Timely

I've experienced 26 New England autumns. I don't ever recall snow in October. But somehow it managed to find us in Maryland before the trick-or-treaters have had their chance to knock on our door for the year.

Fortunately, the premature arrival of the chilly white precipitation did not prohibit Petal from heading out to explore. A few days ago, a package from family in Connecticut arrived bearing a Halloween onesie, a souvenir troll plate from last summer's trip to Norway, and an outgrown snowsuit worn by two of my cousins. And today while shopping at Babies R' Us, we happened upon a pair of pink snow boots perfect for Petal's tiny tootsies. The snow began while we were in the mall, and was starting to stick by late afternoon. I opened the back door to attempt photographic documentation of the phenomenon, and was met by Petal's wordless but unmistakable expression of interest. So into the snow we went!

Note the leaf she's clasping in her right hand, she knows it's too early to say goodbye to fall!

Hurry up and wait

Jack's been out of the Army for over a year now, but, not surprisingly, this phrase can also be applied to non-military federal employment. Despite the fact that the guy Jack is taking over from is leaving in 2.5 weeks, HR is taking their typical sweet time with the paperwork and the date of our arrival in the Empire State is still TBD.

Without a timeline, it's hard to take this move seriously. With the exception of asking my parents to store some outgrown baby clothes for the next relative to pop out a baby (Shakira? My dear cousin TechnoBunny? Nothing would make me happier!) as well as some of my pre-preggo wardrobe and some baby items I need to return to generous lenders, I have done zilch as far as packing. My mother-in-law kindly pointed out over Skype that she could see the books in my bookshelf and that I could pack them, but I don't see the point yet. Yawn. Laziness, thy name is Fairweather New Englander.

In complete denial that the military will not be handling this move for us and that there are things we need to be doing, we've been out enjoying a glorious autumn. Petal has visited the biergarten (loved the accordion,) the pumpkin patch (which went much better than last year,) the renn fest (not such a fan,) and apple picking (see below.)

Tomorrow we will finally be getting our act together. Jack has taken the day off of work and we are meeting with a potential property manager and a potential contractor to make some repairs to the basement. Last night, Jack informed me that the property manager might be interested in taking some pictures of our house if "it [wasn't] too cluttered." I just about fell off the couch laughing. Don't get me wrong, I love our home and all its eclectic reminders of our slightly kooky life, but from a real estate perspective, the decor is a bit of a nightmare. I would take a picture but Petal pulled about a third of the books off the bookshelf and I haven't gotten around to putting them back yet. I wasn't kidding about the laziness.

Island Living

There's something about the idea of living on an island that's always been very appealing to me. The plethora of beaches is a big draw, but I also like the idea of a community with defined borders, without the haziness with respect to delineation found so often in suburbia.

It could be in my blood, my mom's family comes from a small coastal island in Norway south of Bergen.

And of course Jack and I were married on the beautiful island of Nantucket

When we found out that we would be moving to New York, we initially thought that we would live in the borough of Queens, birthplace of my father.

But then we realized that we could get much more house for our money in another community, which happens to have the advantage of being a barrier island with some killer beaches.

Long Beach, here we come.