This is why I love the East Coast:
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Although I didn't take this exact picture, I could have easily taken an identical one driving through the streets of Pittsburgh this past week. We're nearing the peak of the "colors of fall" and it's just lovely.

I've been driving Kenny into work for the past few weeks as we've been waiting for his Nissan to get a new muffler. Some of the mornings have been dark and rainy. Leaves are blowing all over the place, and the ground, in most parts, is covered with wet leaves of all shades. There is a street near our home called Commercial Avenue, and it winds down into a ravine, and winds back up straight into our neighborhood. It's an odd road. On either end of the road are city neighborhoods with many homes, parks, and noisy children playing. On the road itself, there is nothing but trees and wildlife. This is where we see deer and wild turkey (that sometimes make it up into our streets). It's only a mile or so long, so it's odd that a "country road" exists so close to two city neighborhoods.

I see the most brilliant of colors driving this road. I turn a sharp corner and am hit by the light of pinkish-orange leaves. What used to be a dark cluster of green leaves is now a pocket of light so bright it rivals the sun's light.
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Fall really is my favorite time of year. Kenny and I planned our wedding around the colors of October. However lately, I've been loving the spring. I think since I was pregnant the past two springs I've been taken over by pregnancy hormones to love the pastel colors that baby clothes are famous for. But everytime we get to October, I want it to stay this way all year long. I want to bake rosemary-walnut bread and eat pumpkin bread every day. I want candy corn at my disposal. I want to watch Kenny teach Rowan how lovely it is to walk on crunchy leaves, and I want to sit next to our outdoor fireplace every evening.

I recently told my sister-in-law, Peg, that I don't think I could ever live where they live (Evergreen, CO...right outside of Denver). Although it's a gorgeous part of the country, they've already had 4 inches of snow. In October! I need autumn to last at least a month and a half. I love autumn for Halloween and Thanksgiving, and winter for Christmas and New Years. Spring for Easter and summer for all the picnic holidays. If snow happens in my October, or a sunny, warm day of 70 in my December, I get all misplaced.

I leave you with another lovely photo some stranger took. :)
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