A new challenge for me - NaBloPoMo

Still having issues with Blogger and my computer (even my computer at work). I think the main issue is that my home and work computer both run Internet Explorer, and the highest version on both computers is IE8. I can't run anything higher on my home computer due to having Windows XP, and I certainly can't change what we run here at work. So, I'll just have to make do until I can figure something out.

I have finished reading Joyland and NOS4A2; just cracked Omens and have read several chapers in Inferno. The Ocean at the End of the Lane is a really small book - only 178 pages! I am almost finished with it (page 139), and it's a different type of read for me. A children's tale for adults, basically. I like it. I also got several cross-stitch books from the library, and have a few patterns that I may use. Hopefully, someday I'll even get to post some pictures!

Speaking of cross stitch, I completely ripped out all of my Poppy Puss project and started over. I will have to say, putting the pattern's grid directly onto the fabric has really helped. It took me all day Saturday to rip out all of my work (sniff, sob). I put on seasons one and two of The Tudors and ripped out stitches until Anne lost her head. I've started re-stitching, and I am much happier.

So. This new challenge is NaBloPoMo for October. It is a themed challenge, and the goal is to post everyday (except weekends) in response to a prompted question. The theme for October is "Fall". Here is my first question and offical NaBloPoMo post!

Q: What is your favourite thing about autumn?

I love the smells of autumn. I love the smell of anything pumpkin baking: bread, cake, pie. Add cinnamon or cloves and I am in heaven.

I also just love the smell of the air. I love it when it's finally cool enough for people to start using their fireplaces or woodstoves, and how you can smell the smoke from a mile away. When I smell that smoke, I am transported back in time to when I was in elementary school - grade 1 or 2. We lived for a short while with my grandmother in Monroe, WA, during the fall and winter. Whenever I went outside - playing or waiting for the school bus - I could smell those fires. And when I got home from school, my grandmother's house smelled heavenly from her freshly made applesauce, with Red Hots candies mixed in it. Mmmmmmmmmm...

I love the crisp scent of the air just after a fall rain, mingling with the tang of fallen and wet leaves. And lord knows we get quite a bit of that fall rain out here in the Pacific NW.

And winter rain.

And spring rain.

Let's face it - we don't tan out here, we rust.

But it's that crispness - like biting into a Granny Smith apple, that SNAP - is like nothing else. I love it when the sky is clear and blue, no clouds, too warm for your coat in the sun but the air so cool it makes your nose run.

Those are my favorite things about autumn.

Oh, and Halloween candy. Just sayin'.

TTFN.