Alexander (the Great?)

I took this photo last year at this time.  When all was apparently dull and put to bed, this gum tree decided to defy nature and make it's declaration that all was not over...not yet!  And, similarly, this year, it's not over yet.  The splashy sugar maples are still in autumn regalia, unfolding in our yard; the black gums are reddening...and it's still 75 degrees outside!  Good golly Miss Molly!  Will summer never end?  For those who are not winter-o-philes, this is paradise.  For those of us who LIKE winter, this is a desert!

I'm rather ashamed of myself for my protest of  "unfair" (Bad Day post).  So many in this world --and many of you--have lots of consequential things going on that make my whining selfish and blind.  I had no idea what love this blog would generate! 

OTOH, how many of you have read or own Judith Viorst's book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day?  It starts out like this:

"I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

At breakfast Anthony found a Corvette Sting Ray car kit in his breakast cereal box and Nick found a Junior Undercover Agent code ring in his breakfast cereal box but in my breakfast cereal box all I found was...breakfast cereal. 

I think I'll move to Australia."

I love this enduring and endearing book.  As a teacher, I kept a copy of it in all my classrooms, whether they were seniors in high school or first-graders.  You'd be surprised at who read it.  When I was the in-school suspension teacher at Giles High School in Pearisburg, VA, (yes, we had a full-time teacher in ISS) "Alexander" was  available to all who wanted to read it.

Humbly, I thank you all for "jumping to my rescue" and I promise never to flirt with your empathetic feelings and outpourings ever again, unless, of course, there is something serious going on.  I was completely bowled over with your responses to my pitiful little griping!  Again, please accept my apologies!  I am a perennial pollyanna, and this was definitely out of character; but I am going to save any future eruptions like that for something more deserving of your love and kindness!  Thank you, everyone!  I'll catch up with you individually in the Comments column!