Autumnal Musings

Last weekend at the farmers market, we saw pumpkins, and I said, "What? It's fall now?" We went from 80 degrees one day to desperately looking for sweaters and hats the next. Nevertheless, after working up a little bit of a sweat doing some yard work yesterday, I decided to take one more dip in the lake and headed over to the beach. It was deserted aside from a few folks huddled in blankets on the shore. Ignoring signs that said NO SWIMMING! I charged into the water - which must have been about 40 degrees. I was fah-REEZING. But, oddly, after a while it almost felt warm. M. said I was probably getting hypothermia.

In other news, I've been amusing myself all week imagining General Patreaus defending all kinds of debacles, such as my continued unemployment (previous post), Britney's performance at the VMAs, the CTA... and, on the bright side, WHAT A RELIEF to hear his "report" on Iraq. I mean, I thought things were a mess over there, but it turns out EVERYTHING'S FINE.

ANYwho, while I was working on my yard yesterday, a landscape designer passed down the sidewalk and we chatted about the dismal state of affairs Right In My Own Front Yard. She had a nice way of framing why my yard looked like hell - she said, rather, certain things "weren't thriving" because they were in the wrong zone or needed more sun. Here's my plan for next spring - if any gardeners out there have any advice, or see that I'm wrongly zoned, or these aren't good shade plants, by all means, please let me know!