my kind of saturday night.

I love the cooler nights, the early darkness. The boys play with friends in the alley - running in the dusk, bundled and rosy cheeked. The parents holding steaming mugs of tea or cocoa.


Last night was perfect for a fire pit. Our yard is so small it isn't safe to do it when windy, but last night was cold with only a slight breeze. We pulled out the pit, the boys setup the wood just so with some used paper wadded up below, and both had a chance to light it (yes, they lit a fire with matches :)).


We found marshmallows, graham crackers, skewers. The neighbors came over and all the boys roasted the insanely huge marshmallows and A counted how many times he could light his on fire. Ahem.


A grabbed his guitar, because strumming around a fire is just what you do.


The darkness fell, and the flames mesmerized and warmed us.


After the neighbors went in for the evening we sat out around the fire, watched the flames, and talked about things. My kind of Saturday night!

pumpkins.

Where we live road side farm stands, pumpkin patches, orchards and farms are everywhere. From the few rows of pumpkins outside of a rural farmhouse to the elaborate production of a farm that caters to the school buses and field trips. It's all here. We have many favorites, and will always stop at more than one spot throughout the season.



We have our favorite carving pumpkins, favorite pie pumpkins, the place with the chatty owner, the place with the friendly cats and some goats, the best hayrides, the place that always has unusual varieties of winter squash, the farm that has the best wagons. And if we can squeak in during quiet times, we visit our favorite farm maze or that spot with excellent caramel apples.



And so it goes, year after year. Boys keep getting bigger, but they still love pulling that wagon. And even if it is only a few miles from home, it is about the whole experience. What park do we have to go to nearby? Do we need a picnic, is the weather perfect? Do we have the right music for the drive? ;)



And only when the farms and road side stands all finally close up, when there are no more signs with arrows scattered along the roadsides, and all of our pie pumpkins have been puréed, does it feel truly like winter is not far behind.

fall days.

I love the cool crispness of fall. Colder days - some dark, some sunny, most windy. The crunch of leaves underfoot. The frost on the rooftops, the birds busy at the birdfeeder. Boys layered up to keep warm. Those red rosy cheeks when they come in from the cold. The smell of outside lingering in hair, on clothes. The rich aroma of fresh cider on the stovetop, ready to warm them. Yes, life is good.

glow stick lanterns.

With the dark arriving earlier and earlier, the boys are often out playing with the neighbors as it gets dark. They play tag and ghost in the graveyard. We walk around the block to see what spooky decorations are turned on. And we play with glow sticks.

We've been wanting to crack some open after being reminded by Tara. We gathered a few of the larger glow sticks, canning jars, strong scissors and water. We cracked and shook, and then cut off the top and poured the liquid into the canning jars (using a fine strainer keeps the little broken bits out of your jars). You can keep single colors or mix and see what you get. If you add a little bit of water you get a bit better glow.

Screw the lids on tight and shake! The canning jar glows so much (for hours, depending on your glow sticks) - very cool and lots of fun.






If you get some on your fingers just wash with soap. Or, run around in the dark waving your hands in the air and moaning like a ghost to get a few awesome shrieks. Ahem. Although non-toxic the liquid can have little shards in it from cracking the tube to activate, so you don't want to play in the liquid - keep it in the jar. When you are done you can just wash the jars with hot soapy water.

autumn.

It is happening. The trees and grasses have gone from green to vivid and are now slowly turning to rusty brown. The winds and rain came and blew many trees empty, but pockets of startling bold autumn can still be found. Combines and tractors move slowly down the roads and through the fields.

After some hot days we have had chilly windy days. Fleeces, sweaters, hats and gloves. Feels like fall. I can see how the light is moving. We wake before the sunrise each morning now. The dark comes earlier and earlier every evening. The nights are crisp and cold. The wind makes the house shake, and blows everything bare. I can feel myself tucking into it, looking forward to the cold. I can smell the change in the air.

"How beautifully leaves grow old.
How full of light and color are their last days. "

~John Burroughs

apple candles.

G asked the other day when we were going to make the apple candles. It is fall, after all, and we have been stopping at the orchard every week for a month! Which means of course we immediately went to gather the supplies and make some.


We found a few apples that were not the most perfect to eat. G first scraped out a little hole in the top. He used the apple corer to push an inch in and then popped that out and scooped with a spoon (a grapefruit spoon worked best, if you have one). His brother decided if there was apple gutting going on, he was making some too.


G scooped and fit, scooped and fit, until the hole was just big enough to hold a tea light (we had black amber tea lights). He slid those in.


From there, he wanted to decorate them, so he found some fall leaf craft 'buttons' and using fat topped sewing pins, he pierced the apple to secure. He also studded a ring around the top with cloves.


The final touches included cutting out some modeling wax in leaf and apple shapes to scatter around the holder.


Done! Apple candles will last only a few days, but they look and smell nice! It gets dark earlier and earlier, and G loves when they are lit in the evening.



Our house is feeling more fall festive by the day - although G says we have a lot to do still! :)

welcoming autumn.

I love the change from summer to autumn. Cool days, chilly nights. The smell of the air. The angle of the light. How everything goes from such vivid green to every other color - red, yellow, orange, brown. Everything looks different.









The past few days we have watched the colors start to appear and so today we had to go wander to the pond and nature trail at our local apple orchard (just 5 miles from home) to get out in the wonder of it all. We are excited to welcome autumn!

to sunshine.

While I am dreaming of colder weather, the boys have really been enjoying this burst of warmth and sunshine in November.

The past week has been nicer, it seems, than most of the past 6 months. Such ups and downs with the weather this year, but we'll take this last gasp before the cold arrives.


Ahh, sunshine.

fall back.

I love the smells and sounds of fall - although this fall has been so cold, wet and gray it hasn't seemed much like fall! In a way I wasn't surprised that my back 'went out' again when the cold wet weather hit a few weeks back. So - I have been pretty much out with back pain and immobility for several weeks. But after five (long) months of physical therapy, I feel like I have it more under control and know what to do when it gets bad. This time I've been hurting but I have kept it from getting emergency room bad. And thankfully I have been getting better over the past few days. Exercise, ice, no long computer time, no long sitting. So long story longer, I've been away for a bit, but am feeling like I am now on the mend and having less pain every day, and so hope to share more of our busy fall!


It has been nice, in a way, to have this back set-back during the cold wet dark dreary days we've been having. If it had been sunny and gloriously autumn, it would have felt like we were missing out. But with the dark cold, the boys have been happy to work on their projects, putter with science kits, read new books, build things, watch interesting DVDs from the library, create books/comics, play with the rabbit, and just be home a bit more.

Of course we have been out and about a bit - some fun excursions on those days the sun made a brief appearance - out to see the colors and birds and sun. And the early darkness has meant a lot of fun with light sabers, glow stick inventions, pumpkins and all of those other dark loving projects.



More later, but for now, I'm happy to be able to sit at this computer - even if only for a short time! :)