Good Saturday Morning to You!

It's here! This is MY day!

There is a particular kind of day that I wait for every year. Sometimes I call it "state fair weather" -- my Oklahoma friends will know what that means.

It's that first day, usually in September, which heralds in the end of the blistering summer and the beginning of my favorite season, which is fall. Oh, in our heads we know it's still "summer," at least by the calendar, but we know the change is coming, and we welcome it with open arms. Sure, it means that just a short time from now we'll be complaining about cold weather, but for me, this is respite season.

It's early (for me) this Saturday morning. I let myself sleep in until about 7:30 when I could stand it no more. I was hearing raindrops falling against my bedroom windows and I could here the "ping" of the drops on the window air conditioner in the adjacent dining room.

I got out of bed, made my bed and put on my favorite ugly slippers. Then I realized that it was a little too cool and toddled in to the living room to turn off that air conditioner.

Now I am enjoying the view out my dining room windows, which overlook my back yard, all green and wet and looking thankful for the drink. Best of all is watching the streams of water running down the storm windows which seem to be a permanent fixture on the windows of most of my rooms.

Today I have to myself, so I will have the time to look around and notice those things, finally. I want to get more familiar with this house today -- give it a good cleaning, see if there are windows I can open a little today so I can enjoy the smell of the rain as well as the sound and sight of it. I want to see if the air is as cool as my eyes are telling me. Not cold, just a few notches down the thermometer from what we've been living with.

I'm in no hurry today. It's one of the rare times when I could have slept until noon or so if I wanted to.

This is just about the time to start thinking of planting some mums. I have a huge back yard (huge being relative, of course.) I'd love to start developing a landscaping design.

On Labor Day I set out to mow it. My great plan was to use the new rotary mower I had bought the night before. Eco-friendly, non-gas mower to reduce my carbon footprint, you know. I got it put together even with a drop-by visit from the Jehovah's Witnesses. They didn't stay long since I was working on my project. I think they might have thought I was going to ask them to help.

So as I was testing out my new machine, the neighbor across the street came over with his gas-powered mower, fired it up and started mowing my yard. Granted, I probably did look like I was having a stroke, but still, I felt a mix of gratitude with a dose of being cheated out of my plan. He was a good neighbor and saved me from myself, but also stepped on my dream a little without even knowing it.

Now that the yard has been cut, though, I am hoping to take a stab at keeping it maintained with the rotary mower. Maybe just a little every day -- a swish and swipe at the lawn, just to keep it under control. I still have the belief that I can do it and it will be good for me as well as the environment. Then again, there's that other small voice saying "Crazy girl, you know you can't do this when it's hot next summer! Get a mower now while they are on sale!" Maybe a riding mower, with a padded seat... just to make quick work of the job?

Eh, for now, I'm content to look out the window and watch the rain. The birds have come out of their hiding places now and are settled on the wires looking around for their breakfast, so the rain has definitely slowed down. Maybe I'll take my cue from them, pull on my jeans* and a T-shirt and go look for some breakfast. Maybe I'll amble over to the farmer's market at the Pioneer Woman and see what they've got this morning. I hope they're gathered today despite the rain. They would just be opening up about now.

Later I'll put on some piano music and see what the house wants me most to do today. I'll let you know what it tells me.

And later, I'll share some more stories.

*About the jeans... I am down to one pair that fits without sliding off. I've finally sorted through them all and set aside the ones that are too big. Today would be a good day to buy a couple of pairs to replace the ones I'm sick of fighting with.