two days: in

Just as early days of Spring mean many nature walks and discoveries, and the first glorious heat of Summer means celebrations of barbecues and cannonballs into the pool... Fall has its flavors and demands, as well.
I've hesitated to write, as our days are looking so similar to eachother, and even being out of the habit of seeking for a day can lull one into forgetting how to recognize the magic in everyday moments.
So here's me trying to tell early autumn's story.

We began our first day with planning the canning madness.
Oh, we have plans, friends. I think I've mentioned we're making baskets for gifts this year... jams, Brandied Pears, Mirabelle Cordial, Praline Syrup, Spiced Honey, flavored olive oils, cocoa mix, breads.... whatever we can come up with.

The babes and I went to the store to get lots of goodies - such as lemons and cinnamon sticks...

first up was Spiced Honey for our holiday gift baskets.
Mmmmmm.

In the meantime there was a corn husk doll for Madeleine.

And a bit of the Usual Way of Things:
That's the way - Uh huh, Uh huh, I like it - Uh huh, Uh huh.
Which led to Ice Ice, Baby,
and Eric showing Vanilla Ice to Trev.
Which of course led to picking on the guitar,
and David Bowie's track from Under Pressure
and Ice Age (the movie) and Madeleine sobbing because the humans took out the mammoths.

And Praline Syrup
(I'm thinking this will be grand over baked apples...)

And then a series of rapid blinks at the peppers and tomatoes that we had also planned to tackle that day...

(Why is it something that takes only ten minutes to cook always takes two or three hours to can?)

Oof.
The peppers and tomatoes sat.

* * *

What today?

Since so many things have been coming at us from the outside, I felt the need for time with a little mouse we know, so we read a couple of chapters of Runaway Ralph.

And Mama did some research on infused honey medicinals.

Math Blaster

JumpStart (for both)

pbs

Round two of trying to can salsa!

Movies

books

meltdowns (that would be all of us, sans Eric.)

And we worked on tidying up.
Oh, yes. The tidying up part was definitely related to the Mama Meltdown part. I took all that crazy angry/resentful energy I had and channeled it into a cleaning tornado.

It has been cold.
It's been dark and gray.
It's been stormy.
We've had the heat on. (I'm not ready for that, yet. Don't like it-- much prefer wide open windows.)
There have been highlights... peppermint tea with a spoonful of that spiced honey. Oh, yes.
Seeing Trev with his nose in a book while we shopped at the grocery store.
Hearing Madeleine properly use three and four syllable words - complicated words, like... complicated.

Mostly Autumn time is just sweeping us along, just as she is sweeping in frost and color.

As usual, there are things we want to do-- wax leaves- as I mentioned the other day, gather things for an autumn wreath, plant spinach and lettuce in window boxes, finish the apple dolls, make monsters, stain our new wood door (Maddie wants to paint it pink!), make caramel apples, make honey cold medicine and cough medicine, cut roses, make salsa, clean house (it's tidy, not clean...), work on our timeline, get out our Halloween stuff (can't find it!), make ink out of berries.....
and on it goes.

But, also as usual... it's the very beginning of the new season, and Mama Nature has Her own plans.
So for the most part we are trying not to argue, and are just lifting up our feet and letting Her blow and toss us where She will.
Mother knows best, I suppose.