First Frost

I woke this morning to the ground covered with the first frost of the year. Being in Florida, this is as close to snow as we get. It reminds me that the year is waning and that Thanksgiving and Christmas are drawing near.

Fall is my favorite time of year, I love everything about it...maybe because I was a fall baby. I'm growing anxious this year for the holidays, they make me feel like a child again.

In the meantime, I'm staying inside this morning, wrapped up in my warm, pink, chenille robe and fuzzy slippers and peeking out the window from time to time as the sun rises higher and higher in the sky and watching the frost melt away under the warmth of the sun's rays.

Childhood Treasures

Yes, this is me! Well, okay, it was a long time ago.

Too many years came and went before I figured out that I treasured the wonderful things I had growing up. Unfortunately, too many of them had long been lost. It's really a shame someone didn't warn me, as a child, that I would want those dolls and toys when I reached middle age. I might have taken better care of them.

Slowly and steadily I have been rebuilding my collection of dolls and precious toys. This doll, however, continues to elude me. I've hunted and searched through EBay, doll sites and books, trying to find what kind of doll this is. I've written to experts and even paid one expert to look at my photo and tell me. Her best guess was a Sears "Happi-Time Playmate. Nobody seems to know anything about them or have one for sale. I keep hoping that one day I'll run across someone who has my doll for sale.

Fall in Florida

I love fall. I grew up in the Chicagoland area where fall is spectacular. Crisp cool nights and warm, sunny days, blue skies that make you ache and trees that look like God spilled a paint palette everywhere. The bright orange of ripe pumpkins and the beautiful rainbow of chrysanthemums everywhere plus there is a unique scent in the air unlike any other time of year.

Ten years ago, I moved to Florida. Florida doesn't have fall. Our leaves don't turn bright orange and yellow, just brown and fall off...sometime in January. We don't have crisp cool nights where you can leave your windows open and sleep with the fresh air blowing in, snuggled under your nice warm quilts. We're still running the air conditioning. Chrysanthemums are an annual here and only last a couple of weeks before the sun dries them out. Pumpkins rot on the ground, it's still too hot for them.

I miss all the wonders of fall. The smell, the crunch of leaves underfoot as you walk in the woods, the beauty of God's creation, for only God could paint such beautiful colors together for us to enjoy.