A whorl of my own...

I'm back from Sconnie, armed with enough material from there to hopefully get me through the winter without a trip back as our plans stand currently. Fall in Wisconsin really has always been my favorite time of year. True, multi-varied fun was had by all I encountered and accompanied in Madison, Milwaukee and many points along the way. There was, however, one poetic autumnal moment in Milwaukee yesterday that caught my eye when I was driving back from the Waterfront to my hotel. I was stopped at an intersection - just another one of the tens of thousands that we all stop at in our lifetime. The red light was long enough for me to notice the leaves falling around my rental car and the light blue worn and weary Dodge with a few prominent Obama stickers waiting in front of me. The short sleeve of my shirt had blown up my left arm as my arm draped out the open window. I had the music up a bit too loud. I had plenty of time before check-out to get ready to head to Miller Park for the last home Brewers game of the Season (just "188 days until Opening Day"). When the light turned green, the car in front of me took off a bit too fast and the leaves around it tossed and turned in upon themselves as if unsure what to do with their newly found freedom. I followed, wondering how the swirl might have looked in my wake.

When I got up this morning before sunrise and shook off the stiffness of sitting too much of the day yesterday in cars, chairs and in the air, the thermometer read 47-degrees. Hot coffee felt good through the mug that I cradled in my hand. The day is warming up, but these days will soon shrink and chill even further. I know that is true. For Milwaukee told me so.

Hope your own fall projects get a little kick in the pants from the world's little things all around you today. Rock on.