Seriously! All of the sudden, it's officially Fall. How did this happen? Just yesterday, it seems, it had just become summer. Storms, heat, hurricanes - all that stuff. It just dawned on me this morning that it was really Fall when I looked outside and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky, and the air had this certain crispness. It's still hot, but the humidity has gone down. There's just something... crisp. Summer days just don't LOOK like this! I usually don't like sunny days (it's rain and storm clouds that cheer me up, believe it or not), but seeing the cloudless sky that signals that winter isn't far away makes me very happy. And sad, also. How is another year gone by so fast? But then, isn't that how it always happens?
Everybody complains, every single year, "OMG I can't believe the year went by so fasssssssst, the holidays are already neeeeear *whine complain*...". I never understood why people cringe at the thought of the holidays. I'm looking forward to them, as I do every year. When I think "holidays", I think of seeing loved family members that we rarely get to be with, having great Southern fixin's, giving, dorkily dressing up in red and green, cranberry sauce, holiday music, decorating the house, Christmas lights, pumpkin pie, cinnamon-scented candles, making cookies and getting flour everywhere, dressing up pretty (which I rarely do... but I must admit that I kinda enjoy it), hot chocolate, cool weather and bundling up at night..... Just, everything that comes with the holidays makes me happy. Not to mention the meaning of the holidays themselves, and how much kinder everybody is around that time of year.
And so I look outside at the blue sky and crisp air and hope the holidays this year will go smoothly and happily and the memories we'll make won't be so easily forgotten...
By the way, I just did an image search for "fall" for the mere heck of it, to see what came up. I found this picture. *siiiigh* I WILL live in the country, some day. I will.
Y'all surely remember Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman? That used to be my FAVORITE show. I loved it, had to see every episode, knew all the characters (sadly I've forgotten most of them, now), and I was thrilled when CBS showed reruns in the late mornings of every weekday. I'm depressed that it's no longer on TV - I really miss it at the moment. The Hallmark Channel isn't even airing it anymore.
But anyway. I was talking to A.E. about Native American actors and remembered the Indian in Dr. Quinn, Cloud Dancing. As I was looking him up, I ran across another character: Hank. Remember Hank Lawson, the bartender? I used to... have a thing for him. I'd TOTALLY forgotten about him. He was a bit of a bastard on the show, but I loved him anyway. There was just something about him... But that's me, right? Always going for the bad guys (although he wasn't a BAD bad guy, he was just kinda bad. Nevermind). And that was waaaaay back when I did not like long hair on a guy.
His real name is William Shockley (awesome name, in my most humble opinion) and his official site has some great pictures from Dr. Quinn as well as a GREAT biography of the character, Hank. I've not seen Dr. Quinn in YEARS, but I'm all sweet on Hank again thanks to screencaptures and lots of fanfiction ;o)
I sent some of these pictures to A.E. and she said, "...Hank is SOOOO one of your dudes. OMG. That always *was* your type!". Heh, heh... yeah.