It's fall here. Granted, it will be 81 degrees this afternoon, but the mornings are definitely fall. I actually had to turn off the fan in my office because I was cold. Do you realize how rare this is? I don't get cold. Ever. Usually I sweat.
But! The arrival of the autumnal winds means that there are events on the horizon that will be absolutely gobs of fun: The Light the Night Walk (to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society), the St. James Art Fair (everything is incredibly expensive, but it's a lovely walk through Old Louisville and St. James Court), A's bridal shower and subsequent wedding! Of course, after that we're thrust head on into The Holiday Season and my head begins ramping up to it's inevitable explosion, usually occurring somewhere around Christmas Eve. This year, though, I get to add the task of providing snacks for Lil' Puddin' Tater's class the week before school lets out for winter break. So, let's see: 26 kids x 5 = 130 little foodstuffs and juice boxes. Jeebus.

Speaking of school, today was amazing. Last week, I was still walking Lil' Puddin' Tater into her classroom, a habit frowned upon by the administration, and rightly so: the kids get more worked up the the farther into the school the parents go. On Thursday, I spent 25 minutes trying to calm Lil' Puddin' Tater down enough to go in and sit down. Now, I am not one of those parents who "need" to leave but then continue to say goodbye for an hour, and secretly love it when the kids flip out. No. However, I am a mom who hates to see her daughter start the day sobbing with a possibility of throwing up. So I let D take her the next day, thinking it had something to do with me dropping her off. Nope. SAME THING. But today! We had a plan! We would wait in a different-from-normal spot for a friend to arrive, then they would walk in together. I was hoping this would minimize the tears, but boy was I surprised when M pulled up, got out, and LPT took her hand and said "Bye Mom!" over her shoulder as she walked in to the school. I stood there for a minute, trying to comprehend what had just happened; did this actually mean that I successfully dropped Lil' Puddin' Tater off with no consternation? No feelings of guilt? I could just leave? It was a heady experience, let me tell you.
See all these vegetables and fruits? Everything except the strawberries is what we brought home from The Farm yesterday. We picked all these ourselves. And see that big tomato in the middle? The purple-y one? That there is the best damned tomato you'll ever eat, bar none. (it's a Cherokee Purple, and I'm going to keep some seeds and see if I can grow some next year. They're that good.)