It’s odd to be back in Austin with warnings of snow, while my body is spotted with mosquito bites. I swear there has to be something particular to redheads that make us insect targets. Not the color of our hair, just something in our scent or in our blood. Everyone around me went virtually unharmed, while I’m ALWAYS the mark, no perfume, no sugar water. I’m always the damn salt-lick of a bitten pig. How can there be snow outside and “no-see-’em’s” bites on my inner thighs, inside my cankles, behind my knees, on my wrists?! Itchy hell island. There has to be some homeopathic answer to killing the need to scratch. Lea pressing my “no itch” pressure points didn’t do it.

Now, it’s all double socks, sweatshirts, with the heat turned up. It’s not just a change in weather, in cities, in homes; the beans also have a change of family this week. From Yiya, Papoo, Tia Lea, and all their cousins in Mariner Sands to Grandma Barbara + Grandpa Ted, now here in Austin to celebrate the taters turning three years old (next Monday, Dec. 7). There’s much to post in the coming month as I try to capture the month of December, with journals, photos, and scrapbooks (as I attempted to do last year). More to come later today. There’s breakfast to be made, lunches to pack, and wee ones to bundle, and snuggle, with shoes to double knot.

A YEAR AGO: Spoiled, A “Variety” Of Thoughts
2 YEARS AGO: And All At Once, I Knew At Once, I Knew He Needed Me
5 YEARS AGO: Men To Avoid