Signs of Fall?

I'm not sure that you can see what Joseph is looking at so intently in Graham's hand...but it is a little garter snake. Graham found it when wandering around on the outskirts of the ball field the other night. After that Graham was quite the "Pied Piper!" A lot of smaller children were following him around trying to get a closer look at this little snake. I guess that perhaps this little snake is a sign of fall as snakes are most active in spring, early summer, and fall. We have a tree that is dropping leaves like crazy...though that may be due to drought conditions for so long. Speaking of drought conditions...I guess we, here in southern middle TN, are trying to make up for lack of rain. In the last day-and-a-half we have had a little more than 3 1/2 inches! I was awakened in the night with a really loud boom...we had some of the loudest thunder for a while and lots of rain. Woody managed to sleep through the storm. I guess thunder storms are a sign of fall as they come when cooler air meets warmer air. The temperatures still say summer though. I was looking for a recipe last week. I found it, but I also found a recipe that I hadn't made before. It was Gingered Pumpkin Pie. I decided that it sounded good. It was a little different than my traditional pie in that it had a crumble topping made of ginger snaps. I decided that I wanted to make it...I get in the mood for pumpkin pie as fall nears. So yesterday afternoon I made the pie. It is really quite tasty...though I want my traditional pumpkin pie recipe served with whip cream for the holidays! I think that I figured out something...a bit of a mystery for me for a while. I make my own pie crust...you would too if your husband said that you made the best pie crust in the world! This pie crust turned out really flaky and good...except that it didn't taste good to me. I had this problem in the past thinking that it was an ingredient in the crust...as it tasted "rancid" to me. In the past I blamed it on the Crisco...but this time I had a brand new can of Crisco (I rarely use Crisco for anything except for making crusts so in the past I thought that it had sat in my refrigerator too long...as I don't make pies all that often...just ask Woody!) So yesterday I decided to blame it on the flour...we had the store brand...but it was a fairly new bag and I keep it in the freezer...but made the decision to get Gold Medal next time. But there was a clue that the crust wasn't bad...Woody raved about how good it tasted. It tasted so bad to me that I couldn't get the taste out of my mouth for hours! I decided to get on the internet and see if there is a cause of things tasting to bad to a person. And, I came to the conclusion that it may be due to one or two of the medications that I take. Two of my medications have side effects listed of causing some foods to taste bad. I also have a problem with the taste of some breads, some salad dressings, and some barbecue sauces...these can really ruin the taste of a sandwich or a salad! I had wondered for a while if the bad taste of some things was med caused...but hadn't associated it with pie crust before. I am rather disappointed...because eating pumpkin pie and having the nice texture of a flaky crust just isn't the same as just eating the filling. I guess all these things are not that bad to have to do without...could be much worse! It took a cough drop to get rid of the bad taste last night. And, there you have my "taster mystery" perhaps solved due to a fall hankering for pumpkin pie! Another sign of fall is that I am having a Fall Break from school this week. I had planned to get busy on sewing, but all I have done is try to get things ready to be able to sew...been working on putting things away from the girls' projects that they have finished. Woody walked four miles this morning. Later in the morning, he went to the Life Care to have Bible study with Jeff. This evening he went to prayer meeting at church. We are now settling in for another quiet evening in this Dorrell household...thinking that with all these signs that just perhaps fall will really arrive...but don't think that it is going to feel like fall when it is officially ushered in later in the week!