Fall is in the air...

Oh well, not really, but if I turn the A/C up high enough and put a college football game on TV, I can overlook the fact that it is still summer here and PRETEND that it is fall. Which makes me want to knit. I won this yarn on Eireann's eBay auction. It was donated by lulubeans and this is the hat I have started to make with it.

Of course, it will never be cold enough in Houston to wear it, so I will give it to Kate to wear in Minneapolis. Hopefully winter will wait to arrive there until AFTER the wedding, which is three weeks from yesterday!

Life in the tropics

Okay, technically we are only sub-tropical, but coming from the upper midwest, 82º and 71% humidity at 8pm in the middle of September sure FEELS tropical. We have tried to make the best of the climate here and when we had our backyard landscaped three years ago we added a bird of paradise plant. We both love their blooms. We have kept it in a pot...they are supposed to like being root-bound, and we wanted to be able to move it inside (the garage) on the rare occasion we have a frost. Well, the plant has done well, but despite these efforts and fertilizing it I thought the damn thing would NEVER bloom. We were doing some gardening on Sunday and I noticed this...

I got so excited...Mike couldn't figure out what I was carrying on about!

Well, today THIS is what it looks like (and I think there is another bloom about to emerge :-)



I have no idea why this decided to bloom now (higher than average rainfall maybe?) or how long the flowers last in 90+º weather, but I am going up to Minneapolis for a wedding shower for Kate this weekend...I just hope it is still in bloom when I get back, after all this time waiting.