In the Midst of Heat, a Taste of Autumn

This week, Greg and I both started classes. I already have a large list of assignments due Friday, and though Greg hasn't had an actual homework assignment yet, they're bound to start rolling in soon. Other than trying to get accustomed to once again having homework, we have been trying to survive this nasty heat wave! After surviving 100-degree heat waves in Sacramento, I didn't think I would have any problem with summers here; however, when you add humidity, it makes the heat a whole lot worse.

The heat is supposed to fade away by this weekend. To escape our hot apartment and avoid turning on the air conditioner, we sat outside on a blanket with Lily about an hour ago. I was staring at the trees when I noticed an exciting change in the leaves.

The leaves are starting to turn! I have been informed that East Coast autumns are beautiful. Apparently, no other place in the United States compares. From the pictures I've seen of streets lined with trees that are full and round with yellow, orange and red leaves, I believe it. I have been excited from the moment I knew we were moving to Syracuse to see autumn. It's not far off before the lush green is replaced by crisp red. Autumn also implies a relief from summer heat and humidity!

Now, I need to get back to reading my travel writing books, which I am finding fascinating. Greg is enjoying his homework-free night by watching The Office, and Lily is asleep next to her new, giant bone. That's all for now.

Official New Yorkers

We woke up this morning with a grand plan of checking out the zoo. The weather was sunny but not too hot. There was a nice breeze shuffling the leaves in the green forest outside our apartment. Greg was free for the day, as he had completed his orientation. We both start our fall classes Monday, the 30th, so it was a perfect day for the zoo. It's good to take advantage of our last homework-free days!

Those plans changed quickly when a chain of events happened. We discovered our Farmers Insurance bill had not been paid. In the past, the money had been taken directly from our bank account. The bill had been sent to our Rancho Cordova apartment, but we had already moved out and set up a forwarding address. It shuffled around for awhile in the post office before arriving at Stan and Janet's, where they then sent it to us. By the time we received the bill, our insurance had been cancelled. We drove across the United States without insurance. Whoops.

So, Greg called a local Farmers' agent, and he said we cannot receive insurance until we have NY licenses. The zoo was called off, and instead, we spent our day in the DMV (which is just as bad as the CA DMVs) and at the home of a little, old man.

That old man was the agent. We were a little surprised when our GPS led us through a residential neighborhood and directed us to stop before a quaint house. Greg called the agent, and he confirmed that he worked from his home, so he came out and led us inside and down the stairs to his office.

Greg and I then sat through a few hours of wasted time in that office. The agent, Owen Campbell, didn't seem to know what he was doing, and we spent the first hour and a half sitting there on hold while Owen tried to contact Farmers in California. I was in an old chair with faded, flower-patterned cushions. I stared at the lumpy green carpet an

d the wood, paneled walls as I twisted the ends of my hair and waited in boredom. At one point, Owen had to go find a folder with some information in it, and Greg took the opportunity to lean over and ask me, "How do we get out of this?"

To make a long story short, Greg ended up talking to a woman with Farmers, and he signed in on Owen's account. Greg had to find out Owen's account information from a different Farmers source. After quite a long process, we printed the information. Owen was whipping the pages off the printer and handing them to Greg, despite Greg's efforts to tell him to wait until all the pages had printed before picking them up. Greg ended up with a

messy pile of pages to sort through. We then had to show Owen where he needed to sign as our official Farmers agent. As we stood up to go (much to my relief), Owen said he was so grateful for smart people like us. He then started to tell us about his grandchildren, but his wife had been cooking dinner for the past hour or so while we sat in that old, carpeted room that was in desperate need of a makeover, so he headed upstairs. As we took our leave, I heard him tell his wife that we had pretty much done the whole thing for him.

Owen was a nice man. I'm glad we met Owen. But honestly, Owen should not be a Farmers agent. When we get in the car, Greg told me the woman

he worked with on the phone kept apologizing for this experience. We weren't mad though. We didn't make the zoo, but we met a good-hearted Owen who clearly loved having some company.

By the way, since we have our NY licenses, I think we can say we are officially New Yorkers :)

Next step: New license plates!

Fallingwater

Today, we had a wonderful break in our agenda as we took a trip to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. I copied this picture from the internet, so the trees were not in full autumn glory when we were there; however, I am excited to say that I will be experiencing those fall leaves soon!

