Autumn Weekend Getaway

There is a harmony 
In autumn, and a lustre in its sky, 
Which through the summer is not heard or seen, 
As if it could not be, as if it had not been! 
- Percy Bysshe Shelley


Having serious fall-withdrawal, I was happy to head to Tennessee for a long weekend with friends at our alma mater.

While Southern California offers faint whispers of autumn, in the hills of the South, fall sings like a soprano: crisply, profoundly, robustly.  Nearly every tree changes its colors.  Leaves crunch beneath foot with each and every step.  Cool mornings and sunny days prominently mark the transition to bleak winter.

A Royal Engagement

When I was a little girl, I knew one thing was certain about my future: I was to marry Prince William.  I was convinced it would work out just splendidly: our mothers were pregnant with us at the same time, we both have equine bone structure and flaxen hair, we both studied art history.  Clearly, so much in common.

Now, that Will has announced his engagement to the lovely Kate Middleton, I have visions of royal weddings on my brain.  Since I never witnessed the grandest weddings of the twentieth century, Charles and Diana for one, I am excited to see all of the pomp and circumstance surrounding these nuptials.