OT- Sept 1 Means 1 Thing

Bob M wrote:
Does anyone else out there have fond memories of autumn? I sure would
like to hear them.

We celebrate autumm by going to the Hill Country for a long weekend. For
the past 5 or 6 years we've rented a cabin near the Lost Maples State
Park. We get together with friends and have an awesome time, just
hanging out, eating, hiking, taking great drives; it's just a fun time.
We always have a fire going and we sit around it and look at the stars,
the sound of the Frio river as background.

--
Victor Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he

That fall is right around the corner! And an end to another long hot
Texas summer! My favorite time of the year is autumn followed by winter.
I become a little kid again at the first hint of Halloween. I love to
visit haunted houses on a crisp fall night. Did I mention I'm still a
kid at 43? I have very fond memories of being a kid when we lived in New
Jersey. I remember walking home from the bus stop on crisp October
afternoons. The trees were full of beautiful colors. The smell of
burning leaf piles in everyone's yards. The joy of trick or treating
with my best friends in the whole wide world. And not having a care in
the world on that night. I remember long Sunday afternoon drives to the
country. Stopping for a basket of fresh apples at a roadside stand.
Does anyone else out there have fond memories of autumn? I sure would
like to hear them.

Bob

Autumn here north of the Red River is the same! I love it. Even if you look at
a calendar and see that the official start of autumn is over 3 weeks away, you
can still tell it's coming. The sky is a deeper, purer blue. The shadows are
getting longer. And the sumac across the road is starting to turn. Yesterday I
pulled a pear and ate it right off the tree just like autumn 40 years ago. Same
tree. DH said "You gonna get pinworms from eating unwashed fruit". I said, shut
up, you sound like my mother and she was wrong about that, too.
The things I remember most about autumn are the beginning of school, and all
the smells; freshly sharpened pencils, brand new clothes and shoes. And that
absorbent stuff the janitor used to sweep the hardwood floors of that old, long
elementary school hallway. It was huge.
Still though I have to admit there's something meloncholy about
September-October. I can't quite describe what it is.

Sherry

That fall is right around the corner! And an end to another long hot
Texas summer! My favorite time of the year is autumn followed by winter.
I become a little kid again at the first hint of Halloween. I love to
visit haunted houses on a crisp fall night. Did I mention I'm still a
kid at 43? I have very fond memories of being a kid when we lived in New
Jersey. I remember walking home from the bus stop on crisp October
afternoons. The trees were full of beautiful colors. The smell of
burning leaf piles in everyone's yards. The joy of trick or treating
with my best friends in the whole wide world. And not having a care in
the world on that night. I remember long Sunday afternoon drives to the
country. Stopping for a basket of fresh apples at a roadside stand.
Does anyone else out there have fond memories of autumn? I sure would
like to hear them.

Bob

Autumn here north of the Red River is the same! I love it. Even if you look at
a calendar and see that the official start of autumn is over 3 weeks away, you
can still tell it's coming. The sky is a deeper, purer blue. The shadows are
getting longer. And the sumac across the road is starting to turn. Yesterday I
pulled a pear and ate it right off the tree just like autumn 40 years ago. Same
tree. DH said "You gonna get pinworms from eating unwashed fruit". I said, shut
up, you sound like my mother and she was wrong about that, too.
The things I remember most about autumn are the beginning of school, and all
the smells; freshly sharpened pencils, brand new clothes and shoes. And that
absorbent stuff the janitor used to sweep the hardwood floors of that old, long
elementary school hallway. It was huge.
Still though I have to admit there's something meloncholy about
September-October. I can't quite describe what it is.

