Oatmeal champion and other fall things

The weather is peppy this week!

Tomorrow is supposed to be 58 degrees.  Yesterday the high was 50.  I went for a stroll outside after work yesterday, and with lots of warm late afternoon sunlight streaming through the trees, I was downright comfortable.  Friends in warmer climates, you are probably cringing at the mere mention of me already linking words like "50 degrees" and "warm" and "comfortable."  Trust me: I gotta strike while the iron is hot...or whatever.  You know what I mean.

Anyway, I'll get to take another walk this afternoon because I'm dropping my car back off at the shop because it is squealing again.  Most people in my life have lost track of where my car is in the cycle of just fixed and ought to be fixed.  It is a fine little vehicle that has treated me well over the years - even though I learned how to drive a stick shift on this car and probably didn't treat it well for awhile during that process.  But lately, it has revealed an alternator belt that is extremely disagreeable.  I hope this is the repair that finally shows that belt who's boss.

Before I get too riled up, let's pause to look at a photo of leaves.  On my walk yesterday, I encountered a long stretch of sidewalk completely clear of leaves.  Then I saw this red, red tree that must have lost everything with one big gust.  Or else I had just missed a party that involving people throwing around big handfuls of red confetti!

This post is a big pile of ramble.  To continue on that theme, I will share a mini-triumph from this morning.  Yesterday I went to Whole Foods to get some bulk oatmeal because fall is Oatmeal Time and Josh and I demolished our supply.

Does anyone else have difficulty eyeballing how much of a bulk item is appropriate?  I feel like I always come home with, like, two cups of oatmeal and six cups of coriander.  I was scooping...and scooping...and scooping the oatmeal and stopped at a completely random amount.

This morning, I gingerly poured the bag of oats into my jar, still without a clue of its quantity.  (I told you, eyeballing is not my thing.)  LOOK!

That's pre-breakfast.  Post-breakfast: filled to the brim and not one oat more!  (I think that man on the ESPN The Magazine cover is reaching out for some oatmeal, now that I look at it closer.) 

We celebrate the little things at Miles and Laurel.

One more little thing: My favorite weather involves cold, crispy nights and early mornings that turn into warm, sunny days.  (Hi, Colorado!)  There are a few weeks of fall in Minnesota like that, and we're in that stretch now.  I've started scraping ice off my windshield in the mornings...but I haven't seen this too often yet. 

That's frost, all right.  Later in the fall, it will be a glittery crispy white that covers every blade of grass.  Sometimes it covers all of the trees, which is one of the most beautiful sights in the world.  This is just a tiny hint of what's to come.  

Happy frosty Friday!  And good luck to everyone running the New York City Marathon!  Hope your weekend is a good one.