It's RAINing

We have rain!!! 

That's the wet stuff that falls from the sky.  We are ecstatic even if our umbrellas have dry rotted.  Started today about 2pm and has fallen slowly and steadily. 

Now it's time to put our rain dance costumes away till the next drought. 

It's fascinating to watch as the rain falls on the leaves and drips off while the branches dance around under the pressure.  Everything is a brilliant green.  It's hard not to like a rain after a long dry period.  Even our wet firepit patio is beautiful.

I'm chatting online on Facebook.  Neat way to connect with friends.  She wants to "do lunch".   It's wonderful to have girlfriends who like to get together for a girls day out or a leisurely lunch.  It's a good thing to keep girlfriends in our lives.  Some are good for one need, other friends for other needs.  A friend from work taught me that years ago and it has certainly been proven true time and time again. 

Saw my hair stylist yesterday checking out the clothing racks in a department store but she didn't seem very friendly.  Not like her at all.  She said she was tired so I didn't talk to her long.  Everyone deserves a down day, so I will gladly give her space.  I received an email from another friend today asking me to get together for lunch one day.  Wow, sure is nice to be available.  You know, working full time just cramped my social calendar. 

In light of the cooler weather I put out a few fall decorations this afternoon.  I have plenty more but they will come out of their storage boxes a bit at a time.  Kinda like fall leaves, they slowly color our lives. 

Speaking of decorating, while at Lowes one day I checked on artificial Christmas trees. 

We have ALWAYS been live tree people. 

You know the tradition of choosing just the perfect tree for the house: full and the highest we could get till it curled on the ceiling.  Until just a few years ago, it was a family tradition to go to a tree farm to find and cut our own perfect tree.  Talk about fresh!  But, I'm trying the slow nudge method to wear Sweetz down.  He's thawing to the idea - so wonder how many more nudges it will take.  Would it work to just just go out and buy it myself???  Umm, I better give that idea a bit more thought.  Since we've had Destination Christmas the past 3 years, we haven't even had a tree except for a small table-top artificial one.  But THIS YEAR, I'm pushing for a big tree again since we will remain home this year.  Guess we could get another live one or...or...or not or something.  

Since our retire-and-downsize to FT/PT RV lifestyle strategy doesn't seem to be viable in these uncertain economic times, guess we will have to rethink our housing and future plans.  We had our retirement plans laid out pretty clearly but the economic team in DC doesn't seem to appreciate our dreams.  Hopefully after this Hope and Change we will have some change left in our pockets. And for now...we will remain in our house and await better times.  In the meantime, we will have a tree this year - some sort of tree but we have plenty of time to determine what's best for us.  After all, our plan to head southwest during the winter might nudge me right out of the desire of a big Christmas tree.  In the meantime, there's fall to enjoy: leaves to rake, cooler weather to experience, and life to live.  

No use rushing - after all, I live in the Retiree Time Zone.