Day Twelve

Today I stepped outside to get the mail, and all of a sudden it was autumn. The air was crisp and clean from the falling rain, and the pungent tang of woodsmoke from someone's fireplace mingled with the earthy scent of oak leaves. This smell inevitably has an energizing effect on me. On the one hand, it is the first signal of the dying of the year, the first step down the long slide into winter's snow and bare branches. On the other, though, it is a refreshing change from the rapidly fading charms of summer's heat, a breath of fresh air after the hot, damp weight of August.

It makes me want to open a new box of crayons and color something.

However, in the absence of some nice coloring pages or a stiff new algebra book, I am making do with my 101 Things list. (Now that I think about it, I suspect that the promise of rain in the air might have had something to do with my somewhat uncharacteristic motivation to do this project.) I've decided to postpone a serious run at #63 (spend 15 minutes outside for 100 consecutive days) until a time of year when it is less likely to drop rain and wet leaves on my head, but there's plenty I can do on the rest of the list and I'm having a wonderful time of it.

Today I put $50 toward Item #2 (purchase better camera), and had a delightful time this evening encouraging my daughter's interest in the same hobby. She has taken a few quite nice pictures herself, and she announced this evening that she wanted to be "an ocean-o-grapher". With a little questioning, I realized that she meant she wanted to be a photographer who specializes in marine photography. I silently blessed my packrat tendencies (even if they are the root cause of Items #65-73) and pulled five back issues of the National Geographic off the shelf which featured articles on underwater flora and fauna. She spent half an hour poring over the pictures and captions, and I decided that if she continues to show an interest in it, I'll pass along my little camera to her when I buy my real one.

It's been a few days since I posted a picture and I forgot to take one today, so I'll post one of my girl's instead. Hopefully I can save up quickly for mine so she can have her own too!