The sky is falling!

It's raining leaves! That's what fall means in Texas. Little pieces of oak trees dropping from the branches. Not like that is any different than the rest of the year. But rather than the pollen sticks or airplane seeds, it's the big, fat oval acorns and their little hats. And yellow leaves! That's the closest we can get to the vibrant orange and red hues back home, but they falling leaves just the same. As I write this, the temperature is about 80 degrees. The warmth of Texas fall is something I most definitely appreciate.

Warm afternoons make for nice in-the-city adventure weather. This weekend was the annual Texas Book Festival, which is always held in Austin this time of year. It stated (I believe) to have authors from all over come and give talks about their books. But now it includes tents and tents of exhibits from book publishers, literary groups, writers, musicians and craftspeople.

I went yesterday to hear two authors speak and I went today to introduce Julian to the celebration. We strolled and strolled, met lots of nice people who are quick to fawn over him. But he's been in a weird place ever since he was sick last week. Just funny. Funny odd, not funny ha-ha, which makes me long for those silly days with him. He always seems on the verge of meltdown. He's always sucking his thumb. He never seems quite satisfied. It's hard realizing that suddenly you have The Challenging Child.

I know it won't last and that we've been really lucky to have the happy baby we have for the past 9 months. But I don't want this to become a thing with him. I'm hoping that he's just getting all these side and back teeth and that's making him uncomfortable. He's asleep right now...

On the adult side, B-zilla had a very fun gathering of folks at her house last night. There were costumes and kegs. There was music and laughter. I got to pull the "oh, the clocks are changing, I guess that means I have another hour out tonight" trick. Still works. Even when you've got a kid. Got to see a friend of him from way back in the early Mizzou days. He's the resident investigative reporter prodigy at the Houston Chronicle, which is suiting him well. It is fun to go out with journalism-types and drink. A good time is always to be had.