We took a bus ride out to the house, and I was amazed by Wright's masterpiece. The house was built over a waterfall and on boulders. Parts of the boulder serve as furnishings in the house as well. In the kitchen, the boulder juts in and serves as a counter top. The majority of the furniture is also Wright's design.

The house is a work of art, and every piece is built to appreciate nature. A hatch takes you from the living room straight to a platform hovering over the river. There, the Kaufmanns were able to wade or dip their toes. Each bedroom has a wall of windows, so the Kaufmanns and their guests would never stray from nature's beauty while in this abode. The details were fascinating, and I am very glad my MFA group got to share this experience!

And the Residency Begins!

Chatham is beautiful. The picture above is Mellon Hall, a building where we had our first faculty reading tonight. This is just a small taste of the magnificent buildings located on Chatham's campus. So far, everything has been going wonderfully. My roommate is a high school literature teacher from Boise, Idaho, and she's great. I've met many other fantastic writers as well. All of it has been really encouraging me to spend time writing, which is the push I have been looking for these past months.

I have to say I am a little nervous about tomorrow. The head of the fiction genre sounds like she will be giving me touch critiques. I read two writing samples from two others in my fiction group, and the writing was outstanding. I'm feeling intimidated!

Greg covered the remainder of the trip well. It was neat to see Chicago, but it was not neat to wait in dead-stopped traffic! Ugh, it was a Saturday at 2PM! I can't even imagine what workdays are like in that city. The toll roads were a joke there. One wanted 60 cents. It made us laugh though :)

I spent part of this evening walking through the surrounding neighborhoods with Jana, my roommate, and we passed by brick mansions lined with trees and flowers. They have wooden porches with swings. It's exactly what I pictured the neighborhoods in the East to look like.

I also saw my first black squirrel. I took some pictures on my camera. And, tonight, when Jana and I walked back to our apartment, the fireflies were lighting up all around us. I love it here so far! Hopefully, I feel the same way after tomorrow.

I miss Greg.

Ketchup

Well, I have arrived in Syracuse. I picked up Kathy at the airport and we settled into the Days Inn. We'll start looking for a permanent place for Erin and me tomorrow. We were supposed to update the blog last night, but forgot, so I'll do it now, and maybe Erin can add to it later any parts that I probably will forget.

From Madison, we drove through Chicago, Gary, and Lafayette and then arrived in Dayton Ohio. Chicago was really cool to see. At first, I wanted to go around the city to avoid tolls and traffic, but Erin wanted to see the city, so I agreed to do it. If you ask her, she'll say it was my idea though. Anyway, it was a short trip through Illinois. We weren't huge fans of Indiana. The parts we drove through looked a little run down, but probably because everything's older here than in California. Dayton was a really nice city with tons of places to eat and shop and see. We didn't do anything though because of our pets. It'll be nice to do a road trip again someday without pets in the car.

Erin drove that entire day too. I guess her restless leg syndrome was feeling better. We got to sleep in again, and then we headed to Pittsburgh. It was only about a 4.5 hour drive. We drove through the Columbus, the capital of Ohio, and then the very northern tip of West Virginia. When we arrived to Pittsburgh, we were so excited. It's a very pretty city coming into downtown. There are a lot of bridges connecting the land separated by the three rivers. I'll let Erin tell more about the city and her school Chatham (pronounced chat-uhm we just found out) University since she is a resident for the next week and a half.

After I dropped Erin off in her apartment, I headed north for Erie, Pennsylvania. It's at the very tip almost to New York next to Lake Erie of course. The drive was uneventful, but I'm really liking all the trees. There are dense, green forests everywhere and green fields to fill in the holes. This morning, I got to sleep in a little because Kathy's plane was delayed in Detroit. I drove through Buffalo on my drive. The entire freeway was a toll road, so I guess I can't call it a freeway. It's a tollway. Luckily, it was only 20 cents to get from the airport to our hotel. Now, Lily is sleeping some more (I don't know how she can sleep so much) and Lulu is doing somersaults in her dust bath. Kathy and I will probably just get some food and relax tonight. Oh, and Kathy wants to watch the Bachelorette, or the Bachelor, or something like that. I'll text Erin to see if she can update the blog tonight too. I'm not sure who reads this, but if anyone has questions, you can leave a comment by clicking on the blog post title and scroll to the bottom of the page. Ok, that's all!

-Greg

(no picture today because my phone is being weird)