late fall bits :: leaves, love, and bears

maple against a fall-blue sky :: a few weeks ago

we hope a screech owl may decide our nesting box is a good home

sourwood in our driveway (also, weeks ago)

a fall favorite :: beeswax-dipped leaves strung up on the mantle (these are being replaced bit by bit with holiday cards as they arrive in the mail)

goodies from a recent swap that I hosted :: smoked sea salt chocolate chip cookies, body butter(s), essential oil blends, homemade wine, soap and lip balm, glassware dipped in sea glass paint (there was also some lavender-coconut tapioca pudding that I ate before I had the chance to photograph it)

there were faint flurries right around Halloween- it set her immediately to the serious business of snowflake-cutting.  soon, all of our windows will be covered I'm sure

grain-free, egg-free, dairy-free (but my goodness they actually do taste good!) pumpkin muffins. yum, yum, yum.

hot cocoa :: coconut milk + cacao nibs + cinnamon chips + cocoa powder. strain and add coconut sugar and a splash of maple syrup.  cayenne if desired.  yumyumyum

someone has decided her loved ones are getting little handmade "love" pillows for Christmas this year.  someone is working rather hard at it.

this last week or two has seen us starting to feel the coming shift from late fall to the start of winter- it is colder, there are many frosty mornings, the wood stove is being put to work nearly as often as not.  the bright, crisp fall-blue skies are still around, though now without the vivid backdrop of brilliant leaves that it had a few weeks ago.  we've had a flurry, several freezing nights.  winter stars and constellations are coming back into view.  the fall swap has come and gone.  there is much hot tea and time with books and quilts.  hot cocoa, pumpkin muffins...

we rehung our bird feeders and suet, excited to start Project FeederWatch again this year.  and then a couple nights later we had some visitors who were also interested in the suet- a mama black bear and her three cubs.  we've long known of bears in and around our neighborhood. we even put an electric fence around our hives last year because they were getting into some of the trash cans at our neighbors' houses.  but beyond a quick sighting now and again, we hardly saw them and they never came into our yard.  until one recent night.  around 11pm I kept hearing weird sounds and eventually looked out on the deck to see shadowy figures and hear something that sounded like raspy whispering.  it was a bit........ creepy.  I ran back in for a light and shined it upon three little (relatively, they were actually the size of large dogs, the cubs) bear faces, busily munching away at some spilled sunflower seeds and a suet cake they'd grabbed down from the suet cage.  I quickly looked for mama and spotted her in the yard.  I was about 20 feet from the cubs and 30 feet from mama.  I made sure not to get in between them or stray far from my doorstep.  they wandered around a bit, one ending up in our small pond for a few moments (accidentally?).  I ran in to wake Mike and we watched them for a bit.  he woke the little one and she seemed excited for a few seconds then crawled under the covers and went right back to sleep.  he and I went outside and by that time mama was no longer in the back yard.  we shooed the cubs off the deck and they plopped into the garden to finish off the suet.  mama was walking through the yard next door.  I banged the flashlight against a metal water bottle and shooed them away so they'd go off to meet mama bear.  one cub ran right into the bee fence on the way and yelped then shot right up a tree.  after another 10 minutes they were all ambling along through the neighbor's yard and the excitement was over.

I took the suet down for about a week before deciding to give it one more go.  If it lures in the bears again, that it'll be it.  so far, so good- we've been watching and recording the birds and the woodpeckers that come for the suet are definitely a favorite.  watching and monitoring the winter birds is a favorite for us, but I feel it's far more important to do what we can to help keep the bears wild.  alas.

now, with the calendar turn to December, we are beginning to make merry.  her simple advent 'calendar' is hung, there are a few decorations here and there.  we watched the town parade today and have begun to listen to some christmasy Pandora stations.  tonight we watched the Muppet Christmas Carol.  soon we will get a tree and tape snowflakes in the windows. and other wintry things.