Fall is in the air

The neighborhood kids are going back to school this week. We've already had a couple of below-50 degrees mornings. The handwriting on the wall sez, summer is over.

Fortunately, autumn tends to be one glorious season here. September and October have always been my favorite months. We're hoping the nearly perfect weather we've been having lately decides to hang around for a while.

Last weekend, we held our garage sale and it turned out to be a lot of fun. It brings out all the neighbors and you get a chance to know each other better.  Plus, it's gratifying to rehome your unneeded stuff with people who have a use for it. And not because it's wildly profitable (though it's always nice to get a little spare cash), because we price things to sell. We marked the couch FREE and a neighbor snapped it up for his daughter who is starting out on her own and needs a helping hand.

I've already gotten two neighbors all in for a neighborhood garage sale next year, so I'm off and running with that idea.  We can all get together for a shared cookout in somebody's yard afterwards. I hope we get good participation. I'll be working on it!

With that in mind, Katy's latest blog post,  The Mini-Economy of a Neighborhood, was really nice to read.  I don't think of it as a mini-economy exactly, but I live on a street where neighbors share and help.  That's how you build friendship and community.  And that's the sane way to be prepared for emergencies and hard times. No need for bunkers and shotguns. Some of the people I heard on the radio yesterday, talking about emergency preparedness in the aftermath of Irene, were pretty scary.

Another sign of fall: