And, it's also pretty quiet. My city friends think that it is *too* quiet, but that's because they are used to the cacophony (definition: a discordant and meaningless mixture of sounds: the cacophony produced by city traffic at midday.) that they hear all day, every day in the city. If I ever miss the noise and traffic, less than a half-hour away, there is a city, complete with traffic and crowds... almost like home [evil grin]!!