Fall Is Here!

Yes, you read the title correctly. Fall is upon us. For a month, it looked like we went str8 from summer to winter. But, Mother Nature had something else in mind for us, here in Chicago.

I was walking, I believe a week ago, to the Lake from my house. Leaves from a particular tree had turned an olive green and with the breeze, gently blowing, the leaves were effortlessly floating from its branches and collecting on the ground below. It was like walking thru a snowfall, but I wasn't getting wet.

Today, after straightening up the house, I went to walk Harley and noticed a tree from my back deck that was doing the same thing. But, these leaves were a vibrant yellow. I walked the dog and when I got returned to my back porch, Harley and I sat there for maybe half an hour watching the breeze carry leaves to their final resting place. So peaceful and tranquil was the picture. With the EL softly rolling on its tracts in the back ground, it was an amazing scene to watch.

The temps, in the day, are a warm 55'ish, but at night, we are dipping below the freezing mark. We are all getting ready for winter. "Hunkering down," they call it. I'm wanting to clean my room and the rest of the house so that when we close everything up, we don't suffocate in dust. So far, I just don't have the energy.

Do you know how I know fall is here? I came down with my semi-annual sinus infection. A friend told me that you can get rid of those things without the aid of a doctor. Not wanting to see my doctor anyway, I took her advice. The color that was coming out of me was clear, then yellow, and then clear again. I was beating it. WRONG!

I went 3 weeks of sleeping, sitting up, until my San Francisco trip was within my grasp. I finally called the doc and told her my symptoms, and that they had 10 days to get me up out of bed and pretty again. Barrett made me come in. They gave me the once over and prescribed 875 mgs a tab, 2 tabs twice daily, of penicillin. I swear I glowed in the dark. I joked with friends, 'If you have a STI, come sit next to me. Through osmosis I can cure it!' And, San Francisco was a blast. I made it.

Half way through my flight home, I started coughing. I couldn't breathe in the plane. The heater was turned on. Not wanting anyone to think I had the "pig flu," I tried my best to silence it. My sinus infection had turned into bronchitis. Got home on Monday, by Thursday I had called the doc again telling them what was going on! They put me on a Z-Pak. Another kind of penicillin.

The big deal about that antibiotic is that in the past, I became allergic to it. But, upon recollection, I only became allergic when my mom had introduced me to a guy that claimed he could cure AIDS. The drugs he gave me, not only emptied my wallet, but made me react to penicillin and strawberries. I left the guy and within a month I was able to eat strawberries again, not even thinking the allergy to an antibiotic had vanished too. But still, bless my mom for trying to get rid of this thing inside me.

I've gone for years thinking I was allergic to penicillin, and that's not the case any longer. It just opened up a whole different class of antibiotics that, in the past, I couldn't use. 1 Z-Pak later, I think we kicked the bronchitis thing. I still feel weak and not quite myself, but the leader of the "table" told me last evening, that the 'old Bear' was back and not the sick one. I didn't know there was 2 residing inside of me. Apparently, there is.

So, back to fall. The sun is now setting at 4:26, since we turned back the clocks. By the time I get off work today at 4, ride the EL home, it will be dark. OUCH! But, you gotta love this time of year. Football, hot chocolate with marshmallows, my mom's Pie-Cake with milk chocolate drizzled over it. Crock pots cooking something delicious while you're at work. Trick or treating, parades down N. Halsted St. And, hoodies!

May this time of year last forever and by-pass the bitter cold. By-pass it right up until spring. Anyone with half a mind knows this is only a dream. A dream that is laced with icigles, snow, Christmas, and dreary days. Here's 1 last toast to autumn. May she sleep well, with all hope of a warm tomorrow, abandoned.

Peace and Blessed Be!