It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas ... Uh ... Not So Much

So was today Autumn's Last Hurrah for us?  We shall see.  I think I set a personal record.  It's December 3rd.  I started the day as usual with a cup of coffee (two actually), got dressed, went to the bank, went to the store, went to Dierberg's to pay my power bill, stopped at the Donut shop (because I hadn't eaten anything yet), went to the gas station, and then came home.  By then it was noon and it was 60º.  As much as I wanted to stay inside and clean the house so I could finally start decorating (okay "wanted" might be stretching it), I knew time was running out to get the essentials done outside.  So the personal record I set was that this is the latest date in the year that I've ever mowed the grass.  You've got to remember, this is Southwestern Illinois and just on the southern edge of what I consider the Central Illinois Ice Belt. December isn't typically this warm.

I'm going to share a few blurry pictures (sorry 'bout that) of some tenacious little beauties.  Allow me to introduce you to Winston Churchill the Dianthus, Winston Churchill the Petunia, and Winston Churchill the Wood Violet.  They're all Winston Churchill because he said, "Never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.''  As much as I'm not looking forward to it, I wouldn't go so far as to call the rain and sleet which is in our forecast for tomorrow night and/or Monday "the enemy," but these little guys haven't given in (yet).  Again, sorry for the blur, but it's too dark now to go out there and try again.

Tomorrow -- Church, Inside Cleaning, and finally Christmas decorating!