I really, truly love fall. I love to wear wool skirts and tights and vests and scarfs. I love to spend the day either wearing Wellingtons or slippers depending if I'm outside or in. I love to cook things like stew and mashed potato and pumpkin pie. Especially pumpkin pie because it means that I have the leftover evaporated milk to use in my tea for the rest of the week.
A good chunk of my childhood was spent in a small town in Northern Idaho that had a truely amazing variety of maple trees all of which seemed to turn a different color, washing the town in every hue of red, orange and yellow for a few weeks each fall before winter took over with a vengence. Even as a little girl I appriciated the bold beauty of the leaves. My favorite tree was a small maple down the street that turned so dark a crimson that it didn't seem possible, as if someone had gone out and painted each leaf in the night.
This year I dont feel like I've really ahd a chance to enjoy fall. I've had an ENJOYABLE fall, but I
havent really been ENJOYING fall. Which is different. Between working on the house, writing craft articles, editing, playing, party planning, gardening, parenting and all the other things that have kept me busy the past few months, I feel like I almost missed my favorite time of year.Today was a rare day. Briton was home from school because of conferences (he is smart, sweet and inquisitive they say. But I knew that!) The sun was shining. The leaves were heaped on the sidewalks, everyone was well and I had NOTHING that needed doing. I mean, I always have things that I need to do. The house could be cleaned, cupboards could be organized, projects could be started or finished. But there were no deadlines today. There was no party jsut aroudn the corner, no article that had to be turned in today, no ANYTHING that I had to get done by the end of the day. And it was glorious.
The kids and the dog and I went up to the apple orchard and spent almost three hours picking the last of the apples, eating hot dogs on the deck,w alking up and down the hills. When we got home it was time for Evelyn's nap (which she is sometimes taking again, thank goodness) and Briton and I lounged on the couch reading and snoozing on and off for an hour or so. We made a pumpkin pie for dessert and bread for dinner and started apples cooking down for apple butter. We walked downtown, stomped in the leaves, marveled at the bright yellow of the ginko leaves which are Briton's favorites because they were around in the time of the dinosaurs. And that was really it. No big projects finished.No great thing acomplished. Not a word written other than this blog entry. My house smells of beef stew and baked bread and pumpkins and apples and muddy boots and old leaves and FALL. I couldn't be happier.