October!

Okay, I know everyone loves October. Here's the thing- I can be a snob about lots of things, and apparently I'm an October snob. If you haven't seen October in Virginia then just understand that needs to happen for you. Early in October I went with my friend Taerra to "the double-decker". It's a spot in my hometown that's used for everything from wedding receptions to late-night antics of young hooligans. It's got some ancient playground equipment and a bajillion picnic tables. And this is the view:

This is where I live. Those little buildings down there? That's my hometown. It's small and old and a little time warp and I love it.



Actually, I kinda told a lie up there. This isn't actually where I live. I live in Lexington now. It's hard to explain the BV vs Lexington aspect of Rockbridge County. They're ten minutes away from each other and they feel like separate worlds. I love both and I wish there was a lot more crossover between the two communities. As it is, I'm quite happy to claim both places as home. I live near the cemetery in Lexington and I recently claimed a bench under a tree as my very own. Here's the view from my spot:

What can I say? I live in a beautiful place.







I recently went to a Tedx Conference and one of the speakers shared the history of baseball in his hometown. His presentation was fueled mostly by photographs and then he mentioned a slump in his towns history. He brought this up to emphasize that it correlated with the time in their history in which they did not have a baseball program. But then he mentioned that he had no photographs of that time period. He briefly commented on the fact that we rarely take photos of the bad times. I have thought about that a lot recently and he's very right and I don't think I'm okay with it. In October the brakes in my car went out and Granger and I almost crashed into an oncoming car. The subsequent adventure of calling for a tow truck, waiting on the side of the road, trying to calm my nerves, etc... was all incredibly photographable. (Photographable=not a word). But I didn't take photos and I wish I had.

In any case, that happened. And we lived to tell the tale. Here's the little blurp I put on facebook about it: "Driving down a hill toward a stop sign. Realize my brakes are gone. Notice oncoming car. We're going to collide. I scream my favorite swear four times (the s word, in case you're curious) and make a sharp turn onto the side of the road narrowly missing the other car on my left side and the huge ditch on my right. The car stops. I take a few deep breaths. Granger: 'Um... flat tire?' You people without Grangers must have really tough lives. My condolences."

I DO have photos of this happy surprise of all surprises!

I knew Bethany was coming into town but I had no idea she'd be at the temple, and I certainly didn't know that Heston would be there! Bethany sent me a photo of her and Heston and I could tell it was at the temple and I immediately called her. The conversation went something like this.

"Hi!"
"WHERE ARE YOU?"
"At the temple. Where are you?"
"Fifteen minutes away!"
"WHAT? AH!"
"Go to the visitor center!"
"Okayloveyoubye!"

One of my most enjoyable phone calls. Bethany was in town for several days and her very gracious family was kind enough to let me steal for a bit. I think we had just over an hour, but anytime with Bethany is something I treasure! Few people know me so well and vice versa. We're just really good friends, okay? See look.

ElizaBethany and delicious hippie desserts.

AND LET'S NOT FORGET HALLOWEEN! One of my 99 goals is to make and wear a legitimate halloween costume.

Check! How cute are we? Farishte (aka Thing 1) came up with this idea and I thought it was so clever. Making the costumes was actually pretty easy and really fun. You guys, I love Farishte. She's one of my very favorite thing 1s.

And then that night we drove here.

But you'll have to wait for the next blog post for that story.

Pretty dang good month I'd say.