This morning after I dropped the teenagers off at school,
I decided to stay in town rather than drive straight back to the apartment.

As far as apartments go, it's decent.
Nothing special about it, except that they allow our behemoth dogs and it's newer than 1960--
which is saying alot in a place like Eugene--the land where time forgot.

Instead, I drove to find a place for a quiet breakfast by myself.
For years I have craved alone time at home
but now that I'm not working,
I have all day long to paint or read or do whatever--
I feel like I'm missing out on something.
The other part of that, is of course
that my friends are hundreds of miles away
and now that I have more time to play,
I have no friends to play with...bummer.

So I stopped at Panera and treated my self
and then wandered across the parking lot to Hobby Lobby and Marshalls,
just scooping up Christmas gifts for grandbabies
and little Christmasy decor for our tiny apartment,
that seriously,
I have no idea how we're going to fit a Christmas tree inside.

From one store to the next,
I noticed these dark stencil-looking shapes
all over the sidewalks.
Like ghosts of former leaves
they scattered and melted with the rain.
I had to bend down and get a good look at them
with my "watercolor eyes"--
affirming that Mother Nature is the best artist.