a warm welcome

A few funny things worth noting have happened.

The first was last week and I kind of forgot about it.

I was doing work at Andy's house (I was there alone) in the living room. There are two desks, one that faces the front of the house and one that faces the back. I was minding my own business when I heard some shuffling noises. I turned around to see a little bird sitting on the desk behind me! A real, live, little bird had somehow gotten into the house and was flying around. He looked like he could have a panic attack at any moment, so as quickly and unobtrusively as I could, I opened the door in the back room. He took the invitation to go back to nature immediately. Afterward, I kind of wish I had thought to keep him or train him to stop back in whenever he felt like it. The incident initially startled me, but in the end it was fun.

The second was yesterday morning.

I finally got everything in order to go to the DMV and get all the car and license stuff taken care of. I went first thing in the morning to make it as painless as possible. It was 8 am and my windows were dewed over. I couldn't get them to stay clear so I rolled the windows down. At a stoplight, a woman next to me rolled down her window and complimented Leeny's pet, the cactus antenna! Then she asked if I lived here or was just visiting. I said I just moved here. She said Arkansas is nice and I'll just have to go back and forth now. Before the light changed, she gave me a warm "Welcome to Richmond" and my day was made.

Other things, less funny, are that I carved a pumpkin at my sister's house.

a.b.c.

a. It's like digging into a treasure box except you know what you're going to get.

b. The pumpkins carved by (from left to right) Sister, me, Steven.

c. My pumpkin, Mr. Monocle.

And that I went on an exploratory bike ride around my neighborhood today, specifically to find this house and this tree. I had seen them the other day, but did not have the proper recording tools on me. I didn't want to miss the leaves. And I nearly did!

Blue and orange. So pretty!

You better believe there are more photos here!