The first weeks of school as a child. I loved pretending to be sick and doing just that - sitting by the window and watching the street life untangle.

Better would be when I'd be allowed to walk over to grandma's across the street, and together we'd watch people walk/drive by and make up stories about their lives. Then she'd make hot cacao. And the air would smell exactly like that. Thanks for making my morning :)

It gloomy here in NJ today. I like to pretend it's getting cooler. At night I can hear a football team pratice. I hear the cheers of the cheerleaders. I am reading Vogue and dreaming of my coats, sweaters, boots, hats and gloves!

my first few weeks at boarding school in vermont. it was dreary and rainy and cold. i was new, had no friends, and wanted to love this experience but i felt awkward and didn't know what to you.

however.

now, even though this time of year/this kind of weather reminds me of that, it also feels familiar and safe and cocoon-ish. because ultimately that's what it like there, up on that hilltop in vermont.

These are my favorite mornings. They remind me of that fading autumn light that makes me melancholy. They remind me of hot coffee and warm sweatshirts and feeling like I'm wrapped in a cacoon.

We don't get cool, gray summer days in Texas! Fall comes to us in November or so, if we're lucky! But cool gray days make me want to curl up by the fire and read, or sew. I've made stockings for all my nieces and nephews, and I usually have one going that time of year...

Amanda, i grew up in Texas and can remember at least one rainy first day of school. (ok....it may have been only 85). But i can still see the green plaid dress that i wore and remembered the excitement of a new outfit and feeling the equivelant of 9th grade HOT.....as i wore a pair of panty hose for the first time (after spending 8 years in kneesocks at a catholic school). Ok....it was 1970....give me a break before you all snicker.

I always loved the big, fat, warm rain at the end of the summer. You're right --it's so quiet, it has that strange dampening effect similar to a snowfall. And it would be one of those days when it was okay to sit inside, snuggled up in thick white socks and a blanket, just staring out the window at nothing.

Honestly, I can barely remember. But I'd kill for that kind of day.

It makes me sad that it will get hot again tomorrow.

So, the sign about climbing on the pic or cow...was that in Red Hook, or Park Slope?

Regardless, it appears that the owner may be adding more animals to his sign soon. . .

It's actually from an antique shop in upstate NY, though I could see it fitting in just fine in Park Slope.