posts tagged with 'fall'
so cold!
On Friday we were digging on a trail at our friends' house and it felt like full summer: sweat was literally dripping down my face as I worked. Then over the weekend the weather took a turn, and now today it didn't crack 60°F all day. And I've got to say, I'm not ready for the cold! That's true for two reasons. There's the usual way, which is that my body hasn't adapted to the sudden change and all day I had trouble shaking a chill. But also that our house still has a couple broken windows and a broken front door, so that any cold outside can come right inside. I was expecting I'd have to do some repairs before winter, but now it looks like winter is just about here! Oops. Elijah tells me he'll help me with the door, though, so that's alright. Maybe we'll get started tomorrow.
falling dark
A few days ago I came to a stopping place in the chapter book we're reading in the evenings (Julie of the Wolves, in case you were wondering) and looked up in complete surprise at how dark it was. "Yikes!" I said. "It must be late! We should be in bed!" I was even more surprised when the boys, who had a better angle on the clock, told me it was just ten past seven. Never mind: it had been a very busy day, so we were happy to sleep when the sun told us to. But it was startling to realize just how fast the days are shortening lately, here in the moment of the fastest shortening of the year. It's not something I really keep track of, but it feels like not much more than a week ago we could have been reading outside well past 7:00! (it was also warmer then; the past few evenings have been pretty chilly).
Yesterday we had another lesson in what fall evenings mean when we took a walk to work off the big heavy supper that I made (chicken! biscuits! mashed potatoes and gravy!). We headed out before 6:30 for a little loop in our local woods, but before we were even half way through it was clear that we should have brought lights. Thankfully we know the path very well indeed so we weren't too bothered, but it was a little stressful for the half of the party who were without shoes and had to contend with stubbing their toes on roots. We have an outdoor gathering a our friends' house this evening; it feels like it'll be getting dark before we even leave the house! Happy October; fall is here.
farewell to summer
We're never quite sure where exactly the equinox falls. On the calendar we marked it down for today, but does that mean that tonight is the same length as today, or was it last night? In any case, we figured that yesterday was the last day of astronomical summer and we determined to celebrate it appropriately. Which, never mind that it was actually kind of chilly, meant taking the boats to the pond!
waterfront action
We actually haven't gotten them out all that much the last couple months, so it was extra exciting to hit the water. The sun came and went as we paddled around looking for a good spot to set up camp, but by the time we found one, ate our lunch, and got ready to swim, it was solidly hidden by low gray clouds. So while the water was probably warmer than just about every time we've swum this summer, it was a bit of an effort to take the plunge. Of course we all did eventually, and after a while the clouds parted again for a time. Elijah had to take the most breaks to warm up, but there were rocks to jump on (and lie on when the sun was shining) and he and I even took a little mini hike up the hill above the pond. Harvey and Zion just swam and swam, and played with the boat and paddles.
With peaches from the farmers market on the way home it felt like a perfect way to see off the summer. Then at supper time we made a fire, and, though we were a little too busy playing and chatting with the friends who came over—and toasting marshmallows—to do any real reflection on the change of seasons, I think it did the job of marking the equinox the way it deserves to be marked. Now bring on the fall!
cold
It got cold today! Very exciting, and it made it really feel like September. Harvey is delighted to get to wear his hooded sweatshirt; me, it's baking I'm excited about. We had the oven on and rather than it driving us out of the sweltering kitchen—which is what we've been used to the last month or so—the warmth was positively welcome! The other thing that we all love (all but Leah anyway) is getting to pile blankets on the bed, which we'll certainly be doing because we've still got the fans going at night. Of course, with our Cape Cod vacation coming up next week we're also hoping that summery weather isn't gone for good, but either way we're going to be sleeping good tonight!
signs of fall
Changing leaves are very well—very well, this year—but there are other more impactful signs of fall around here lately. Saturday night saw our first freeze of the winter, so the garden looks a whole lot different now than it did before the weekend. I'd taken out the slicing tomato plants and the romas already, but the cherry tomatoes were still going strong. They did fantastic this year: I kind of wish we had been able to quantify how many we picked, but even if we'd been willing to take the time to weigh all the tomatoes we brought inside, that would still have missed the hundreds that we ate right there in the garden. But I think its fair to estimate that we enjoyed hundreds of dollars worth of tomatoes this summer. They took up a commensurate amount of space, too, as they kept growing and sprawling from May through October. Now they're gone, and the garden looks flat and empty. Neat, too. (There's still some greens growing, but they don't bulk nearly as large.) Now it's time to start planning for next year! The garlic will need to go in before the end of the month... where should we put it?
It's also the season of cold mornings in the house, which means morning baking! Today I made pumpkin muffins to share with our school friends. Only I noticed something with our new oven. See, when our last one broke it was the electronics that went wrong: the heating part was still fine. But since they're connected we had to replace the whole thing. To keep that from happening again we bought the most basic, no-frills model, with no kind of digital components to possibly go wrong. It works great! It also doesn't have a window in the front: I guess that also counts as a frill. Only, without the window, I find it hardly heats up the kitchen at all! Great in the summertime when we're baking bread, but in the winter heat in the kitchen is half the point! It makes me wonder how much energy we wasted in all the other years—heat that wasn't cooking our food! It also makes me wish for a wood-burning stove... now that's fall comfort!
rain and shine
Yesterday it rained all day, the first rainy day for about a hundred years (actually: the first real rain since September 30, and the first all-day rain since August 29). We enjoyed it in the way you do, by reading books and gazing into various glowing rectangles for hours. Rain on Tuesday shows good timing, because that's when Harvey has all his classes, but you be sure there was lots more screen time besides that. We did get outside for a bit after lunch, when it was only raining lightly: I thought to dig out our three mini lacrosse sticks, thinking that would let us play ball without getting too soaked. I don't know if that really worked, but lacrosse was a hit and the boys were eager to play some more today.
