Falling into place

October was blissfully gorgeous. For four weeks, I drove around with colors dancing in my eyes and spent inordinate amounts of time with children. With a brief jolt, November reminds me of how temporary life is. Last week began with a lot of newness. A new reading group of very sweet 2nd graders. A new after school site completely different in every way. A new black smear on my front bumper. And bare trees towering over sidewalks blanketed in leaves.

But before November could begin, before these changes, October had to end, and it went out with a BANG. Abbie and Jon visited from Denton and brought two friends for MOOGfest. Below we sit on a statuesque memorial bench randomly placed on the side of a building. All photo credits to Abbie.

Saturday I volunteered during the Flaming Lips show. My third time to see the band (always a BLAST), but this time, from a brand new and amazing perspective. Instead of dancing in a sea of confetti-showered folks in costume competing to punch giant balloons, I was working a booth right next to the crowd and watched the entire spectacle from there. It was windy, and the ginormous balloons kept getting stuck behind our tent. I nominated myself the balloon fetcher and had all the balloons to punch that my heart desired.

Sunday, I joined my visiting friends for a glorious day on the town. We had a tasty lunch, visited a drum shop that was hosting a jimbeh class, mosied over to sit in a dark room and enjoy Brian Eno's 77 Million Paintings installation (check out the link btw! it's about the installation) before hitting up some more music- M83 and Umphrey's McGee. But really, the highlight of the weekend was hanging out with friends from home (and new friends!). I often think of Denton and miss the wonderful people and community, and it made my heart sing to catch up and spend time with dear friends from home :)

Monday, during my lunch break, we took a stroll up the road and found a hidden trail, the leftover trash from a homeless camp that used to live in a gulch, and a breathtaking view of the city below in autumn glory. Below is a view down my street.


This is our view of the city from just up the hill/mountain/it's all relative just know it's mighty mighty steep. See the mountains in the background? Yeah. I STILL get goosenipplebumps looking at those.
A little peekaboo at just how bright the colors are. Crayola missed a few colors. There could be a whole box of 24 dedicated to Autumn in the Blue Ridge.


Things I'm looking forward to:
* Project RISE (my actual after school program that's been much delayed) finally starting next week.
* Road trip with brother bear to NY/CT area for Thanksgiving with the Diamond clan (more like squirming in my seat absolutely excitedly awaiting)
* Road trip with Carol to TEXAS for Christmakkahbirthday. Heads up, by the way. Dec 22- Jan 2. Denton/ Dallas/ McKinney/Austin, you will feel my love. More details later.