Fall in Folsom....

Fall is one of my favorite seasons of the year. Our little town lights up in glory with orange, yellow, red, and brown trees all over.

I used to really enjoy walking from the overflow parking lot at work to my desk during this season. This year, they have chopped off most of those gorgeous trees that I had come to love, and cherish. Why - you may ask? It's because Intel is huge on solar power, and they have converted the open parking lots to covered structures and have put solar panels on top. Most folks really appreciate parking their car under the shade during those scorching summer months. But I feel bittersweet about the whole thing. They have taken away the entire beauty of the campus, in my personal opinion. This is how it looked in previous years....

Most of these trees are gone :(. This does not even show the overflow lot. I used to love getting in early at work in summer, and choose to park my car under a large tree in the overflow lot. And when I would leave work around 5pm, the temperature would be at its peak, often above 100F. But under the lovely shade of the gorgeous tree, my car would be covered, and cool. On most days, I wouldn't even need to turn the AC on right away, just airing out the car would work fine. I'm going to miss that going forward!!

This row of trees is the next in line to be chopped this month. Doesn't it make you cringe :(? or am I the only one feeling this way?

Other than the campus, the town still looks pretty. And thankfully, we have our gorgeous parks, with large, mature trees. And for now, they are here to stay!!!

Making up for the lack of posts this year....

I don't think I have a good reason for not writing much this year.

If at all there is one, my attempt to read more books made writing suffer. I read a lot of fiction this year, including some chick flicks, which is extremely rare for me. But routine life was just too busy and at times stressful, and I could not read heavy stuff.

I'm going to try and post as much as I can this month. Most of it will be random musings. There's a lot going on due to the holiday season. The kids have events and performances at school, the husband and I are flying to attend his niece's wedding, spending time with mom and dad before they head back to India end of this month, and some short trips thrown in between during the kids's school break.

Thanksgiving weekend was very relaxing. We decided not to travel, and enjoy some downtime at home. Lots of good food, lots of playdates with neighbors and friends, playing games and doing puzzles, reading books, and tons of sleep. It was good!!!

We took the kids to the snow one day. Snow trips are a TON of effort, mostly from my end. I had to buy all new gear as they grew out of stuff from the past. I pulled out my thermals from last year. I've had them for 15 years now, and the moment I put them on, I step into the memories of all the years they've kept me warm and cozy in the snow. On our drive to the snow park, the kids were excited, and very curious. They simply could not wait. They ate, and talked, and ate, and talked. All the snacks I'd taken for the day were consumed even before we reached our destination :).

They did have a ton of fun....especially as they had company this time around. We forgot to build a snowman, but they went sledding, and took walks in the bright jungle (as they called it :)). They had even more fun at the coffee shop we stopped by on our way back....it's a neat little place run out of an old miner's cabin, with a cave to explore. They serve delicious organic, vegetarian meals and their drinks are to die for. Our kids had hot chocolate for the first time. They also have a karaoke room for performances and the kids had fun getting up on the little stage to act and sing.

I hope California gets more snow this year...and I really hope Chennai gets a respite from the rains!