Today, now, the weather was completely different. The rain washed all the humidity out of the air, and the day was clear and crisp: peak fall. Of course I had an hour and a half of Zoom meetings in the middle of the day, but the rest of the family had plenty of chances to enjoy the sunshine. I finally got out into the garden for a bit in the afternoon, but I kept being distracted from pulling out the tomato plants by gazing around at all the beautiful red and yellow in the trees. Fall is a good season.
a fall outing
There's been lots of rain lately, but the clear days we have had have been wonderful examples of the best fall has to offer. Back at the end of October Saturday dawned so beautiful that we needed to get out and experience it more fully, so we roped in some friends for a walk at Great Brook Farm State Park.
sparkling fall
I knew it was a good decision as soon as we turned onto the road to the farm: it was such a perfect image of a fall country lane. Of course, being out of the car is even better. We splashed in the little pond by the barns, watched the end of a college cross-country meet, and walked around a much larger pond to our favorite spot, the bridge at the head of the pond. Sometime in the last month a white pine growing right at the edge of the stream there fell, so of course the boys needed to climb on it. Surprisingly, the most daring of them was Lijah. I was a little nervous, I confess!
adventurous at five
Zion might have climbed more had he not been so occupied in shadowing Natalie, who, freed from the backpack, had more energy for running around than all the other kids combined. She still doesn't run very fast though.
questioning his life choices?
We climbed some rocks on the return leg of our loop, then finished the outing by watching chickens while we shared a dish of ice cream. Pretty good. All the best of the season!
hooray fall!
fall regrets
Our maple tree gets color late in the fall; late and underwhelming. (Why couldn't the previous owners have put in a sugar maple in the middle of the lawn instead of a Norway maple?) As I look out the window now, though, it's browning leaves are colored orange by the rising sun and it looks as good as it's ever going to. Properly fall-like.
The waning days of the fall make me think of the failures of this past summer, yard-wise. One, we didn't use the hammock nearly as much as we should have. I always want to make sure it's put away when it's going to be wet out, and too often I was late putting it up again so fine days went by without anyone being able to use it. Worse, towards the second half of the summer I "temporarily" took apart the hammock stand to mow the lawn... and it never got put back together. Tragedy!
And speaking of mowing. Remember how last year I talked big about using the push reel mower all summer? Well, in the fall I got a working power mower so I could chop up leaves, then in the spring I thought I'd use it for the first pass over the fast-growing grass. That was it, the push mower never made it out of the shed all summer. The good news is the lawn is still in good shape—delightfully green. I was telling a friend the other day, "it's mostly weeds, but they're all perennial weeds so they hold their color!" But I did feel pretty guilty every time I started up that gasoline engine. Using a power mower is habit-forming, I think; you get used to those straight, even rows of cut grass and it's hard to go back to the more naturalistic effect produced by the push reel mower.
Oh well. At least we had many lovely adventures, and got to travel more than ever before, and spent lots of time swimming. Now we're looking forward to winter fun. And next summer will be perfect!
welcome fall
All of a sudden it's fall. The morning air has taken on a chill, and even at mid day the adults watching the kids playing in the park are happy to have their sweatshirts on. The Northern Spy apples are ripe, and I made the first apple pie of the season. And right on cue for the equinox, the leaves started falling today. Of course, the gusty wind probably helped; the weather is definitely changing.
I'm totally ready, from a psychological standpoint: it's been so humid and gross the last couple weeks I haven't wanted to spend any time outside. The garden and the yard are a mess, and probably won't look good again until they have a good six inches of snow on top of them. But I also have lots of things I probably should do before the winter. Lots more apples to pick, for example. And I should probably fix the rotted-out spots on the porch before winter makes them even worse—not to mention more dangerous. And things like that. When I look at it that way, the changing season is kind of panic-inducing.
We were delighted a couple weeks ago to release our first successfully metamorphosized monarch butterfly. The second one is pupating now, which seems a little late to make it all the way to Mexico this year. And then today we found yet another caterpillar, munching audibly on the dried out milkweed left in the cage (I hadn't replaced it... I didn't think anyone wanted a fresh supply!). What will the weather be like in 3-4 weeks when that one is finally ready to fly?! I think I know how it feels.
Still, fall is lovely. We're very much looking forward to celebrating it tomorrow at Bedford Day, and then with lots more outings and adventures over the next month. Hopefully I'll remember to take some pictures.
happy equinox
I hear from a reader who prefers to tell me things in person rather than comment that the chrysanthemum post might have been too harsh. I hear that! It's really about my own hangups—I'm glad I'm not in charge of anyone else, so they don't have to worry about my peculiarities. Or read my blog either, for that matter! Even in their pots all the mums will look nice once they bloom, which they'll do any day now... because it's fall!
We celebrated this afternoon with a lesson on the equinox and fall harvest festivals worldwide (our school work was this afternoon, because this morning we celebrated my dad's birthday... Happy Birthday Grandpa!). And this evening we totally ignored the reality of our ever-shorter days by staying up super late hanging out with friends. All very fun, only I'm a little concerned that we won't have the energy needed to for the real fall fun tomorrow, as we take in the Bedford Day festivities. Well, we'll be doing it either way! I'll most likely write about the day's excitement... if nothing else, it's better than complaining about other people's decoration choices.