Friday,
October 19, 2001

80° F in October -- yeah, I can deal with Texas

Oh, my God, but it's totally lovely out there. Balmy, sunny, a perfect beginning to the weekend -- okay, so Dallas turns into the ninth level of Hell between June and August, but man the rest of the year more than makes up for it.

Now, Lyndon doesn't agree with me on this. He wants autumn to be, well, autumn -- crisp temperatures, clear air, a little bit of visible breath in the mornings, all the things that make getting up and out so vigorous between September and November. And I can understand this perfectly -- under normal conditions, there's nothing more glorious than classic fall weather.

Except that we just spent three years in a country where it's cold and dark six months out of every year (the other six months are extremely bright and moderately cool). I mean, I'm tired of cool temperatures. Give me temps in the 80's and a pair of shorts at any point in the year (except maybe Christmas -- to quote Guy Fleegman, man, that's not right), and I'll be a content camper.

Speaking of Christmas, have I mentioned that barring another catastrophic loss of job/money/car/whatever, we're going to be spending it in Chicago this year? Lyndon's really pumped about it because his favorite visit to Chicago was the first time after we were married, when we went there for Thanksgiving and there was a little sprinkle of snow on the streets and everything just looked so Christmassy.

Me, I want to walk up Michigan Avenue at night, with all the lights in the trees and the shop windows glowing with holiday displays, and just gather up all the feeling of being home.

And then I wanna go shopping. Post-Christmas sales, dontchaknow.