I Heart October

As I sit and type (prodded just a bit to update my blog by having read Hilary's comment on my last entry. . . hopefully I'll get some props for the fact that I'm improving on my previous track record even though I'm still not posting once a week just yet), it is 54 degrees outside. Let me pause for just a minute to take that in. Autumn weather is finally here! Granted, I'd rather be enjoying it much farther north (oh, say, in Maine) surrounded by red, gold, and orange leaves, but I'll take what I can get. It was even cool enough during third block today that the AP seniors and I could go out on the front porch to have class - at least the first hour of it. (By lunch time, we all decided that it had gotten just a bit too warm - my slightly reddened arms and face backed up this observation - and elected to finish up the block inside after they returned from lunch.)

October is probably my favorite month of the year. . . or at least it is when it feels like October. I love most aspects of living in Georgia, but one of the biggest drawbacks is that we tend to go straight from summer to winter during so many years. I'm prety excited about this crispness in the air and the actual need for this blanket that I have draped across me right now as I watch playoff baseball and remind myself that I really do need to finish grading the senior 1984 tests. Admittedly, I wish that the baseball that I'm watching included the Braves, but I can't have everything. . . and I'm well aware that my having had the opportunity to watch them in October for fourteen years in a row means that I was better off than fans of most professional baseball teams.

The beginning of October also means that we're well into the debate season now. At this point, we've competed more in IEs than we have debate, but we've been pretty busy in both (especially lately). So far? Two tournaments, fifteen awards. . . not such a bad start, I don't think. We're home this weekend (yea!), but the next four weekends will be busy (a wedding that Claude is catering, two tournaments, and our IE/PF/LD tournament at LCHS).

However, I do solemnly promise to try to post at least once a week. :-)

Note: Claude took the pictures of the little ones at Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia last October.