Fall? Really?

          "Record or near-record warm temperatures."

           That has been what we have been repeatedly hearing from our weather prognosticators here in middle Tennessee.

           We have had maybe a few days with highs in the 70s, or a tad below, since the official beginning of fall September 21st.  But for the most part, our fall has been more like a mild summer, with highs in the low to mid 80s, pushing 90 degrees some days. It has also been extremely dry. We need rain in the worst way.

           People try. They have put mums and pumpkins on their porches and they even wear sweaters.

           They drink pumpkin-spice lattes, apple cider and Oktoberfest beer, and some are even building fires in their fireplaces.

            But the reality is it's still really, really warm. We are running our air conditioner at our house and I'm still wearing shorts. I can't make it cool just because I want it to be.

             The mornings are very nice, cool and crisp, and are really the only indication that it is fall rather than summer. But other than that, you could have fooled me.

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            It has been a busy fall season (according to the calendar) for Wife and me. She arrived back from Paris a week ago Friday, and I met her in Atlanta that afternoon. We stayed at Older Son's and DIL's home that Friday night, although they were in Dallas for a wedding.

              Younger Son had been working in Florida the previous week, and flew into Atlanta Saturday morning. We picked him up and headed for Auburn for the Auburn-Arkansas football game, and met Daughter and SIL there. This is the fist time we had seen Younger Son since his relocation to Indiana in August, and it was very good to see him and be with him. We brought him home with us on Sunday and he stayed here until Wednesday.

               Wife is gone again this weekend, helping host a wedding shower in Little Rock for the daughter of longtime friends, and also spending some time with her parents. I spent the morning at a board meeting for the non-profit where I serve, and then stuck around to serve lunch to the homeless men. It's always a good experience to get a glimpse of the clientele and remind me why it is so worthwhile to give my time and resources to this organization.

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               This Monday is Halloween, and Wife and I will stay home and answer the door for the trick-or-treaters. We might be inviting some of them to come inside to get cool! (High Monday is to be 85).