The First of September

August, and indeed, the entire summer, really seemed to fly by. I'm happy knowing that autumn is here, it's been so hot this year that cooler weather will be very welcome. Already there's a change in the air. It's a bit cooler at night and much less humid, and the sky has been a gorgeous shade of blue for the last week. The days seem to be much shorter now that September is here.

Yesterday I had lunch with a dear friend I haven't seen in a couple of months. We only live a few blocks away from each other, but life gets awfully busy sometimes and you have to make an effort to find time for the people you care about. And I'm excited to say that she's expecting a baby! The little peanut (as I'm calling him/her) isn't due until early February. I was truly surprised a while back when this friend told me that she was pregnant. She and her husband live a fairly carefree life, and they love to travel, and so no one expected them to have any children for a while yet, or maybe ever. They're getting in one last trip to the west coast later this month--they're driving all the way to California and staying two weeks--and then they'll probably have to be content to put those kind of adventures on hold for a while.

I'm looking forward to being an "auntie". Yesterday I gave my friend a beautiful picture book for her little one. The cover made her tear up a little:

We went and had a two hour lunch and talked about everything under the sun. It was so nice to catch up with my friend, and especially to share her excitement over the baby. It was a good day.