Jacket Weather

True autumn came roaring into North Texas overnight (accompanied by rain, as has been par for the course this year). For the first time since April, I had to don this unusual garment called a "jacket," and it felt really bizarre. (It was funny to see people in both the public schools and the college who must not have checked the weather this morning before leaving for school; many of them appeared to be freezing in their T-shirts and shorts.) At least we had last week's intro to autumn to help smooth the transition.

I have to say that I was ready for this; with our cooler summer and warmer early fall pretty much blending together, it was time for a change. And it finally smelled like fall tonight; I can't describe the olfactory sensation to a T or anything, but there was something in the air that made me think about my Christmas decorations, of all things. As I've said before, even though I'm more of a summer sort of person, there's something about cooler weather that makes home seem more inviting.

So again the call goes out: What's it like where you live today?

Live and in living (fall) color: One thing we don't seem to get too much of around here is the spectacular hues of the leaves turning; for that, we head north, where Lileks has posted a great fall-color picture on the buzz.mn site. (He also adds, "Don't remind me of this post in February.")

It was probably too cold to celebrate this here: Today is Kilt Day, but even if I owned one, I don't think touting my Irish heritage would have been worth enduring today's cooler weather (not to mention the stares from students at school; I'm not sure that a kilt makes one look all that "professorial" over here).

A less colorful story: A New York bride is suing the company that did the flowers for her wedding centerpieces because they were the wrong color. (The company did mess up, but is this really worth $400,000?)

There will be a big reward for this lost item: A New Zealand brewer has lost its laptop, and the lucky person who finds it will get a lifetime worth of free beer from the company.