What's Going On

A few things at the end of this grey day... first, is anyone else being plagued by ladybugs? I can't get over how many are everywhere around our place right now... inside and out. This pic is from just inside the garage, but the exterior of the house is positively crawling with them, they're all over our window screens, they're collecting in the interior corners of all the doors and window sills... you get the idea. There's a lot. Do ladybugs migrate?

Second, my poor little guy got his first case of lice this week, and thankfully was OK with us starting our attack on them by cutting his hair way short... but he's pretty bummed about his super-close cut so family, don't make too big a deal about it when you see him on Thursday! (He's not crying in this photo, by the way, he's wiping water off his face from us freshly washing his stubble.)

Also, can I just gush over the leaves around these parts for a second? We're mostly surrounded by post oaks, so the dominant fall color for us is normally bronze-ish brown. However this year our black walnuts, sumac and crepe myrtles have really put on a show! It's been amazing watching everything slowly change... even 24 hours later that black walnut is almost half yellowish orange now! Like what happens during a real autumn!

Next, I'd like to give a shout-out to my girls, five of which have really rallied despite the fowl pox that's hanging on out there. Five eggs per day, aliment, declining daylight and cooler temps be damned! I'm not sure which five are the layers, but they're making me a happy gal (yes, I realize in this photo I'm only holding four eggs... the fifth is a late layer and I don't collect it until bedtime).

Lastly, I believe it's noteworthy to mention that my girl recently went through a spell of wanting to quit her piano lessons, but she persisted and is back on the ball again! I was a worried Mama for a while there, thinking she was actually going to throw in the towel, but we've figured it all out and her love of the instrument has rekindled. I'm so glad and soooooooooooooo proud. I really hope she sticks with it, I think this could really be one of her Things.

And now you're all caught up with what's going on over here.