As I went for my stroll this morning, there was a thick heavy fog that settled almost all the way down to the ground. It was hard to see even a few feet ahead and the dense fog cast an eerie silvery white glow all over the neighborhood and the lake. As I walked along I pretended that it wasn't fog, but millions and billions of tiny snow flurries making their way down to earth. Of course it's hard to pretend it's snow when I'm wearing light cotton yoga pants and a short sleeved t-shirt but still I tried to convince myself that it was snowing all around me and it was just unseasonably warm.

The picture above was taken from our kitchen window on one of the first snowy days in Minnesota. I found it on our big old home computer where we used to store over 5000 photos. About a year and a half ago we had an iPhoto tragedy and it sickens me to say that we lost about 3/4 of those photos. Ok I shouldn't say "lost" but we (alright, "I") accidentally deleted them when I was trying to download the photos onto a disk to free up space on the comptuer. This is one of the few remaining photos we have of our life in Minnesota and looking at it today really takes me back.

This is the time of year when I miss living in the midwest the most. The weeks leading up to Thanksgiving and then Christmas were my favorite time all throughout childhood and even still, today. I love the temperate climate and the outdoor lifestyle living in S. Cal offers but there's just something missing during this time of year. If I could just have a few days of cold crisp windy air, a rainbow of changing leaves, the smell of smoky wood fires burning in all the neighborhood fireplaces and of course a few snow flurries, then my winter craving would be satisfied. But until then I'll just have to play pretend on those foggy mornings as I walk around the lake.