crema coffee

crema coffee, originally uploaded by pr9000.

I took Trotter out for a bike ride this morning -- we try to do one every morning, but sometimes we're not awake enough for it -- and the first thing that hit me: the smell of fall. Fall has a smell, of course -- drying leaves, lazy grass, and the rainclouds coming in from the west added to the aroma. It was intoxicating.

And, not more than 10 words into the first sentence of this post, it started to rain.

Fall is my favorite time of the year. Our last four autumns were spent in Minnesota, where the "mild" seasons (fall and spring) lasted about a month each. Here in Nashville, though, I've been promised those two seasons will be glorious, but each time I've been greeted with the scents of fall, the habitual Minnesota thoughts creep in my brain: "Enjoy this, 'cause there won't be too many more like it."

***

Mom and dad came down last weekend, and we had a surprise for them: tickets to see Willie Nelson and his band, at a fund raiser for Hepatitis C research. It was a great show, though the temperatures did drop down into the low teens by showtime. (Not really, but it did feel awfully cold.) The show was held at The Preston Farm in Leiper's Fork, which is a deceptively small town not too far from our house. The concert truly was in the middle of the farm -- a huge pasture with tractor ruts and a few dried, stray cow patties and a picturesque barn full of hay and, most likely, snakes.

I didn't venture too close to the barn.

Our bus got there a few hours early, which seemed ridiculous at the time but ensured that we weren't more than 50 feet from the stage. Of course, when you're at a concert on a farm with one entrance to the two-lane road that feeds all traffic ... first in, last out. And we were on a bus that was three quarters empty, and one quarter filled with drunken neighbors who we hadn't yet met -- at least, we hadn't met them when they were sober. We met them while they were drunk, and if it's true that you don't get a second chance to make a first impression ... well, I'm not sure how to finish that. Luckily I didn't recognize any of them from church. :)

To see a few photos of the red-headed stranger, click here.