Sherry

On Wed, 01 Sep 2004 13:18:26 -0500, Bob M
yodeled:


That fall is right around the corner! And an end to another long hot
Texas summer! My favorite time of the year is autumn followed by winter.
I become a little kid again at the first hint of Halloween. I love to
visit haunted houses on a crisp fall night. Did I mention I'm still a
kid at 43? I have very fond memories of being a kid when we lived in New
Jersey. I remember walking home from the bus stop on crisp October
afternoons. The trees were full of beautiful colors. The smell of
burning leaf piles in everyone's yards. The joy of trick or treating
with my best friends in the whole wide world. And not having a care in
the world on that night. I remember long Sunday afternoon drives to the
country. Stopping for a basket of fresh apples at a roadside stand.
Does anyone else out there have fond memories of autumn? I sure would
like to hear them.

Bob


sigh

There are still 22 official days of summer left, and if I'm lucky, I
might not have to put socks on until well into October.

All Autumn means to me is cold and shorter days, and winter coming
right after. I really hate and dread it. Even when summer is
uncomfortably hot, still how much better to have lovely long days, and
be able to go around in just a pair of shorts or a skirt and sandals?
I hate putting all those clothes back on. I hate that first day when
I have to put socks on again. Worst of all is that day when I have
to turn the clock back, and suddenly it's completely dark by 5:00 PM.
How depressing.



Theresa
Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh
My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com
alt.tv.frasier FAQ: http://www.im-listening.net/FAQ/

On Wed, 01 Sep 2004 13:18:26 -0500, Bob M
yodeled:


That fall is right around the corner! And an end to another long hot
Texas summer! My favorite time of the year is autumn followed by winter.
I become a little kid again at the first hint of Halloween. I love to
visit haunted houses on a crisp fall night. Did I mention I'm still a
kid at 43? I have very fond memories of being a kid when we lived in New
Jersey. I remember walking home from the bus stop on crisp October
afternoons. The trees were full of beautiful colors. The smell of
burning leaf piles in everyone's yards. The joy of trick or treating
with my best friends in the whole wide world. And not having a care in
the world on that night. I remember long Sunday afternoon drives to the
country. Stopping for a basket of fresh apples at a roadside stand.
Does anyone else out there have fond memories of autumn? I sure would
like to hear them.

Bob


sigh

There are still 22 official days of summer left, and if I'm lucky, I
might not have to put socks on until well into October.

All Autumn means to me is cold and shorter days, and winter coming
right after. I really hate and dread it. Even when summer is
uncomfortably hot, still how much better to have lovely long days, and
be able to go around in just a pair of shorts or a skirt and sandals?
I hate putting all those clothes back on. I hate that first day when
I have to put socks on again. Worst of all is that day when I have
to turn the clock back, and suddenly it's completely dark by 5:00 PM.
How depressing.



Theresa
Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh
My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com
alt.tv.frasier FAQ: http://www.im-listening.net/FAQ/

"jmcquown" wrote in message
. ..
Back in early 1982, my then-fiance rented (short term, before our wedding
a
few months later) what is known in the southern U.S. as a "shotgun house".
This means you could literally fire a shotgun front to back and it would
go
through each room. Technically this place used to be a caretakers cottage
or servant quarters behind a larger old Victorian era home. Living room,
bedroom, kitchen at the back, bathroom off the kitchen.

Anyway, it was a lovely warm spring day and I was in the back in the
kitchen
putting up shelf paper. This place had a wooden front porch with a wooden
screen door with an old squeaky spring. I heard the spring on the screen
door go creeeeeak then footsteps (thump, thump, thump) on the wood floor
in
the living room. "I'm back here," I called out. Silence. I looked
through
the door towards the front of the house. Nothing. Hmph, must be the wind
or something. I went back to what I was doing. Creeeeak, thump, thump,
thump. Again I called out, "I'm in the kitchen!" Silence. I glanced out
the kitchen window. That's funny, there is no car out there. Creeeeak,
thump, thump, thump. Suddenly the room got COLD. I felt such an
overwhelming sense of terror I literally dropped the roll of shelf paper
and
bolted out the side kitchen door. I knew I *had* to get out of that
house.

