<p>Too busy to hang out in SA…</p>
<p>Gilda… those were the good ole’ days. I loved Broadcast news! Rosanne Rosanadana & “Miss Emily Letilla” were always great, and Gilda, Jane & Bill Murry in the “Todd Lubner” segments!</p>
<p>Ok, so it’s a Sunday morning, and I know that SA is not too crowded, but page 3??? Maybe we can get a strong cup of espresso from the coffee joint next door???!!!</p>
<p>Some of us have to <em>work</em> Sunday mornings. ;)</p>
<p>Now we have to rake leaves. Also have to move stuff in the basement so Roto-Rooter can jackhammer the cleanout area to access the lateral line to reline it with their “trenchless” repair. Blech.</p>
<p>Ya’ll enjoy your espressos, lattes, & Irish coffees. :)</p>
<p>I went to hear talk show host Dennis Prager speak last night. Ended up with lots of yelling and verbal tug-of-wars. This morning I can use a little Bailey’s in my coffee, please.</p>
<p>jym, I don’t think you need an excuse to have Bailey’s in your coffee!</p>
<p>I’ll have one too. H just spent the entire morning getting rid of a virus on my PC, S2 left a leaky pen in his pants pocket, which has now distributed blue ink all over the dryer, and S1 has transportation issues (that I don’t want to get into) that require I pick him up at his college (2 hours away) at 10:00 pm and then drive into Boston at around 1:00 am. H, of course, will be out of town.</p>
<p>Just when I feel like things are under control, everything falls apart.</p>
<p>Well, I would like to know how an sjmom (which I have always interpreted as a San Jose mom) is going to drive into Boston. Probably the same way as the mom of 2 Peruvians (momof2incas) drives up to Cal-Berkeley.</p>
<p>Well I’m not feeling terribly witty either today. Not bad, just not witty.</p>
<p>I went to work out yesterday, at the gym I can walk to. Walking back, endorphins high, sense of virtue high, beautiful day, life is good.</p>
<p>But I felt something again that I had thought a while back. Has again to do with aging. Although I know we are ageless here in the Alley (I’m 32…), in real life time does go on. </p>
<p>As I get old winter has a stronger call. I walked along in the afternoon of the Northern California fall day. The leaves change here too - although not so vibrantly. And the trees get confused sometimes, curling into brown in the middle of a burst of yellow. Or going to red and forgetting to take some leaves along and they stay green.</p>
<p>Yesterday even at this point, warm fall day, very warm fall day, I felt the winter. And it felt real to me. And summer felt so very far away. It felt like winter was the real thing, like my body wanted to go there.</p>
<p>I have read old people frequently die in the winter. I don’t think it’s from a surplus of rhinoviruses either. I think the winter calls to them to close it up.</p>
<p>When I was younger summer called to me the same way. No season felt real except summer. Summer seemed to last forever, winter was so short. The rainy winters of Northern California were like insults and the blue sky and sun felt like my home.</p>
<p>Now I feel that summer is far far away. Something in my body now tells me winter is where I belong. Just a little bit. The grayer skies, the lower light, the lower expectations of the day. </p>
<p>Raising my glass of Irish coffee, looking to pull some heat back into my blood.</p>
<p>jmmom–Haha. There are times when I would have styled myself momof4aliens. Kids can be so weird sometimes!</p>
<p>Gee, alu, can’t we enjoy fall without being all morbid about it? 
</p>
<p>I have noticed whenever the seasons change I have trouble imagining the extremes of heat/cold we will have. On a beautiful Indian summer day my body just can’t believe it’s ever going to be 18 degrees and we’ll be shoveling 10 inches of snow and fervently wishing for heat. And vice versa.</p>
<p>But once we actually get there it’s ok. Adequate clothing and all that. S#3 and I just raked the entire front yard and now I’m quite warm. DH is working on his laptop in front of a football game, drinking hot tea and trying to keep warm. 
He gets to do the back yard.</p>
<p>Alumother–lovely, accurate description IMO…</p>
<p>Until we moved to NC, fall was always my least favorite season…I always found it terribly depressing…the colors are pretty, crunching in leaves is cool, but it always brought such a feeling of dread to me :(</p>
<p>But now, facing winter isn’t a big deal. Maybe it will rain some day (or week, or month)…and my pansies will thrive all winter long, and most of the days will be quite tolerable. I’ll live vicariously through the snow with y’all!!!</p>
<p>Yeah, I guess we could just enjoy fall.</p>
<p>But heck, how can we sit around the darkened Alley drinking alcohol and say things like, “Gee the wearther is nice?”</p>
<p>We gotta slurp up that peaty malt and look off into the distance with a vaguely melancholic face and say something kinda wi****l.</p>
<p>Complete with astericks courtesy of CC.</p>
<p>stop telling us to shut, up Alu, it’s not nice!!!</p>
<p>Yes. The wi****l asterisks are the only cc asterisks that I love. Because they are all so whimsical, warm and cuddly. And engender genuine curiosity in those who encounter them – all unexpectedly – gumming up their innocently conceived musings.</p>
<p>Yes, I love the cc wi****l asterisks. Here’s to them!</p>
<p>Star Burst
* 30 ml Strawberry liqueur
* 30 ml Banana liqueur
* 15 ml Peach schnapps
* 1-2 scoop Ice-cream
* 1 dash Milk
Mix everything in the blender.</p>
<p>::I think it is so much more wist-ful when measured in the metric system, don’t you?::</p>
<p>LOL. Did I say that?</p>
<p>I must have had more single malts than I knew…</p>
<p>BTW, it’s a beautiful beautiful day here in the SF Bay Area:).</p>
<p>OK. So now I read jmmom’s post and I get it. I though the w<strong><em>…astericks were for Sh</em></strong> O** of Luck.</p>
<p>Those letters don’t even match. </p>
<p>I must REALLY have had more single malts than I knew.</p>
<p>I guess I need some more Baileys, Sjmom-
I seem to be seeing lots of ************** s around here.</p>
<p>[A</a> Glossary of Grunts](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/comics/king.htm?name=Zits]A”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/comics/king.htm?name=Zits)</p>
<p>Re: Grunts – my older son handed me today’s Zits and informed me that it was accurate. Harrumph.</p>
<p>jmmom–the Starburst looks delectable! An adult milkshake. ;)</p>
<p>There is an obvious upside to having to clean the basement before the plumber-diggers go to work. You wouldn’t believe how one area needed tidying and dusting…full of computer parts my guys have been hoarding and assembling into complete machines as needed. DH was forced to make some long overdue decisions. </p>
<p>Family of packrats.</p>
<p>Nice to know it’s on target, mootie.</p>
<p>jmson doesn’t seem to need all those nuances for the grunts. He is able to say all he has to say with only one grunt. Plus two other vocabulary words:</p>
<p>uh
ok
cool</p>
<p>An occasional “thanks” is added to the mix, just to show that his mom raised him right.</p>
<p>alu if 32 is old I’m ancient. Somebody raise a glass to the ancients! I’ll go first since it is just 5pm in CA.</p>