My favorite camper in the WHOLE wide world, Tamara, wrote me a letter. (Ok, I’m feeling like a mom here.) Her handwriting is so good for a seven-year-old. She made a card and drew a picture of a bunny hopping next to a flower. She wrote:

Dear Miss Rachel,

I miss you so much. I got your letter, but I didn’t get your picturs yet. I’m in school now and I am having fun. I am in 2nd grade now.

from, Tamara

OK, I need a kid.

I’ve been progressively adding warmer clothing to my wardrobe menu as the days have slipped further into autumn, but there’s just one thing … the weather won’t budge. Sure, it’s not like August or anything, and in the mornings and evenings, it’s absolutely wonderful weather outside. But with mid-afternoon the sun comes beating down and it feels like a Spokane summer to me. I guess I somehow think that I have the power to force Monroe into a proper autumn - if I dress like it, it’ll adapt to me. Not so simple. So, even though I’m wearing long sleeves and pants, I still feel like I could be swimming.

This leads me to the next subject that I want to talk about: Spokane/snow. I am SO excited that I get to go to Spokane in December and play in the snow with Esther, go to Advent services at Salem, freeze my butt off - ah, the pure bliss of being back home. They said it would happen, and I didn’t believe them, but it’s true: no matter how much you hate the things about your home, where you were raised, it’s those things that you seem to miss the most. I love hot weather. But I can’t wait to shiver and feel like I’m dying of hypothermia after an evening of pure transcendence at Salem. *sigh*

If there isn’t any snow, I’ll be heartily disappointed. I also want:

apple cider
hot cocoa (with marhsmallows)
sugar cookies/candy cane cookies (even though the latter are really nasty unless eaten as dough)
snow with maple syrup
pumpkin pie (to make up for the fact that we don’t get to be there for Thanksgiving).

So, take that list down, fam. I’ll be expecting it.