Streets of Gold?

Delicious autumn!  My very soul is wedded to it, 

and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth

seeking the successive autumns.  ~George Eliot

Hello World!

Well, hello blog world! It has been awhile - almost three months - since I've seen you. And honestly, at the moment there is no reason I should be writing to you. Maybe it's that 5-hour energy drink I took or just the need to feel in touch with the outside world, but here I am writing while I still have 11 papers to grade.

The past three months have been wonderful, but full to the brim with student emails, papers and glorious freshmen drama (a teacher's bird's-eye view of it). Not to mention, weekends full of football and weddings - Oh, how I love a southern fall! But I am here to say - and if I say it, maybe it will come true - I will be back soon! Right now, this is where I am sitting day after day. But soon enough, I will make time to record the entertaining/sometimes-boring/rarely-slow/ever-changing happenings of the Elmer household. So ta-ta for now, and no, I am not dead. Blogging - it's on that 'I want to-do' list by my bed along with other fun things like: carve a pumpkin, buy a "bouquet of freshly-sharpened pencils," collect fall leaves, write some letters, and listen to that new Ryan Adams CD. One day.
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The desk may look wild, but there's a strange organization to it. Notice the wrapper of the inspirational godiva chocolates, Real Simple and Pecans strategically placed to entice me to finish my work, green pen b/c students think red is scary, and a watch to remind me how much time I've wasted. Good-night!

Elmering in October

Bonfires: birthdays are best celebrated with fires, friends, & a few cold ones.

Bike Rides: fall = perfect weather, and David has been building and rebuilding bikes.

(Our kitchen doubles as garage)

Baking: anything pumpkin, anything cinnamon, anything yummy.

Battling birds: WARNING - neighborhood intruder.

A bird that followed Becca into the house and into her closet. (see bird conqueror below)

Blooming: planting mums. It's a fall thing.

Being Fans: yea, yea I just have to say it. War Cam Eagle.

The Best of October in the Elmer house.

Happy Weekend

"Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all."

- Stanley Horowitz

Enjoy family, friends (and CANDY!) on this Halloween weekend.

blanks walls and leaves on the ground

Hilda Grahnat

I love writing letters on leaves. Every year around this time, I used pick a lovely fall leaf, and write a note on it. Being a lover of mail and the written word, it just seemed like fun. In the fall, one of my dear friends from childhood would always open an envelope to find a colorful leaf with sharpie scribbles on it. I'm not sure exactly why I did it, but I knew this long-time friend would understand.

The funny thing about my love for fall leaves is the irony in it. I hate change. I cry almost every time I cut my hair. My clothes tear to shreds or go out of style before I quit wearing them - note, I still own and wear a pair of pants from the seventh grade at 23 - I own 3 colors of nail polish: hot pinky - orange, nude/lightish pink and clear. Why? Because I fake the change - I rotate 3 shades in and out so it "looks" like I change. I have the same car I drove at fifteen and sincerely don't want a knew one. And in my old house, the wall over my bed stayed blank for two years because I was looking for the perfect thing to hang over it and if I drilled holes in the wall, I couldn't change it if I didn't like it.

I have a new blank wall. Come see. Help me drill holes. And best example of all? I cannot let go of people. Memories. Change. I am the roots, not the leaves.

You may think I'm crazy, and, yes, my hatred is a bit extreme, but who really loves change - transience - temporary?

The leaves that I wrote letters on, that crunch under your feet as you walk to work, that act as decor on your mantles, that make for hours of fun when in piles - those leaves are proof that we can't escape change, but that it can still be a beautiful thing. Has death ever looked so lovely? Change is part of this world, and the desire for something eternal is just another reason to believe we weren't made for this.

Victoria Hannan

Pictures part of 1010