Seven Quick Takes, vol 20

1.  Fall is at its peak.  The nights are cold and the leaves are bright.  Fall is such a poignant season for me that symbolizes the inevitability of change -- not my favorite thing about life.  The other night I woke up from a dream in which I was middle-aged and my children were grown and in my dream I was struggling with the realization that the changes in my life were then going to be harder and sadder ones, more letting go and less gaining.   I tried to shake the gloom of that dream off quickly, but the gray skies and the smell of autumn have kept it in my mind. 

2.  Then this afternoon I spoke with my 80 year old neighbor Carol over the fence and she reminisced about autumns past  -- her friend Doris slipping though the fence to have coffee with her, going out to rake leaves in her yard and getting nothing done as she gossiped with her friends, Mary Catherine and Emma, who lived in other houses in the neighborhood.  She told me that all her friends are gone, moved or passed away, and her daughter urges her to look into assisted living, but that she would be stifled in such a place and that she's going to live for a good time longer.   As I listened to Carol I thought again of how hard it would be to see change around you, face changes yourself as you age and look back on what used to be.

 

3.   On a more cheerful note, how about this article on aprons and the Culture of Life?  I have difficulty resisting a cute apron when I see one and this piece by Jen makes me feel totally justified in buying the next one I see.  It would be celebrating Life, right? :)

4.  We have been busy doing all the traditional fall activities recently.  We've been  apple picking and made applesauce and apple pie and apple cinnamon muffins.  Pumpkin pie and pumpkin cookies and roasted pumpkin seeds, pumpkin patch visiting and pumpkin carving have all been lovely too.   Fall food is so yummy!

5. This has been an "acorn year".  Our yard, being full of oak trees as it is, was a veritable danger zone as acorns loudly thumped and pinged onto people, cars and our rooftop all day and night.  As an experiment, and after some research, we even tried hulling the acorns with a hammer (great fun!) and boiling the acorns to see if we could get them to an edible state.  Turtle was really into this project, but after it was taking over an hour to boil the tannin out of the acorns and then Mommy forgot about them and they burned to the pan, she kind of gave up.   Experiment fail.  So much for that.

6.  The girls are excited to rake leaves, but actually they prefer not to make piles.  "Trails" are the favorite pastime and they make intricate mazes with "ins" and "outs" and "tricky trails" and race along the pathways with delighted laughs.  I love to watch them.

7.  A few weeks ago we went to a Zac Brown Band  concert.  It was one of the best concerts I've ever been to (and I'm pretty loyal to Brad Paisley!).  They are absolutely amazing live and sound about three times as good as the following song sounds online, but here it is none the less.  Happy Friday!

Visit Jen at Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes!