fall

the air is turning crisp, leaves are beginning to change, the farmers are harvesting their fields, the sky is a brilliant blue...fall is here...and i love it! i love all the seasons, and i especially love fall...the cool air, leaves changing to the rich colors of fall, bonfires, harvesting, hayrides, playing in the fallen leaves, halloween...dressing up and eating candy, going to pumpkin patches, football games, camping, carving pumpkins...there are so many wonderful things to do in fall. when i lived in l.a. i always missed the beauty of spring and fall. growing up in indiana gave me amazing experiences with all the seasons, and fall was no exception. my neighborhood was full of kids, and it was the late 70's and early 80's...kids could roam all over the neighborhood without fear of someone snatching them up...you might have some older siblings or neighborhood kids try to scare you, but nothing serious. the streets were filled with kids all dressed up, eager to show-off their costumes and to see how much candy they could collect. when i was really young, and my sisters were still trick-or-treating, we used to come home and dump all our candy out in the middle of the living room floor to see what eachother had scored. then the trading would commence. of course, being seven years younger than michelle and five years younger than kelly, i imagine there were times they tried to rip me off, but we generally got along during this process and had a great time reliving the night of adventure through the telling of tales. oh my , i almost left out one of the most important parts...the costumes...we always made our costumes. it was a very rare occasion when something was actually bought from the store for our halloween costumes. this was something that i did not notice when i was really young, then came a time when i did notice and wouldn't have minded having something new from a store...but that did not last long, and i truly appreciated how creative i could be with my mom. my sisters and i had all sorts of costumes through the years...ragedy ann, strawberry shortcake, mars bar, cheerleader, red crayola crayon, campbells soup (my sister kelly's high school nickname was cams..short for campbells...cause she looked like the kids on the lable)...they were all made by hand and oh so creative. i love that my mom did that...yes, it was out of financial nessecity, but it definitely impacted my life as a creative person...as an artist...and anyone who has ever lived with me or spent much time with me knows just how much i love to create things...and get people dressed up in crazy costumes!

i hope all of you enjoy the beauty of fall this year and experience all the fun things that it brings!