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a much needed Fall

It has been so long since I've experienced a true fall. The leaves and the smells have been magnificent. Truly. I'm always taking deep, deep breaths to get in all that fall leaf smell. The peak color has passed and so the trees are becoming browner and more bare. We've had rain and super strong wind for 2 days now. I love it.

I've gone back and forth on if it will be hard to leave the Beach and head to China next summer. With great days like these, I know it will be hard to miss this next year. But I don't know. Maybe our new town will have fall.

On Sunday we skipped church and went to the Oak Ridge Festival. It's a festival in Attica OH that showcases everything from cannons and tanks to steam-powered wood splitters. Most of the vendors are scattered through the woods which is unique and a lot of fun to wander through. We all 4 really liked it. Phil and I got homemade wool mittens and Maddie used her allowance money to buy a pink heart bracelet. Lily got popcorn. I had a great cup of coffee that was brewed from a percolator. I love those things. It was cool and gray with a little rain off and on. Exactly perfect for a fall festival.

One of my favorite things about living at the Beach is the water. Not just that we live at a beach and, of course, there's water but how one day the water is totally still and the next day it has huge waves. It's just nothing like a lake. Yesterday the waves got progressively bigger as the weather got progressively nastier. I love how the drive to town and to Maddie's school takes us right along the water. I'm always telling everyone to, "Look at those waves!" or "Look how pretty the water is today."

We have a fake fireplace. Honestly, I thought it was silly at first. Now it's on for a big part of the day with it's fake glow and mechanical flames shooting up behind the never-changing logs. It does have a heater option but that doesn't do much. It's definitely cleaner and easier but oh, man what I'd do for the real thing. Maybe it's a blessing because I might never, ever leave.

2 nights ago as I was putting Maddie to bed, she said, "I'm never getting married."
"Why?" I asked.
"Because you have to stand in front of all those people and kiss on the lips!"
I smiled.
"Isn't that embarrassing???" she said.
"Yes it was." I said.

She's become giggly about boys and all that boy girl stuff. We are definitely not ready for this.




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