Oh! I Wish...

I wish I were a gifted photographer or painter. I wish I were a writer of great talent. I wish these so that I could convey the incredible beauty of middle Tennessee on a clear November morn.

My commute this week has been exceptional; from the drive downhill on a street lined with maples in red and gold adding glory to pastel Victorians to point on the hill where I see the courthouse dome rising over the deep red oaks that surround it. Out the highway past the little white Missionary Baptist church nestled at the foot of the rolling green hills, past the 60's brick ranch sitting atop the rise, with it's bright red barn and freshly painted white fence. To the left there are two old white columned houses built in the day of functional beauty, farmhouses shaded by more golden maples set apart from the more modern brick homes build a century later.

And now the antebellums, resplendent in the morning sun, one guarded by the old slave built stone fence and tall, century old hickories and oaks; the other in sturdy brick, with tall hollies standing sentry in the drive.

Then past the old, faded red barn with it's once white silo and peeling white fence in the foreground as the hills rise behind in various muted shades of autumn.

All this beauty and rural charm and in my head I hear the great George Beverly Shea singing...Oh Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all thy hands have made...

Oh! I wish I had a better vocabulary with which to describe this, but let it suffice to say, I arrive at work mellow with a smile on my face.

How To Dress

While other parts of the country have clearly defined seasons and know exactly when to pull out the sweaters, and other parts of the country have almost no seasonal change at all, I seem to live in the amorphous part of the states.

It was 32 degrees this morning with hard frost on my windshield. The predicted high for today of 66 degrees. How to dress? Well, I wound up with a 3/4 sleeve light weight cotton blouse, jeans (because it is casual day), a cardigan, and a denim trench coat. The office was 69 degrees when I arrived. It will reach 82 by 2 p.m. when the air conditioning will be turned on.

So here is the way my day will go. Take off trench coat upon arrival. Take off cardigan around 9 a.m. Turn on desk fan around 11 a.m. Turn off desk fan around 2 p.m. Put on cardigan around 3 p.m. Take off cardigan for drive home.

Each day, I try to calculate what to wear to work and predict the comfort level in the office. It has become a challenge. I love beautiful fall sweaters but do not see them in my immediate future.

On the other hand, a beautiful 66 degree autumn day is a thing to be treasured. I'm thinking of heading to the Amish community south of here tomorrow, the drive there will be so spectacular!