Ike Tease and Fall is Here for a Day

We're having one of those days that reminds us that the rest of the country is barrelling into a new season of falling leave, acorns, falling temps, breezy afternoons spent with a hot mug of something, while wearing a sweater. This is Ike's legacy. We excitedly anticipated the worst - 10 inches of rain! Flooding! Hooray! That's the twisted desires of drought-plagued texans on the central plain. What we got was a bit of a breeze, some cloudy days... and about 2 hours of rain one night. Oh yeah, and a bazillion evacuees in shelters of all kinds who need our help. So there are some people suffering, but no one benefitted from Ike's rains. I think Chicago got more rain from Ike than we did. However, it did bring us a cold front.
As I write this, it is nearly noon and has yet to get above 70 degrees. WOW. Just a few days ago, at the same time, it would have been nearly 100 degrees and climbing.
I've seen lots of gekos, and there are toads living in the cracks in our yard. We had a few weeks when the preying mantis was ubiquitous, but they are gone. We spotted a huge, hanging, spider egg sack in the eaves, but I haven't checked on it in a while.
Phoebe is six weeks old and a pound-plus bigger and heavier than where we started. Even Charley, my 80lb-jackhammer-wielding, muscle-bound hunk of a husband has started to complain about carrying the car seat to and fro. I pulled out the stroller today, so that we can more easily pop her plastic bucket on to it and wheel it around, although I usually end up wearing her in a sling during most shopping trips and outings so we can discreetly nurse. The sling is, as my friend Asenath so eloquently puts it, "a real cheese-saver". Thank you, oh sling, for saving our cheese! We would be lost without you, and no laundry would get done, or people fed, or groceries purchased. I am getting more and more done everyday, even cooking whole meals and getting a shower now and then. This time away from work to be with her has been so wonderful. We spend days staring at eachother and cuddling. What could be better? It goes so fast, as everyone will tell you. I have many new perspectives on time and its passing these days.
So today, one more glorious day of time to spend with my wee precious girl, is just like fall up north. It won't last long - I am finally convinced of that. I spent the first four years living in Texas packing up all my tank tops and shorts at the first cold front, pulling out sweaters and jeans, only to reverse the situation a few days later, when it hit 99 degrees again and stayed that way through october. I have a sweater I leave at the bottom of a drawer, now. I'll pull it out, wear it all day - even tomorrow in the morning. When it warms up again, I can slip into my favorite summer dress and tuck the sweater away in its drawer, to wait for our next single fall-like day.