Fall in DC... Who knew?

I don't know what it's like in New England at the moment, but I do know that it snowed in Concord last week. And I didn't feel jealous one bit.

I always grew up loving fall. It was hands down my favorite season. Not only is my birthday right in the middle of it, but it has Halloween, apples, pumpkins, leaves, stunningly crisp weather, sweaters, Thanksgiving. In New England I still loved fall, a lot, but I always found it's brevity disappointing. As soon as the weather turned and the leaves were at their peak, winter was just around the corner. It's nearly November and today I was amazed by all the sugar maples on Gallaudet's campus. We are sitting with our back door open to the evening breeze. Fall keeps going and going.

This weekend we carved out a couple of hours to explore the Anacostia. Canoes rent for $6/hr at the Bladensburg Waterfront. In under two hours we saw a blue heron, snowy egret, osprey, beaver, turtles by the dozen, kingfisher and perhaps an otter. And only two other boats. There were also plenty of discarded tires and other rubbish as well, but we were impressed to find this little preserve so close to home.

On Sunday we carved pumpkins outside and put the final touches on our porch decorations (I think the postman has stopped coming because of all the cobwebs). We are nearly ready. Now just to settle on our costumes.