But first, it's finally starting to feel like fall around here and I'm LOVING it... yesterday and today are mostly gray skies with the threat of rain, and it feels like fall except for the slightly warmer temps, but I'm confident those will eventually go down to match the season.  Yesterday, I even went with friends Nick and WIll to the Autumnal Equinox celebration at the IMA... well, "celebration" might be an exaggeration.  There weren't really that many people there and I felt kinda bad for the team who had gone to the trouble of setting things up with little return, but at least I was able to enjoy watching the Japanese landscape artist paint a tree and I got to taste a fresh gala apple... yummmm...

Speaking of apples, my good friends Mary Beth and Michael were doing some baking yesterday and thought of me with a mini-apple pie.  If that wasn't (cute) enough, they also attached a card* and gave me doctor repellant (read an apple).  Here's a photo of my loot when I finally got home from church last night - you can be jealous but you can't have any:

Okay, now that I've gotten all of that out of my system, I won't keep you waiting any longer.  Here's an updated picture of what I look like with a three-week-beard:

It doesn't really itch much (unless I get particularly warm), but now I have to do more maintenance - shaving along the neckline to keep a smooth line and trimming the hair that wants to grow into my mouth.  I still don't like the texture when I put my hand on my face and with a trip to Florida imminent, I wonder how bad it will itch when I go down there (since I expect it will probably be pretty warm).  Alas, I think it's demise may still be happening in a week or so.