First Signs of Fall

Day 14 of the chicken pox.  Still waiting for the last of the blisters to scab over so I can be set free of these apartment walls.

As I wait it out inside....  I'm thinking about what it will be like to step foot outside again.  The day we walked to our local médecin (doctor) and I was diagnosed, it was still warm, sunny summer weather.  This week (as I have observed from my window) it has been drizzly and in the 50's.  The house has been chilly and I have been dawning warm socks and downing multiple cups of hot tea.  I feel as if I missed a season.  Being from Sunny California, I'm not used to the weather cooling off until late October, even November... maybe that is why I love and long for the coming of fall so much??

{Newsflash for this California Native: Paris is a surprisingly cold city}

This photo was snapped on my iPhone on August 25, over two weeks ago.  Even still, I had been spotting falling leaves since the beginning of August, a time that should still be considered summer in my head!  Need I mention that I was still occasionally dawning a jacket and scarf in June, less than eight weeks prior to this photo? I wore shorts for only one week during late July.

So summer in Paris has been very short.  I have been told by many French locals that this year has been an unusually cold year. In fact, I even heard that this past spring was the coldest spring Paris has seen in over 100 years!

Now, any old readers of my blog will remember my love of all things autumn.  I unashamedly claim this as my all-time favorite season. However, I must admit that after being cooped up inside for the last two weeks, I am actually a little sad to see the sunshine disappear so soon. I think it is mostly because I know that once the cold weather kicks in, it pretty much stays that way for the next six to eight months.

Nonetheless, I would be lying if I didn't admit that a small smile creeps across my face knowing that fall is swiftly arriving. The near future holds hot homemade apple cider, lovely walks through Parisian gardens filled with views of firey orange, deep yellows, and crunchy leaves underfoot.  I can't wait to walk the streets with my camera in hand!

So while I wait to be set free from my captivity, I will be spending some much needed time with my sweet Jesus, and I will look forward to the good things (at least I'll try; right now I'm stressing about all the language school I'm missing).  And you better believe the next time I finally get to the city I will be hunting down a Starbucks that makes Pumpkin Spice Lattes!


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P.S. For those interested, John recorded me sharing a little bit about my experience surviving the chicken pox for our weekly videos over on HintonsInParis.com.  Check out the video here.