Unfortunately, Gabrielle isn't visiting my part of NC...she's obviously a beach lover! But I sure do wish her rain bands would reach this far west. Not to be though.

We need a tropical storm to come out of the Gulf, circle around over Mississippi and Alabama, and come right over us...not a big storm, but one that will dump 1-5 inches of rain on the entire southeast.

The mountains are the dryest I've seen in a long, long time. I just hope fires don't break out.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma is getting drenched again. And Texas has been rain soaked all summer. Mid country has had storm after storm.

Do you think Mother Nature is Republican. Dishing out goodies in a very lopsided way? And goodies that hurt more people than they help, no less.

It's not Saturday morning, but rather Sunday morning...and it's a gorgeous day with the autumn colors gleaming from the mountains. We've had no rain since Sept. 14. I remember that wonderful fresh smell, coming from the grass and the trees. We drove to Asheville in a downpour to attend my brother-in-law's wedding the next day.

We wanted to stop and just walk in the rain for awhile, because it had been so long since we had seen any. Now, I wish we had done that.

We went mountain biking yesterday with our granddaughter. I have a new mountain bike, which is a pleasure to ride. But I really have to watch it. It's very easy to hit a rock and go tumbling over the handlebars. My husband says I have to keep my butt pushed far back onto the bike seat...believe me, that's not hard to do!

Some of the trails we go on are looking rather spooky right now...especially if they're in shadow, with the leaves falling and the darkness coming on earlier. The trail we were on yesterday reminded me of scenes from the movies that have been made from Washington Irving's Sleepy Hollow

Delightful!