Okay. So It's Fall... (A two-part post)

**Make sure you read all the way to the bottom for an update on the NYC story from last week**

I have had to admit, today, that it is fall.

As if the change from 80-degree weather last week to 50s this week wasn't enough to convince me...

and the fact that the sun is WAY past crossing the street wasn't enough...

and wearing long pants to work all week (instead of shorts) wasn't enough...

and the Hallowe'en catalogs weren't enough...

finally, tonight after work, I went out and put the Fall Fertilizer on the lawn.

That pretty much seals the deal. This weekend, if we get a sunny day (we might get rain all weekend), I'll probably go out and start pulling up the annuals out of the flower beds and checking things over and starting to batten down the hatches for the season.

*sigh*

At least this means it's baking season. After all, it's much easier to get excited about baking when the house isn't already almost 80 degrees. (We've had the A/C off for a while now, and on really sunny days it's been a tad too warm to fire up the oven.) Time to dig out the cinnamon and apples and get to work. After all, it won't be swimsuit season around here for at least 6 months -- maybe 8.

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UPDATES on the incident in New York City.

I was reminded while talking to my folks, yesterday, that not everyone has been able to follow all of the developments as easily as those of us only a couple of degrees of separation from it. Here are some updates:

1) Blake, Danny and Alec have been talking to the police and an official internal police investigation has been started to look into what happened.

2) In the first 24 hours, Blake got something like 8,000 hits on his website. He's posted almost every day about what happened and what has been going on. There are some really touching things that people have been saying. You should check it out: www.blakehayes.com .

3) Blake has been interviewed by a bunch of news stations and there have been articles online and in newspapers all over the place. Most of the reactions and comments have been positive. Some have not. (It's amazing what people will write online under the veil of anonymity.)

4) The bar owner has apologized for any part in the situation, and offered to help in any way.

5) I just saw on Blake's blog that the three of them are planning to go back to the bar they were headed to on Friday night when it all started (which they never made it to last week), and celebrate the unity that has come from this -- instead of focusing on the bigotry.

It's pretty amazing, really, the amount of conversation that has happened in the past week. Hopefully it won't stop there. Hopefully real change will come and continue on.

To make that happen, we need more of this conversation.

So keep talking about it. Pass on the links to my blog and Blake's blog. Who knows what can happen if we just keep talking?