Shel Silverstein would be 78 today if he were living.

Ballyhooed and booed, he wrote several children’s classics, A Light In the Attic being one of them.

He wrote The Giving Tree.

He wrote Where The Sidewalk Ends, Falling UP, and Who Wants A Cheap Rhinoceros.

He also wrote music.  “A Boy Named Sue” is probably his most well known.

He was a cartoonist for Playboy magazine.

He was banned in Boston.

He was a pretty talented guy!

Labor Day has passed.

Please put the white pants away.

Now, I’m not a big fan of white pants, shorts, slacks, or capris any time of year, but rules are rules.

The “when can you start rule” is clouded, and doesn’t matter anyway, I’ll not belabor the point, beat a dead horse, or go on about it…but just in case you’re interested:  Not until Palm Sunday-if you’re in the South, and not before Easter for the rest of the country.  But the Labor Day dictum is a hard and fast rule –  universally.

White shoes on men, are a complete and total no no, unless they are running shoes, sneakers, tennis shoes, or you’re the Drum Major of a College band.

White shoes on women are bad enough.  But after Labor Day, c’mon! 

And, there are some things that should just never be worn together.

Quite frankly, this girl should know better, and has enough money to do better!

And since ‘white pants’ are generally unflattering (with the exception of white jeans) and according to the Urban Dictionary are code for a guy who can’t handle his liquor, and a guy who is “whipped” and several things one can’t post on a “family friendly” blog (…yes it is, and if you don’t think so, you’re just too stuffy!…), and since it’s THE code phrase for to ecstasy…

…and is used when around inappropriate or unsuspecting company, i.e. parents, teachers, probation officers, let’s just stop it with the white pants.

Frankly, I think it should be a “year round’ rule!

Furthermore, since there is no such thing as “winter white” unless it’s a sweater, and since Labor Day has passed, lose the white.

It just ain’t right!

As you may have surmised by now, I’m a football fan, er, excuse me, American Football Fan.

And when possible, I’m at the Brookwood games.  The last two games (one loss, one win) I’ve had the pleasure of sitting with or near a dear, sweet, kind, sedate, well-bred football mom.

Now, football moms are pretty into it, and they love to see their baby play, run, score, win, etc.  But, alas, Pam’s movements are a tad restricted as of late due to an injury, she’s in a neck brace.

And she’s tired of it.

She’s tired of the questions too.

I can tell.

Because they change everytime some one asks.

The question usually runs like this; “What happend to you?” or “What have you done.” or my favorite, “Are you ok?

Well, no, she’s not ok, she’s in a neck brace.

Now, I really can’t come UP with the real story, because she keeps giving a different answer…every freakin’ time!

My Top Ten Faves!

1. He hit me!  We know that’s not it, he’s still standing!
2. I was drunk and fell in the kitchen.  Ok, that’s a possibility, but I’m just not sure.
3. Car wreck.  No, I saw the car:  dent free.
4. The sex swing fell.  Hmmm.  That’s a whole ‘nother post!
5. Slipped at Wal-Mart, we’re suing.  Nothing in the papers, so not buying it.
6. Tripped over the dog.  They don’t have one.
7. I just gotta stop reading the Kama Sutra.  Again, hmmm, possible.
8. Well, if the kids would pick UP their things, I might not fall so much.  If that were true, every woman would be in a neck brace.  Can I get a witness?
9. Tripped over the cat.  Allergic, don’t have one.
10. Well, ya know, he just had to have a stripper pole in the bedroom!  Ok, I’ll buy that one!

Ya gotta love a football mom with a sense of humor!

Today is the first day of Autumn and I’m reminded that I’ve always loved the season.  It isn’t just the color.  There are the holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving.  There’s Football!  Christmas shopping.  Getting together with friends.  Early darkness, and extra hour of sleep, and quiet nights at home reading…it’s a good season.

But I do love the trees, and the colors they make.

Even if I don’t like raking them!

And looking back, I’ve always loved trees, leaves, and the colors of Fall.

When I was six years old, we had just moved into our house on Pollyanna Avenue.  Mother and Daddy still live there.

There was a Maple tree in the front yard, and I took two of the helicoptors from it and simply stuck them in the ground next to the house. 

Everyone told me nothing would happen.

But it did, they sprouted, grew, and Daddy moved them to the back yard.

Well, this is what was there 25 or so years later.

Much has changed since this picture.  One of the trees recently died and had to be removed; a little piece of my history gone.  A garage has been added behind the trees making the yard look much smaller.  It used to take forever to mow!

But, I never see a Maple tree that I don’t remember just sticking the helicopters into the ground and letting nature take it from there.  And even  though the beautiful reds, browns, and golds of Autumn forewarn us of the harsh Winter to come, we know that falling leaves, are only making way for the new ones that will revive us in Spring and shade us in Summer.

What’s your Autum story?