I was surprised at how quickly the train ride went by, especially since it was 2 hours late (mudslide in Pennsylvania). 2 hours sitting in that rundown little old station in Raton wasn't so bad since I had knitting and a New Yorker magazine. There were plenty of other passengers waiting this time, too. I forgot to mention the ride to Raton - a brilliant fall day, blue-blue sky, snow covered mountain peaks (not just a dusting), bright yellow and purple flowers all the way down.

I did run into a couple in the dining car who spent time at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival last summer and brought back memories of my summer spent there after high school. I'll have to explore that memory sometime .

But now I'm here, getting settled before getting back on my course tomorrow. I set out for a late afternoon walk up Edgemont to Franklin then over to the shopping district. A tree loaded with ripening pomegranates appeared to my left, then a budding gardenia beckoned, after that, roses that were as tall as me - then a persimmon tree and lots of lime trees, all bearing fruit. In and among all these plants that I recognized were ones I've never seen before and they all kept ushering me further along until I had quite a nice walk under my belt. I turned back down Los Feliz and stopped in at Jon's for some sandwich makings then headed home.

I love LA, especially this neighborhood I've adopted as a second home for a while.

I'm wondering if it's worth fussing over. Since Honey moved back home, he has been really, really good about letting us know about when he'll be home or if he's coming home at night. Last night, he didn't bother calling but did show up in time for work. Tonight, he hasn't called and I happen to be awake anyway since I'm leaving for CA tomorrow/today. We are all agreed that he is an adult and doesn't have to report. But it is one simple common courtesy that I made a point of asking for. Now I have to decide how big this issue is for me. Big enough to ask him to find somewhere else to live?

I was on Skype with my friend Pui when she said her aunt had called to say there was a revolution going on in Bangkok. I can't imagine! Tanks in the same town, surrounding the capitol building and the army taking over the government. She is ok now, back at home a couple of hours away from Bangkok. Such a small world now, isn't it?

Getting ready for another trip to LA. I've made it enough times that it's no big deal now. The worst is getting up at 4:30 in the morning to catch the Amtrak bus in Denver for the ride to Raton. The rest is gravy. I really enjoy the long stretches through the SW and waking up in the 2am to see the moon in the middle of blackness. I really hope someone is able to keep long distance train travel operational out here in the West. Sleeper out, coach back. This time we are going to zip down to Hermosa Beach for a few hours. Just love that ocean...

Yesterday, working the pre-game at CU, the wind was everywhere! I completely forget about those 40 mile/hr gusts that whip up on clear, sunny fall days. I also forget about those golden globes of leaves and how vivid fall flowers are. Ok, I'm resigned to fall's arrival.

When Sweetie bought himself a fancy new laptop, we got our little toy-like iBook back. It was a tiny one that doesn't have much room or speed to do anything. I've been wanting to take a lap top to LA when I go, so Honey went with me to the Mac Shack and we picked up a newer, speedier one that was set up for wireless. It would have been $250 to upgrade the other one and we got $125 credit for the old one so the $700 cost really was 1/2 that. I've only used it to be online during "Law and Order" up in the TV cave, but it's still pretty fun.

Speaking of "Law and Order", WHERE HAVE I BEEN?? I'm addicted to the 'Criminal Intent' version and lucky me: re-runs play on USA, TBS and Bravo as well as the ones on NBC. What with "Boston Legal" and "L & O", my Tuesday nights are pretty well sewed up for the winter.

Anyway, it's close to 7pm and the sun is going down a full hour later than it did the last time I noticed. I'll end with some pics of my lovely 4 o'clocks and my lovely lovies against a Saturday Sky:

Saturday sky a little late. You can see it started out grey and drizzly.

I never knew that I would love someone whose nipples were pierced but now I do. Honey came back for his ID last night and this morning, I found a brochure about piercing on the kitchen counter. The eyebrow and lip just weren't enough. In a gentle effort to discourage further piercings, I lovingly call it 'self-mutilation' when I ask about them. Now when Sugar comes home, I say things like, "Ask Honey to show you his nipples." Life is always offering us new directions, isn't it?

Yep, the yellow haze turns out to be from the 56(!) wildfires in the west. So glad that Colorado hasn't suffered from fires this year. It looks like morning in Dixie except it's yellow. There was a gorgeous orange moon last night against a navy blue twilight sky.

Walking the dogs at night now means dusk and cool air. Today the sun's rays were yellowish like they are when a fire is nearby. Yesterday, a sight I'm unaccustomed to appeared: dew on the car. Mabon is right around the corner.

I found the word petrichor a while back and enjoy having a name for it to go along with the experience. Where is a word for the smell of clothes that have dried outside on a clothes line? During the summer, everything goes outside to dry and the scent is so delicious. It's so fresh and pure and promising and suggestive of LIFE!

Sometime I want to write about this change of life having to deal with adult children. Honey is really giving me a straight up lesson in dealing with this new role. I want to come to comfortable conclusions about the situation and he keeps presenting new challenges. He is calling into play all these people tools that I've been accumulating over the years and seeing if I really understand how to work with them.

This little girl is so beautiful.

I worked the CU game on Saturday so missed the Saturday Sky post. It's enough to say that it was grey and dreary until the game was over then it was hazy blue and white.

This summer has been a ride. June in LA seems like last year. July was so friggin' hot and we worked on so many projects and Honey was gone and not in touch and Sugar was out working most of the time. The crews have changed and new people are here but the feel of the business has changed from the inside out. From the vantage point of mid-summer, autumn usually looks like an ending to me but in reality, so much starts when the sun slants back South.

Now Honey is back home for a while,telling us about his life and planning to go to LA with me later; Sweetie is back in school and sounds great; Sugar is continuing to enjoy life and is also going to meet me in LA later this month.

I finished "Stategery". Now I'm working on "Ender's Shadow" again, knitting some scarves, found a meat market to replace the blend for the dogs that the Raw Food lady used to provide, starting "House" tonight, painting our bedroom, working the games, finished the garden planting for the year, still doing cards. Really looking forward to being back in East Hollywood though I hope the heat wave disappears by then.