this time of year i start itching...literally and figuratively...the relatively arid southern california climate becomes bone dry in the fall (yeah, yeah, i know it drizzled last week...but that's all it was), and i wake up nightly to slather eucerin on my ashy legs. but mainly, i start itching to get home. home for me is virginia, and each autumn i ache knowing i'm again missing the beauty of my favorite season turning. the sky is moody and mercurial in virginia this time of year...a distant golden sun can be snuffed out in a moment by ominous storm clouds, which roll in and create a wonderful sense of tension and release (either the sun poking its glowing head back out, or a dismal rain, which all the children hope will crystalize and stick)...i remember as a child (before the age of the internet) calling over and over again, 936-1212 to listen to the latest weather forecast in washington wondering, 'has it fallen below 32 degrees yet?', 'i wonder if they'll cancel school just for ice?'...

here in california i wake to the same cloudless blue sky winking through a slit in my curtains every morning, i take the dog out, perhaps throwing as much as a flannel shirt over my pjs if it's particularly "chilly", i drink my yerba matte, and nothing changes, save the hour the sun goes down. i always wanted this, or so i thought, and i realize even as i write that i'm a fool to paint this picture as anything but what most would consider perfect, but having spent over 25 years with autumn, i find myself missing her terribly this time of year. i just finished a song called, "october" in her honor. :)
anyhow, i just booked my ticket (always too late to get the good deals!) and i've started daydreaming about evening strolls through the snowy woods near my mom's house, the tall leather boots i'll wear in downtown d.c. (which look so much more appropriate than when i don them on a 70 degree day in san diego), Christmas decorations and the way they just look RIGHT in the snow...and above all, time with the ones i love the most. i think i'll head to new york to see a handful of friends and maybe play a show, and by early January I'll have had my fill of the cold, remember why i moved west again, and be ready to head back. i have decided not to book any more public shows until the new year...i need to rejuvenate. but i have some pretty intense new years resolutions which i hope to share with you as they come to fruition...:) things are lookin up!
enjoy the holidays and realize you've got everything you need, you just don't know it! :)
blessings.....