Rock-tober

I'd just like to pay a little tribute to October, which was an awesome month this year. And it seems important to note that I have always sort of felt about October the way I feel about doing laundry: I know its necessary, but I'll probably just feel better when its over. I don't exactly know why- November just seems so festive, and September has more to do with school and summer than the following months. October is just something to get through- and halloween (the constant worry that I'm not creative or clever or handy enough to come up with a somehow-both-stunning-and-witty costume) another obligatory holiday leading up to those lovely, plump warm days: Thanksgiving, which I always feel at some point is my favorite holiday until Christmas comes around, toting along with it the charms and attention of my wintry birthday.

But this year October kicked September's ass. My dear friend,who also happens to be my sister, Erin came into town and we romped our way through Seattle, spending entire days walking in the slanting sun-- back when the light lasted all the way until 7...

Then Christy and I went to Forks- we just threw a lunch together, packed our rain gear and optimism and hopped in the car. It was a drive, a ferry ride, and another couple hours in the car, which we spent reading and laughing, and then stopped to take a few pictures. We ate lunch on the beach and then walked around the small town, making a few choice stops purely to witness the booming new businesses...

And then just when you might think the month was wrapping up, my mom came into town and I finally got to show someone all my favorite running spots. We made three kinds of hummus and bought Quark at the Farmer's Market. While she was here, I started my painting lessons and felt for the first time the release of standing all afternoon at my kitchen table with a brush in my hand, pulling colors here and there, and finding out just how much I never knew before.

And it is drizzly now, and gets dark at quarter to five (with about a month to go before the solstice), and quiet and evenings seem to drag on forever. I keep vitamin D in the back pocket of my blue jeans; I keep the phone near by. But sometimes the dark is merely darkness, just what it ought to be on the cusp of December. I'm finding myself grateful.

So thanks October, for being just what you were supposed to be also: brilliant, sun-filled, orange, red, golden, clean, cold.