Proof that we’re not totally insane to live here

Finally, after a year and a half of studying manuals, temper tantrums, tears, hissy fits, deleting thousand of pictures, buying more manuals, pulling of hair, agony, threats of destruction and more tears, my DSLRTCALOM (my DSLR camera otherwise known as Damn Stupid Little Rat Shit That Costs A Lot Of Money) didn’t let me down. And as luck would have it, it happened on a day that we went to Letchworth for a picnic and it was a gorgeous day and the colors were at peak.

Who cared that we happened to pick the weekend that the largest craft show in the state was in full swing, creating a massive traffic jam which forced us to spend an hour alternating between idling and crawling ten feet? Who cared that it took us over an hour to move less than a mile?

OK, to be fair, Nate did. But to his credit, he remained in the car with his jaw clenched and didn’t kill anyone.

And once we got past the insanity of the craft show, it was smooth sailing. Or driving. Whatever.

Thank you, God. I’ll try to keep my end of the bargain and not eat all the Halloween candy while the kids are at school and then tell them it accidentally fell into the garbage disposal. All six pounds of it. Just like last year.

This day reminded me of why we live in Upstate New York. Aside from the fact that we were born here, we work here, we own a house here and our kids would kill us if we moved.

We may pay taxes out the wazoo.

We may occasionally have to put up with six months of snow measured in feet, not inches.

We may have had a governor who liked to commit adultery with expensive prostitutes.

We may have a replacement governor who liked to commit adultery too, but not with prostitutes.

As well as a first lady who also liked to commit adultery, but we’re not sure with whom.

And of course, a senator whose husband really liked to commit adultery and we all know with whom.

We may have two main seasons, specifically construction and winter.

We may have potholes the size of small whales.

We may find ourselves in dangerously close proximity when terrorists decide they need a snack and take a bite out of The Big Apple.

We may find ourselves out shined, out funded and out spent by that very same city that never sleeps.

But ….

We here in Upstate New York have autumns like this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

which makes up for all the bed hopping and government spending running amuck.

Someone remind me of this post come January when I’m trapped inside the house for seventy-two hours with two daughters who are screaming I HATE YOU at each other out of sheer boredom because school’s been cancelled due to the six feet of snow dumped on us by a nor’easter.