Come September

Every year at this time, I enter a funk. It's as inevitable as death and taxes and you can set your calendar by it. It starts promptly on September 1 and doesn't go away until Halloween. For 10 months of the year, I think San Diego is the absolute best place on earth to live. It's got everything - beautiful scenery, a casual, laid back attitude, great restaurants, ocean, mountains, sun, snow, whatever you want, it's here.

Well, not everything. There's one big void and, unfortunately, it's one of my favorite things in the world. San Diego just happens to be missing an entire season - autumn. When I lived in Boston, I used to love taking walks on crisp fall days, breathing the sharply scented air and taking in the hues of red, yellow and orange leaves as they turned on the trees and lay on the ground. In San Diego, this time of year is marked with extremely hot, dry weather, blinding sunshine, dead, brown foliage and forest fires. It's not our best time of year to say the least. This year, instead of being dry, it's instead quite humid, as indicated by the slick layer of perspiration that clung to my clammy skin all day today and my desire to take several showers during the day to wash the funk that followed me around like Pigpen. That hasn't stopped the temperature from being in the mid-90s and higher, however. I remember when I was a child, I would buy new school clothes in July and have to wait until...wait for it...November before I could wear them! The odd thing is that, starting in November, our weather turns chilly almost overnight. But until then, it's quite miserable. I remember one year, on October 12, it was 99 degrees! Oy vay! No hay rides or apple picking here. Just fond memories of the years I spent in New England. If I can resist the urge to pack my crap and move for the next two months, everything will be fine.

On a happier note, here's my progress on Somewhat Cowl. I finally joined it into the round. I'm making several alterations that I'll get into once it's finished. You may notice that I've decided to move the cowl neckline up a little bit from where Knit and Tonic had it. I'd love to be able to wear this without having to wear a camisole underneath. If it doesn't work out that way, I'll be OK with it, but that's the goal. So far, I really like the fit. I've added short rows to the bust area, and though it still pulls a little, that's OK. There's no way to avoid that. it fits really well under the arms and through the shoulders, which is a total victory for me. And it only took like 30 sweaters to get one that fits!

In closing, here's a picture of Savannah enjoying a weekend swim at my parents' condo. She LOVES the pool, just like a true California girl should. Her hair is coming in strawberry blonde at this point, which will hopefully hold when she's an adult.