Well, Fall is officially here. This is what I came outside to find today. Our tree, which has been a slow learner this fall, has finally dropped it's leaves. Well, they are still falling as I write this. To say this has been an unusual fall is an understatement. On Thanksgiving day, Emily was changing the battery in her car and Peter Kevin was helping her. I sat outside, without a coat or sweater, in the 70 degree sunshine, to knit and keep them company. Around 5 pm, a cold front came whisking through and the temp dropped 20 degrees in half an hour. And today, Saturday, it is 33 degrees (close to 0 celsius). No wonder everyone is complaining of sinus headaches.

Yesterday morning we attended my cousin's funeral. He was only 44 and died suddenly of a heart attack. It was a shock. People who are younger than you are not supposed to die first. The cool thing was that he was a biker and they had him laid out in his t shirt and jeans with his jean jacket with his motorcycle club emblazoned on the back. His brothers were looking dazed and I think it will take some time for the reality to sink in.

After that, Peter Kevin and Kate and I took a drive to Lancaster to the Bird-in-Hand farmers' market. This was outside the vegetable stand. The pumpkins are still coming in and we saw fields full of the orange globes. We bought some cherry apple cider and a variety of other goodies that we can't get here.

I did this in the car. It is my one row scarf. It is perfect car knitting because it is mostly mindless and easy enough to find any mistakes. Now that the weather is cold, I need to make an effort to finish it.

Our Thanksgiving was really nice. Em's boyfriend Jim and his sister Colleen came to dinner. We expected their mother but she was sick. We sent her home a plate of Thanksgiving goodness. The day was quiet and restful. We are not a football family and often have gone to the movies. This year we couldn't decide what we wanted to see so we stayed home. The weather was so warm it felt like very late summer. The food was good and the company was pleasant, what more could you ask for? After dinner we sat around in a food coma and played a vague game of trivia connections. No one had the energy to play the actual board game so we just sat around and asked the questions. We are a family of people with heads full of trivial things!

Today we are taking a semi-day off. Peter Kevin and Katie and I are heading out to the movies to see The Mist. It is a Stephen King adaptation and I love his work. I know, I know, it is not intellectually stimulating but I love a good story as much as the next person and he is a good story teller. Then it's off to the grocery store to do the biweekly shopping. Tomorrow it it laundry and then Monday back to work already. Before you know it, we will be getting out the Christmas decorations and it will be January. I want things to slow down. I don't want time to fly by so quickly.

My cousin's death has made me thoughtful this week. We were not really close. Our parents were close and we saw a lot of each other growing up. Now we only see each other at major life events like weddings and funerals. This is ok. We are very different people. What it has made me realize again and with force is that we don't know how much time we have. It is so important to let our loved ones know that we love them. Today. Right now. So, take a moment and say I love you to someone today. You'll make two people happy, you and them.

Have a good weekend!