Later I talked with the two older women who lived in the main house. "Oh,
dear. We had hoped that wouldn't happen again." Again? Allegedly back
in
the 1950's the caretaker murdered his wife in the shotgun house. He
accused
her of cheating on him and strangled her during an argument. He's been
heard from time to time and occasionally scared off tenants. Casper the
friendly ghost he ain't.

Jill

Oh wow! Things like that that happen during the day are freakier to me than
things that go bump in the night!

Hugs,

CatNipped

"jmcquown" wrote in message
. ..
Back in early 1982, my then-fiance rented (short term, before our wedding
a
few months later) what is known in the southern U.S. as a "shotgun house".
This means you could literally fire a shotgun front to back and it would
go
through each room. Technically this place used to be a caretakers cottage
or servant quarters behind a larger old Victorian era home. Living room,
bedroom, kitchen at the back, bathroom off the kitchen.

Anyway, it was a lovely warm spring day and I was in the back in the
kitchen
putting up shelf paper. This place had a wooden front porch with a wooden
screen door with an old squeaky spring. I heard the spring on the screen
door go creeeeeak then footsteps (thump, thump, thump) on the wood floor
in
the living room. "I'm back here," I called out. Silence. I looked
through
the door towards the front of the house. Nothing. Hmph, must be the wind
or something. I went back to what I was doing. Creeeeak, thump, thump,
thump. Again I called out, "I'm in the kitchen!" Silence. I glanced out
the kitchen window. That's funny, there is no car out there. Creeeeak,
thump, thump, thump. Suddenly the room got COLD. I felt such an
overwhelming sense of terror I literally dropped the roll of shelf paper
and
bolted out the side kitchen door. I knew I *had* to get out of that
house.

Later I talked with the two older women who lived in the main house. "Oh,
dear. We had hoped that wouldn't happen again." Again? Allegedly back
in
the 1950's the caretaker murdered his wife in the shotgun house. He
accused
her of cheating on him and strangled her during an argument. He's been
heard from time to time and occasionally scared off tenants. Casper the
friendly ghost he ain't.

Jill

Oh wow! Things like that that happen during the day are freakier to me than
things that go bump in the night!

Hugs,

CatNipped

"jmcquown" wrote in message
.. .
In downtown Memphis, the oldest church is the 1st United Methodist Church.
Built in the 1700's, IIRC.

It was close to Christmas/Yuletide whatever you wish to call it and I
heard
on the radio they were collecting computer components to build a sort of
classroom for homeless school children. They had CPU's and keyboards but
were suffering a short of monitors. I happened to have a spare one. LOL

So I enlist the aid of a friend and we hopped in the car one Saturday to
take this monitor to the church. It was about 10:30, maybe 11:00 in the
morning. The church was locked up tight. No one answered knocking on any
door. Paula and I were standing out in front of the church, what do we do
now? Just forget about it? The chimes in the clock tower chose that
moment
to ring. I remember commenting, that clock is way wrong, it says 1:10.

A moment later this grizzled, creepy looking old guy came out and said,
"Were you knocking?" Yes. I have a monitor, I think you were asking for
donations? "Yes ma'am. My wife and I were upstairs making up gift bags
for
the children. I'll carry that in for you."

Paula elected to stay outside. She said something like "I'm not going in
there." LOL "Thanks, Paula, I appreciate you letting me brave it alone."
The minute we get inside, the guy says, "This place is haunted." Oh? He
pointed to some stairs. Said, "Sometimes I hear the old caretaker
sweeping
those steps. I just step aside, politely. He was caretaker here for 50
years." Uh huh. Can I get a receipt for that monitor? Oh sure! We rode
up in an ancient elevator and while he wrote out a receipt his wife showed
me the gift bags for the homeless children. Lovely! She explained about
the school project, teaching the children about computers. Turns out the
man and his wife are the current caretakers, formerly homeless themselves.

