Today is the first day of fall and you know what that means...

Christmas is just a mere 94 days away!! Oh stop your whining you grumpy headed, beetle-browed, bellyaching, love muffin. You know you like Christmas, so why be grouchy about it? If anyone here wants to complain, let it be me. I'm the one who has to spend his Christmas in a desert with ubiquitous road construction, fake lakes, and palm tress that were shipped from other parts of the country. In the end, I have neither the splendour of a big cosmopolitan city, nor the natural winter habitat of a frosty, Christmastime desert. Boo-hoo.

Take me to New England, I say! Where the hills are adorned with color-shifting trees; where the streets are narrow and cobble-stoned; where cottages and houses with English motifs make a fireplace all the more cozy and enticing. Yes, I'll take the snow, too.

Maybe someday.

For now, I'll have to settle for a city that - despite having lost much of its small town intimacy - is still my home.

I wrote this post a few weeks ago anticipating the autumn season. However, despite the fact that I had scheduled it to post automatically for today, Blogger made sure it got posted on September 7th, so some of you with "Reader" or RSS feed might have gotten an unauthorized look ahead of schedule. Is there something wrong with Blogger that I don't know about? Do they need a loan or bailout to get them to function properly?