This was my backyard at sunrise this morning.  The clouds were pink and orange.  Just gorgeous over the pond with the weeping willows.  The ducks were happy.  How come my teeth clenched after taking the picture?

I know what fall means.  Winter is coming.  I hate winter.

Each fall, I rarely enjoy it becaue I know it’s only a few short months away from freezing days, dead lawns, and leaf-less trees.  In spite of Thanksgiving and Christmas, I do not like this time of year.  I am a sun goddess and need my heat and swimming pool.  Winter gives me nothing but long days, dark mornings, freezing temps when I walk to get the mail, and snow.  Ugh.  I do not like snow.

Maybe I just need to bite the bullet and accept winter is coming.  If I do, I can enjoy the beauty of fall.  The red and yellow colors, the crispness in the air, the time for cozying up with a book.  Baking.  An applewood fire burning in the fireplace.  I guess I need to embrace fall, but then turn my back on winter and count down the days until spring.

The blue herron doesn’t seem to have a problem with fall.  This was him taking off with a frog for his breakfast.

When I moved to Boise in 1992, I was homesick for L.A. during the first ten years.  Growing up in the Valley (San Fernando) was all I knew.  I mean, honestly–Zuma beach, skiing at Mammoth, the river, great malls.  I had it all.   When my small town up here got its first Taco Bell it was like wow, hold the phone.  I’ve seen big changes in Idaho and now I am happy that I’m an Idahoan.  I’ve been here about 16 years. 

The one thing that still makes me homesick is the fact I have zero family up here aside from my wonderful daughters.  The rest of my clan is in L.A.  A sister, my parents, cousins, etc.  Until I married Greg, holidays up here were pretty meager–just the three of us girls. 

It’s always nice when my parents can come up for a visit.  They were here last week.  At 75 and 86, they don’t drive up like they used to.  Now they use a commercial airline.  We had a nice time with them and it’s always good to see mom and pop.

Saying g’bye to the folks at the airport.

My dad knows anything there is to know about cars.  He wanted to sit in my hubby’s ‘69 Indianapolis Pace Car Camaro SS and pretend he was taking it for a lap around the speedway.

Just for fun . . . where am I?  I’m not in Boise anymore.  To the first person who can tell me where I am, I’ll send an autographed  copy of ALL THE RIGHT ANGLES.

Good luck!

So I walk two miles a day on our treadmill, Monday to Friday.  I lift some weights, and do sit ups, too.  We have an exercise room and sauna (of which I haven’t quite figured out how to use, but I should come winter when I’m cold.)  I just bought my third pair of Asic tennis shoes.  These are the gel Kayano’s.  I wore the other two pairs out.  One pair from doing yard work.  I don’t really wear tennis shoes other than when I’m exercising or working in my planters.

To make the time pass, my hubby mounted a wall TV with a DVD player in it for me.  My recent viewings have been:

The Tudors.  I can’t rave enough about this series.  I’m counting the days until December 30 when Season 2 is released.  This series was good for about a 6 pound weight loss.  I was enamored by the costumes, the dialogue, the story–even though we all know about Henry and his wives.  The casting is excellent and I couldn’t wait to get out on the treadmill to see what was going to happen next.

The Thorn Birds.  An oldy but goody.  I watched this years ago on TV.  Watching it now, as an adult . . . I couldn’t help almost thinking there was an icky feel to it.  Father Ralph almost bordered on pervy when Meggie was a child.  I may have only lost 1-2 pounds watching this mini-series.

Lost.  Everyone has raved about this show to me so I decided to give it a try.  The first five minutes hooked me.  I may have only lost about 1 pound since starting this bad boy, but so far, so good.  I’m on episode four.  I’m wondering what’s in the forest.  I’m guessing like a morphed dinosaur or something. 

DVDs I stared, but failed to get into.  James Michner’s Centennial.  Another oldie that I remember loving on network TV.  It felt too dated to me this time around.  The Girls Next Door on my daughters’ big thumbs up.  Two episodes and I felt like I was on a saccharin overdose.  Honestly, those young girls can’t possibly think the Hef is such a stud.

Those of you who regularly follow my blog, will recall me trying to fit into that fabulous gold dress.  I’m close(r), but no cigar.  The cut of that Kay Unger is a bit teeny in the boobage area.  I’m still trying.  To date - 12 pounds lost.  And watching “Lost” should motivate me to lose more.  There’s like a bazillion episodes for me to watch that I still have to go through.

After Lost, I’m not sure what I’ll watch.  Any suggestions?  I heard House was pretty good.