Enjoying the Fall for a week before beginning Leg 3

A week back home for a quick regroup and a shuffle of clothes from Fall to Summer was all I would have before heading back out on the road. It wasn’t the most relaxing week. I had a job to do. I was playing Mom to my 11 year old niece, Mini Me (as I call her). I performed all of the job duties including morning carpools, curling the hair, driving to dance, piano and gymnastics, carpool to CCD, cooking dinner, homework and bedtime rituals. There were fun and silly moments and moments filled with frustration at an 11 year olds back talk and attitude. There were reprimands and reminders of chores to fulfill. I did it all and I am still left with the sense that being a Mom is not so bad. My only complaint is the early morning call time. 6:30 on weekdays and 7 on a weekend is just vulgar to me. Why anyone would volunteer to do anything at these times is beyond me.


It is Fall here, but you wouldn’t know if from the temperature. It’s been in the high 60’s and low 70’s all week. I was really looking forward to getting a good week long dose of the Fall. Something I have missed so much living in LA. The leaves were in full color. One good thing that came out of getting up that early was being able to see the vibrancy of colors on the leaves in the morning. In my opinion, it is the best time of the day to catch the colors at their best. When the sun is first coming up, you experience a multitude of golds, brasses, oranges, rusts, yellows and greens. Browns, beiges, tangerines, reds and plums.

All were glistening and straining to catch a touch of the rays that so gently beamed softly against the morning backdrop. Casting flickering shadows on the sidewalks and creating the first touch of warmth for the day. The small town of Ft. Thomas is seeing its first signs of Fall in the trees that lined the center of town and in the fresh pumpkins that have been laid early boosting the eminent Halloween spirit.

Next to Christmas, it is my favorite time of the year. I usually come home for Halloween weekend and love to take the kids trick or treating and to the pumpkin patch. We spend the evening carving pumpkins and roasting pumpkin seeds, but this year I will sadly miss my favorite night. I will be in Singapore.

I wasn’t about to miss all of the activities, though, so I planned to take the nieces and nephew to the pumpkin patch early and go ahead with our annual night of pumpkin carving and roasting pumpkin seeds at my sister’s house.

Surprisingly, even my brother joined in this year. That never happens. We got lucky since there was no Bengals game on the day we planned to go. He would cut off a limb before ever missing a game.

And I am off again in the morning. I will stay one night in NYC before heading to Singapore for a month long tour of Southeast Asia.