Into the Wild Wood and Home Again

Oddly warmish (53 degrees), light rain, a bit of a breeze. We are lucky to live where we do; other areas just south of us are getting hit hard by this September storm. Other areas of the country are getting hit by other storms. Hawaii is getting particularly hard-hit. The oak trees are dropping a ton of acorns (mast year) which usually means a difficult winter. O yay. Though the Old Farmers Almanac says, for our area, mild and dry. Who knows? Certainly, we'd like to be able to depend on the information from NOAA and other official sources, but with their funding slashed so much and the official federal denial of all things weather and climate-related, we are left with our best guesses in a lot of ways. I will keep my eyes out for a woolly bear caterpillar.  We'll head out to church today, find breakfast somewhere (if the leaf peepers have left us any), and then come home. The plan for this morning is to do some of Holly's catechism homework. This having one class a month an...

Saturday. It's been a long week, and it's felt like pushing string most of the time. It could be because I've been functioning at a compromised level due to the stupid head cold. It could be that the national news and all the awful ads on TV and everywhere else has been a little more pervasive every day. It could be that I've taken on a little too much and have no extra time. It could be that, at the end of the week, I got to keep one dollar of my two-week paycheck (o those pesky bills). Whatever the reason, it's Saturday, and I'm still in my pjs at almost 8am, and I do not care.  I worked straight through, going from school to getting the windshield done, to getting the week's groceries, to doing laundry, making dinner, herding Holly, etc. yesterday, and I'm frankly tired. I have a weekend to-do list, as well, but for right now, I'm not doing. Just not doing. Just not. We have a humongous pile of apples for me to work through, but those will keep a ...

  9-25, now affectionately known as "Dolly Parton Day"-- why not? Let's live a life of compassionate joy.  There's just so damned much to be depressed about, and people are hurting all over-- literally and figuratively. But the sun still comes out. There was a lovely dragonfly I spotted yesterday. Flowers are blooming, bees are still collecting pollen, and it feels almost ungrateful to be walking around in a dark cloud.  I need to do better. We all need each other to do better. Let's live loudly, boisterously, unapologetically taking up as much space as we can, lifting others up and bounding down the path towards whatever thing it is that brings us to a happy moment.  Have a good day, friends. Make it a good day. Spread a little love. C Dolly and friends..." Light of a Clear Blue Morning "

It is 31 degrees, light frost-- I am not sure if the covers worked, but we'll see. At any rate, it's rather chilly, inside and out. G is going in a bit later, so he vacuumed the pellet stove out, and it's doing its job nicely, albeit later than usual. It's hard to believe it's supposed to be 70 later. Ah, fall. The documentary last evening was good because Bishop Barron does a nice job of weaving in Catholic history, faith, and the architecture of the cathedrals in France. It was good to go out and see it, and it was equally good to be home by 6:45, at which time I grabbed dinner and watched Jeopardy, flipped through some mundane stuff on the TV (all the shows I like on Britbox and Netflix won't have new episodes for a couple more weeks), and went to bed at 9:45. This cold is dragging me down a bit, but I manage.  Work is fine, kids are okay, but there's very little to call a spark lately. I don't know if they are all sick, or I have a whole lot of medio...

Chilly start to the day at 33 degrees before sunrise. I'm glad G covered the squash (though I have scant hope they'll make it anyhow, but we will try). Holly and I picked the last of the green tomatoes, a few green beans (which made it into last night's shepherd's pie), a lonely cucumber, and then G and Holly went out later on to pick the small green apples. We are not sure if they are large crabbies or small something else. The tree appeared in the lilac hedge and it's flourishing; the apples are very tart but make awesome applesauce. So, I have two huge bags of those to process soon. And I will! The plan is to pick the other apples this weekend and maybe at least some of the pears. We have pears. We have thousands of pears. If you live close by, come pick some. There's far too many to even begin to imagine.  I need to clip herbs to make herbed butter for the freezer. I have a tiny half-row of carrots to pick-- later. There's no real rush with carrots. The ...

Apparently, I jumped the gun, and today is the first day of autumn. Either way, it was 40 degrees this morning, and it looks to be one of those lovely early-fall days: cool in the morning, the fog burns off, and lovely/warm/sunny in the afternoon. I sure hope so. I'm contemplating ditching my chore list after work and instead, picking apples with Holly outside. We can't get 'em all (I'm too short), but we could get some picked. And I will definitely cover the squashes, as the night-time temps are expected to be a bit too close to frost for my comfort (or theirs, to be honest).  This silly head cold is making my brain mushy, which is truly inconvenient. I'll muddle through, though. Today, it's Marlowe and Raleigh, and possibly jumping into Spenser as well. The APLang kids will have enough to do, too. We have an essay to read/discuss, and there is a small AP practice thing I need to set up for them. Ah, the joys of working on multiple choice in a digital format. Y...