Autumn on the Brain

I think that I must have been a teacher in a past life, because as soon as the calendar hits August 1st I'm all "Oh crud....Summer is OVER."  Where it really isn't...and we still have a lot of plans coming up.  However, school starts August 28th so I guess I'm not so far off the mark.  The commercials for "back to school shopping" on TV no longer seem ridiculous, and fall TV promos are starting to leak on Facebook and Direct TV.  So I guess it's only a matter of time.

My head must be in September, though.  Because lately I've been looking at sweater patterns.  I started a sweater for Hubby the other day, and last night I screwed it up promptly.  I was four rows in when I realized that I hadn't changed to smaller needles as the pattern indicates.  And like every other delicate knitter at 10pm that discovers this, I said "screw it" and put it back in the bag to deal with tomorrow.  Or maybe even another day.  I'm doing a really good job not going crazy Christmas-Knitting and the sweater will be done when it's done.  MY sweater still isn't done, and I started it a year and a half ago.  I started it while on a trip for my brother in law's wedding in Pennsylvania.  The sleeves have me flummoxed, because the stitches keep falling off the double-pointed needles.  My friend is going to help me master "Magic Loop" so this frustrating thing can be mastered but she's expecting a baby any day now.  (And yay!  a new baby girl that I got to knit a sweater for...this comes from having boys.  Whenever there's a girl to knit for I just get so excited)

I think that Mother Nature has autumn on the brain, too.  The past few mornings have been cool, crisp and without a cloud in the sky.  Perhaps autumn is her favorite, just like mine.  Chilly night air, apple picking, sweatshirts and jeans coming out of the closet, leaves falling off the trees, I love it all.  The leaves will be interesting this year too, since this is the first time I've had trees in my backyard in a long time.  Also, once the leaves hit the ground it will be "interesting" just to see HOW CLOSE the MassPike is to the house.  Close enough to hear nighttime construction pretty well, is what we found out the other night.  Despite the cool air outside, the windows needed to be shut and AC turned on just to drown out the noise and get some sleep.

So we're enjoying the last few weeks of playing at the park in the warm sunshine, eating ice cream at all the local places and in a week or two, heading to Maine for a short vacation.  You enjoy your rest of the summer, too.  Because all too soon, it will be first grade homework, preschool for the little one and then the dreaded W-word.....WINTER.