What a wonderful autumn day ! It's cool and crisp and lovely for walking about briskly with nasal drip. It's PERFECT. Or, it would have been perfect had I not woken up with a migraine thanks to a weather change that smells like snow, and cramps from the deepest pits of Hell. Needless to say, school was not an option, but I'm not unduly discouraged, because most of the afternoon was going to be a Photoshop tutorial, which chances are, I could have taught, or very nearly.

Anyway, I just went to the bank and ran some errands, my head having cleared somewhat. Ahhh, the bank: an unpleasant place, even if it is a nice branch. There's just something about banks that makes me cringe, something like my dislike of hospitals, only without the sterile medicine smell. It wasn't too bad, though, as I got one of the younger tellers, this one the young woman, rather than the guy I like, but she was more willing to bend rules than her older counterparts. I had her print out my account information, which is apparently not done, and as she handed me the slip of paper she leaned in and said quietly, "If you lose this, you can get into a LOT of trouble. Cut it up when you're done with it." I answered with a grin, "I'll burn it in the sink." Then I walked around in the perfect autumn weather, wind whipping up the curling yellow and brown leaves that now litter the streets, and mailed some letters and made some photocopies. I also made a quick visit to the kitchen wares store near my house and bought an espresso maker - finally ! Ever since I lived with Megan, I wanted one. Not for espresso, mind you, but for regular ground coffee. A six cup espresso maker brews two fine cups of coffee. If my head didn't hurt so much, I'd brew some up right now, finally opening the ground coffee that has been living in my freezer for over a year.

At the bank, I also had change made from a wrinkled old ten dollar bill, so that I can do my laundry tonight. What a concept, clean clothing ! If anything, it will be another excuse to go out into a perfect autumn night. Hallowe'en is coming, and this is the most appropriate weather I can think of. Nearly every Hallowe'en of my childhood was spent with 'unseasonably' cold weather and a chilling wind whistling between half naked trees and houses with radiators banging loudly to life. I don't understand how weather reports can still be calling the annual cold-snap that occurs at this time of the year 'unseasonable' when it clearly happens every year. Doesn't that make it completely seasonable? Anyway, it brings back memories of my costumes, made by Mom, with enough room inside to be put on over warm sweaters and even winter jackets. There's nothing quite so scary as a bunch of monsters wrapped up in parkas.

I just mentioned radiators, didn't I? Ahhh, I miss those. That's a comfort sound straight out of my childhood that I never get to hear any more. Most houses seem to be centrally heated now, with dusty air vents blowing dander around so that it lovingly coats the most hard-to-reach places in the house. You just can't curl up on a couch next to a heat vent and feel cozy the way you could next to a radiator. Cats don't sleep on air vents, it's not pleasant to have forced air fluttering tummy hair, but radiators were perfect spots, exactly cat-sized, and often, in the nicer homes, caged in elegantly perforated grills. In our old house on Avenue Road, there were radiators on either side of our sliding doors at the back of our dining room. Mom hung lace curtains in front of them to disquise their presence, but she was certainly not ashamed of their presence. Most days, it was a simple task to locate the cats, Misha and Placi, sleeping like a pair of widely spaced bookends, one on each radiator. But it was the ticking and clanging that I loved the most, signifying a living house, coming to life to keep its family warm, protecting it from the biting cold of winter.

It's a nice image, isn't it.