Fall Out

Inspirational song: In the Air Tonight (Phil Collins)

There are more than enough humbugs out there (and around Smith Park) who like to scoff at early expressions of autumnal joy. They get disdainful when people begin whispering the fall incantion ("pumpkin spice") in August. Let the Grumpy Guses wallow in misery when we start decorating with gold and orange and brown. I refuse to lessen my joy in the colors and scents of fall, even if it is still 30 days away on the calendar. And not for nothing, when I sat down in my favorite chair this afternoon, and looked out at the street, I noticed something had changed. There was a stiff breeze coming from the south, and it was full of small leaves and seed pods. The naysayers are wrong. Fall is upon us.

I had a last minute babysitting call this evening. I was alone when the kids were dropped off, and they were hot and tired from playing outside for hours. They were a little manic and needy. I made sure they had plenty to drink on hand, and pulled out the toys they like best. Val sat at the dining room table and worked on her space puzzle, and Dmitri ran frantic circles around the house. I bounced him between playing with blocks and watching Bluey until he crawled into my lap and let me rock him to sleep while he worked on a bottle of guava juice. Once he was asleep, I put the feet up on my recliner and just watched him for a few minutes. Then it occurred to me that Val must be really focused on her puzzle, because her constant chatter had ceased. I stood up to put the boy to bed, and that's when I saw she was face down on her puzzle, out cold. I didn't want to risk her falling off the edge of her chair if I delayed carrying her to bed, so I didn't stop for a picture. These kids, man. Played hard, napped hard.

I saw that Tiny Kittens has a new mama entering prelabor on the live stream. This cat looks remarkably like Alfred, other than the obvious detail of her not being a neutered Tom. I have to watch this one to see whether any babies look like her, and thus look like Alfred as a kitten. He sure was a cute baby.