Fall Colors

Last night we finally changed the clocks. It's obviously a negative when it comes to the shortening of the day and the fact that it got dark at about 6:00 this evening, but a huge plus for the morning because it's been pretty cold and dark and REALLY hard to get out of bed when it's still black outside until after 8am. 

I can't complain about the weather, with the exception of this past Friday and Saturday, it's been absolutely beautiful. Crisp and chilly in the morning and in the evening, but still sunny and reaching low 70's during the day. 

I love the combination of the fall colors against the palm trees and the tropical plants like the hibiscus that still have flowers on them. It sometimes takes a careful eye, but if you can manage to look past the layer of smog, Santiago really is a beautiful green city.

Taking time to smell the roses

I've been so busy and a little stressed with my teaching schedule lately that I feel like I haven't had a whole lot of time to do anything else. It's not so much the teaching part as it is the random hours, and just when I thought I might have 2 days to breathe in between terms, I got a new class that starts on Monday on one side of the city that will give me just enough time to get back to teach my night class on the other side. That also means having to take the metro at the busiest time of day in the hot months...yuck.
Luckily, I'm always able to ride my bike to my Saturday morning class, and this Saturday I noticed so many of the beautiful flowers that have popped up around the city. Because of my winter arrival in August, I have really appreciated the winter/spring transition, and this Midwestern girl doesn't take these kinds of things for granted. I enjoy the little container gardening that I can do at home and it never involves any of the tropical plants that I've seen here. Geraniums come and go during our 3 hot summer months, and the roses never look anything like this. Other than those two, I'm not even sure what all of these flowers are, so jump in if you are good at that sort of thing!