The man walked me back out. He said, you don't believe this place is
haunted, do you? I said well, I wouldn't know. He said, "You heard those
chimes, didn't you?" Yes sir. That clock hasn't had works in it for 30
years. It can't CHIME. The hair on my arms stood up. I stammered, "Well
the clock is wrong, anyway." He said, "Yes, it is. The hands froze solid
at 1:10 PM the day the former caretaker died."

Jill

Oh my, my DH is working and won't be home until 4:00AM - I think I'll just
wait up for him tonight!!

Hugs,

CatNipped

"jmcquown" wrote in message
.. .
In downtown Memphis, the oldest church is the 1st United Methodist Church.
Built in the 1700's, IIRC.

It was close to Christmas/Yuletide whatever you wish to call it and I
heard
on the radio they were collecting computer components to build a sort of
classroom for homeless school children. They had CPU's and keyboards but
were suffering a short of monitors. I happened to have a spare one. LOL

So I enlist the aid of a friend and we hopped in the car one Saturday to
take this monitor to the church. It was about 10:30, maybe 11:00 in the
morning. The church was locked up tight. No one answered knocking on any
door. Paula and I were standing out in front of the church, what do we do
now? Just forget about it? The chimes in the clock tower chose that
moment
to ring. I remember commenting, that clock is way wrong, it says 1:10.

A moment later this grizzled, creepy looking old guy came out and said,
"Were you knocking?" Yes. I have a monitor, I think you were asking for
donations? "Yes ma'am. My wife and I were upstairs making up gift bags
for
the children. I'll carry that in for you."

Paula elected to stay outside. She said something like "I'm not going in
there." LOL "Thanks, Paula, I appreciate you letting me brave it alone."
The minute we get inside, the guy says, "This place is haunted." Oh? He
pointed to some stairs. Said, "Sometimes I hear the old caretaker
sweeping
those steps. I just step aside, politely. He was caretaker here for 50
years." Uh huh. Can I get a receipt for that monitor? Oh sure! We rode
up in an ancient elevator and while he wrote out a receipt his wife showed
me the gift bags for the homeless children. Lovely! She explained about
the school project, teaching the children about computers. Turns out the
man and his wife are the current caretakers, formerly homeless themselves.

The man walked me back out. He said, you don't believe this place is
haunted, do you? I said well, I wouldn't know. He said, "You heard those
chimes, didn't you?" Yes sir. That clock hasn't had works in it for 30
years. It can't CHIME. The hair on my arms stood up. I stammered, "Well
the clock is wrong, anyway." He said, "Yes, it is. The hands froze solid
at 1:10 PM the day the former caretaker died."

Jill

Oh my, my DH is working and won't be home until 4:00AM - I think I'll just
wait up for him tonight!!

Hugs,

CatNipped

"Kreisleriana" wrote in message
...
All Autumn means to me is cold and shorter days, and winter coming
right after. I really hate and dread it. Even when summer is
uncomfortably hot, still how much better to have lovely long days, and
be able to go around in just a pair of shorts or a skirt and sandals?
I hate putting all those clothes back on. I hate that first day when
I have to put socks on again. Worst of all is that day when I have
to turn the clock back, and suddenly it's completely dark by 5:00 PM.
How depressing.

Maybe that's why I feel just the opposite - because of where I live. I grew
up in New Orleans and now live in Houston. Summer was/is always unbearably
hot and humid - smothering and horrid. I've always felt a sense of hope and
renewal in the fall rather than the spring. Things just seem easier to bear
when the weather isn't bearing down on you. Our winters are so mild that we
often have 80 degree weather at Christmas (it's a real bummer to be sweating
while you're opening presents - no yuletide fires, no snuggling under the
tree). Give me the cold any day - you can always put on more clothes, you
can't get more than naked in the heat and even that doesn't help. And lord
help you if the AC goes out in August!!!

Hugs,

CatNipped