Some people get spring fever but mine comes in the fall. I have proof positive that there are multi-colored leaves swirling through my brain. I spent all day yesterday convinced that I had, along with the bags of leaves and recyclables, thrown away my cell phone or, at least, lost it in the piles of leaves outside. I spent the day in my deposition, imagining the lawn ringing and perplexed stay-at-home neighbors shaking their heads or, alternatively, the garbage men chortling as the Spiderman theme serenaded them down the street. When I finally arrived home, I had The Sprite repeatedly call my cell number as I walked slowly around the yard, riffling piles of leaves and listening for a familiar tone. Unsuccessful, dejected, resigned to explaining this one to the nice man in HR, I reentered the house and found the phone sitting in a pool of light in the living room. My fall fever incident of the day was doing the usual rush out of the house—one block away screech to a halt, turn around, go back home—this time it was the trumpet that got left behind. It wasn’t until I got into the office that I realized what else I had forgotten—my glasses. Does this look as blurry to you as it does to me? Somehow I doubt it.

When I was a child, I recall the gadgets we bought for my mother, who is, in retrospect, not a gadget person. Choppers, spinners, and, yes, the Vege-matic, were, to our minds, the very things she needed. Of course, she accepted them enthusiastically, put them away and never used them. I am not as much a gadget person as some others I could name but there are a few that I really like…no, need…no, love…no NEED! For instance, I cannot imagine life without my Cuisinart, my Kitchenaid stand mixer, pasta machine and my sink strainer. A few other things are mighty handy but I could do without them if absolutely necessary—my nutmeg grater, rotary grater, egg slicer and metal skewers, to name a few. I keep an old fashioned egg beater in an undisclosed location, just in case the power goes when I feel like making a cake, although I guess it would have to be baked on the gas grill. You just want to be prepared, you know?