Brrrrr…Well, we woke up to 28 degrees this morning and the high is suppose to top out at 44! I got to finally wear my new winter coat!...and scarf and gloves and sweater and long johns and wool socks and…just kidding. But it is very “brisk”, was the word my son used this morning. Tonight’s low will be 20 with 20 mile an hour winds and a wind chill of 10. Okay fall is here.

We have seen something wild the last few days. A flock of starlings (got to be 100,000+ birds) that fly over the office every evening right before we leave. It goes on for an hour or more for as far as you can see. There is a grove of trees that they land in behind the office. They vie for space on the branches until the tree can’t hold anymore, then they explode in a black cloud and start the process all over again. I tried to take pictures of this river of birds flying over but they did not come out very good. We drove back to where they were roosting and the noise is unreal. Right out of an Alfred Hitchcock! The trees are black with birds not leafs. Crazy.

My bird bath was frozen this morning. Need to figure out how to make them a little Jacuzzi. The cardinals are out in force and enjoying the treats I provide. They are very timid and peek from under the leafs before flying down to the feeder. This morning after sitting very still for a few moments the yard was full of about 15 pairs. The ladies are very demure in there tan coats, one warning from one of the scarlet gentlemen and they bolt to the trees. The woodpeckers and blue jays love the suet baskets. The jays protest loudly when someone new shows up for a taste. If it wasn’t so cold I would sit there for hours and watch them play and listen to there songs.

I miss the hummingbirds, they left in September. Their size is so contrary to their personalities. Bold and feisty they are. I had four or five feeders up before they all left only because they would get so territorial. I began moving the feeders around so that others could come to drink, as one little guy would guard his feeder with a vengeance. He would even swoop me when I would take it down to refill it! I look forward to their return in the spring and have added to my feeder collection.

Bill has built me a fly tying table. We are enjoying fly fishing so much, but the cost of the flies are expensive and we thought tying our own would be cheaper. The table is very pretty and I think we are in to $200 so far. Think of all the flies we could have purchased with that!!. Fly fishing is wonderful, there is nothing like standing in the river early in the morning as the mist is rising! You get into a zone and before you know it hours have past. We have spent a couple of weekends camping down at the river, it’s so beautiful I can’t begin to tell you. We are spoiled now not having to drive 6 hours to the Eastern Sierras. Some weekends we get up early drive the half hour to the river, fish for hours and head home for lunch. I think we will end up retiring as fly fishing bums.

The fall colors were fabulous and we took a drive before this last storm hit so we would be sure to see the trees before all the color was blown away. There is a forest service tower a 120 feet in the air in Eureka Springs and we climbed up it to take it all in. By the next weekend most of the leafs were gone. You can now see lime stone formations on the hill sides that we never knew were there. Arkansas is changing her clothing again and is still just as beautiful.

We are looking forward to Christmas. Erik and Megan are coming and it will be so good to see them. We are hoping for snow and our first white Christmas. Shannon and Nick will be sorely missed! She has started a new job and can’t get the time off. After taking the summer off to go to Europe, they are both working hard to make up for their play time. After seeing Austria, Italy, France, Switzerland, and many other places we hope they can both come to lowly Arkansas at spring break. Everything will be green again and Shan will love that!

Ryan is almost through his first semester of college. He has done very well and we are so proud of him. He has really relaxed into the lifestyle here and the transition was much easier for him than I ever dreamed. Everyday he surprises me and the older he gets the less the autism seems to be a hindrance. He is talking about looking for a part time job which is a big step, but I am positive it will be good for him.

I miss our folks and our older kids, but I really feel at home here. We made the right decision no doubt about it!