9.25.2015

welcome, fall










I love when the first day of a new season actually feels right, the way yesterday just felt like fall.  in the morning, Claire and I walked down to a pasture that has a lovely patch of milkweed and nectar plants (milkweed saved and nectar sources planted by a parent from art class who works at a local greenhouse) and sought out and brought home three monarch caterpillars.  there were several chrysalises (or 'chrysalides') attached along the old, white, flaky-paint fencing, and I couldn't stop staring at their jade-toned shimmery beauty.  the golden flecks, that amazing shade of green.... stunning.

at art class we made blown-watercolor trees with splatter-painted fall foliage and I read 'The Ox Cart Man' to the kids just because I love the book and it's fall.

for dinner we roasted our largest butternut squash from the garden this year and it tasted like a dessert.  we topped pasta with sautéed veggies and lit a candle and Claire made up some song about autumn and circling around the sun and whatnot.  it was sweet.  there was a fire.  there was apple pie. papa and I stayed up late and watched a movie together, petting the cat (Oliver) and spilling popcorn on the couch.

this sounds nice and all, but in between there was an emotionally charged argument between the grownups (sometimes when this most sensitive mama and the not-quite-so papa are pushing our stubborn horns against each other it gets tough) and last night Claire woke me up at least four times in the middle of the night and I was not at all patient about being screamed at because I tried to hand her the wrong tissue, or whatever the problem was.  ooph.  sometimes it's like that, isn't it?  we try to create something seamless, something easy.  and somehow it gets tricky and mucky and sticky and sometimes there are tears (about feeling being hurt, about the wrong tissues...whatever).

but then we carry on and smile as the second morning of autumn, blowing in cool and crisp, necessitates a sweater and slippers and there is pie for breakfast.




14 comments:

  1. Love the name of the cat Amanda, Oliver is a good name.
    Yes, sometimes creating and living a life with others can be tough,
    but with love it all works out. [You and your Mike sound like
    me and my Mike, oh those men!]
    The Ox Cart Man is one of my favorites too.
    Enjoy this wonderful fall season!

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    Replies
    1. love and patience and soft sweet cats and good books and fall and all it's goodness...... YES.

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  2. Isn't there, though. Weeping may last for the night but joy comes in the morning.

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  3. Enjoy the wonderful season together patience and lots of love always works.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. it is so true..... patience isn't always easy but indeed it (along with love, of course) works wonders!

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  4. Ah yes. I've been having a few days like that. It's wonderful to wake up to a new day and a clean slate for all.

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    Replies
    1. indeed.

      Heather Bruggeman has a nice quote: "if you can't have grace in the moment, have grace in the turnaround".

      I like that.

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  5. Thank-you for showing the balance in a rickety day and for the inspiration to have a fall supper and campfire to offset my less than stellar moments.

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    1. every now and then I become very aware of the one-sided-ness of these sorts of general lifestyle/chronicle-one's-days blogs and I feel the need to clearly share that it isn't all rainbows. of course, I mostly record the happy, the good... because it is what I want to focus on and remember the most. but that balance is important, for sure.

      thank you for reading~

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  6. life is messy but a good messy and when there are tears and hurt words there are the sweet snuggles and all is right in the world.

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  7. oh pie for breakfast! I love the balance you shared with us. That happens to me too.

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    Replies
    1. yum yum.

      I needed to call attention to the difficult parts of the day because as I typed out the bits about the dinner and the fire and all that I felt like a bit of a fraud. like there was so much missing. and so...

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thanks for taking the time to read and comment~