My Favorite Season

October is a beautiful month. After a hot, dry, uncomfortable summer, fall weather is a breath of fresh air. Just enough rain fell in September this year to make the trees vibrant with color. In the past, drought conditions prevented a lot of color.

I love autumn because it's still warm, yet it's also cool. It's more fun taking long walks with Doug in the middle of the day without getting all sweaty. My cats love being out all of the time, even overnight. That is bound to change, however, when winter gets here ... and it's not far off.

My blogging has suffered this year because I've had too many other problems to work out. I'm sure it has been a challenging year for a lot of people. In order to keep from dwelling on the trouble in our world, I've been absorbed in creativity. I have been spending a couple of hours each day on my guitar and/or the piano. I've also been busy working on the next memoir. This has not been an easy project like the other two. I am guessing it will be at least another year before I can think about publishing it ... and there has to be a lot of weeding out for various reasons. But it is therapeutic!

Halloween is in exactly two weeks. I will be in Wisconsin, visiting my sisters and my brother, nieces and nephews and lots of pets. I haven't been to my home state since 2015. Since I started a new Annette Vetter mystery recently, perhaps I'll get inspired enough to put the memoir aside and see what kind of mischief Annette is getting into now that it's her summer break and Tim has just graduated. She thought it was going to be lazy summer ... well, it's MY job to make sure she doesn't!

Last month I visited my friend Niara and her three dogs in Pagosa Springs, a beautiful place in southwestern Colorado where I used to live and where I met Doug. We took a nice long walk on a Saturday afternoon to Cloman Park (pictured below). Colorado is just so beautiful!