Rain, Children (and Ennio Morricone)

"Its Raining, Its Pouring, The Old Man Is Snoring!"

That was Liam's song for the day - a very applicable one at that! The drips started falling sometime while we slept last night, letting up just enough for the kids to run around in the drizzly gray this morning. The gray steadily thickened as the day went on and we cozily read books and drew pictures, drinking tea and eating crisp apples with soft cheese. At one point I had three wild horses scampering through the house with numerous troughs scattered in various locations throughout the downstairs. Lydia, hanging in her jolly-jumper thought they were hilarious.

This evening I went out to the library and was amazed at the vibrancy of the leaves as they shone through the hanging mist. The yellows and reds were especially heart stopping.

Speaking of heart stopping, I've just discovered Ennio Morricone - an Italian composer who writes incredible pieces of music! Just try and find the song "Deborah's Theme" and you will see what I mean. Morricone writes scores for films. I can't vouch for any of the movies, but the music is wonderful!

So, with lovely children, passionate music, vibrant leaves, and the cozy gray of autumn rain I had a lovely day! One of my ambitions is to ENJOY my children - rather than get lost in the never ending lists of things to do, thereby merely co-existing with them. I want to savor the precious moments, grab ahold of the teachable moments, laugh at the laughable moments... and quickly pass through the crazy moments when my ears ring because of the high decibels and my mind spins with trying to figure out what I was just going to do. I have been oh! so thankful as the Lord has faithfully been guiding me in my journey as a mama. I know I've a long way to go, but I have had more 'good' days lately, less 'bad' days. And, having tasted this sweetness I am loath to give it up! I want to continue in this journey of laying myself aside and watching my children blossom.

You Will Never Guess What We Did Last Night!

Andrew cut my hair! I had trimmed it earlier in the day - the ends were worse than scraggly. Then, as we were brushing our teeth, I showed him the approximate length where my hair started to look just plain bad. "Lets cut it!" he said. So, we did. He cut it just below my shoulders... and then, after it was cut, my slight natural curl started to kick in and it went ABOVE my shoulders! *GASP*

Well, I laughed. And I cried. Then I laughed again. And I cried some more. And then, when I got in bed, I had a full fledged sob session. I know, I know - we women are so fickle! But really - I have NEVER had hair this short! Well, at least not since I was in first grade and my mom put my hair in a pony tail and chopped the pony tail off. Since then, all I've ever had done is a trim. Sure, some trims were longer than others, but never a genuine CHOP!

Today, I like it. I've been reading up on how to grow HEALTHY long hair and what is the first step? Bite the bullet and cut off all the not-so-nice stuff. Well! We accomplished that with excellence!

But, better than me liking it, Andrew does. He says I look, "cute." Now, I've never seen myself as "cute" - I always aspired to be "regal" and "elegant." But, the way the Carpenter looks at me when he says, "you look cute!" makes regal and elegant sound commonplace! Anyway, maybe in a couple of days I'll get up enough courage to post some pictures. We'll see...

Alas! Dark Clouds Have Gathered!

Oh, woe of woes! Yesterday, I discovered that this final year of regulation free bliss is not to be! Since kindergarten is optional, I THOUGHT that I didn't have to notify anyone of our intent to homeschool until next year. But, I had missed the clause that states something along the lines of "... unless the child turns 6 on or before December 1st." We missed the deadline by 5 days. So, here it begins! Fortunately, in attempting to prepare myself for the inevitable, I have been keeping track of the things we've been doing, the books we've read, etc. But, that doesn't lesson the feeling of impending storm. My internal barometer has gone haywire and I find myself getting all uptight about rules, regulations, standardized testing, reports and all the other mandatory rigamarole that NY State has. *sigh* Part of me REALLY, REALLY doesn't want to homeschool in NY!!! Ah well. One day at a time!

Fall is here (or will be in another day!). The air is cool and crisp, nipping at my fingers as I hang out the laundry. On the wind the earthy scent of dry leaves reaches my nose. The ash tree, once so completely green, now has brick red emerging at the edges, replacing the verdant color of summer. The sky, behind the scurrying clouds, is deep, rich blue that takes your breath away and begs to be gazed at. A bit ago, as the wind threatened to tear the sheets off the line, I looked up and saw golden leaves swirling away from the grasp of the walnut trees, rising higher than the highest limb that once held them fast. Then down they fall to litter the ground with bits of fallen sunlight. The hills transform before my eyes – a patchwork quilt of new reds, yellows, burnished bronze, all sewn together with the remaining greens that desperately hang on till the end.

With the death of summer comes a glorious season that fills me with life. Autumn in NY is wonderful. Not only is it a feast for the eyes, but the grapes hang heavy on the vine, apples fall from the trees, harvest is at its peak – a feast for our bellies!

I love the fall!

Friends and Fall and Fun

We just had a lovely weekend! Some friends from PA came up for a visit and we packed the time full of fun fall festivities: we went on a field trip to the local fish hatchery; we picked grapes; we took a scenic drive near the lake; we chased kids around; we shouted at each other in order to be heard above the laughter and play of children (there were 11 kids all together!); we ate good food; we did LOTS of dishes (we? we? DARLA did a lot of dishes! Thanks, Darla!); we had a great time. We let all the kids skip naps... then put them to bed early. They ALL went withOUT a fuss and us 'old' people sat up chatting for a couple of hours eating ice cream with brandy-soaked black raspberries for a topping. The air was crisp and cool - but not cold; it rained a little - just enough to get everyone wet; the sun shone brightly and clouds scooted by on the breeze.

Fall is coming! Hooray!

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Yeah, that's me! Here I am today... but its anyone's guess when I'll be back! The daylight hours are shortening as the daily activities are increasing.

Lets see, we've been CANNING like CRAZY! In the past I've canned peaches and apples sauce. Maybe the occasional batch of dilly beans. Really, not much more than that! This year we've been dabbling in LOTS of things: Tomatoes, Spaghetti Sauce, Corn, Black Cherry Juice, More Tomatoes, LOTS of Dilly Beans, too many Pickles, Wild Plum Jelly... it has been fun! I'm also experimenting with drying things like green beans, zucchini/summer squash, and lots of leafy things. We're looking forward to making another BIG batch of sauerkraut, hopefully at the end of the month. We've tried lacto fermenting plums (!), tomatoes, cucumber slices, celery, radishes, garlic... I can't think of what else. I'm looking forward to trying turnips!

The kids are riding bikes, and running around outside like wild indians. Today they made fishing poles and bows and arrows; who knows what it will be tomorrow! We're trying to incorporate some steady schooling, but I confess that with all the harvesting the most we do on some days is read together.

And, much to my discouragement and frustration, my nemesis has returned. I had the upper hand for about 2-3 weeks... and then I don't know what happened! Now I'm swamped with two loads on the line (it is 9:00 and they are going to stay there til tomorrow), innumerable loads of dirty laundry lurking in the far corners of the bedrooms, two loads that need to be folded (in addition to the two on the line), and this one basket full of rags washcloths, dish towels and the like that need to be put away downstairs... but the basket keeps walking upstairs!!! (By now you're probably wondering how we can own so much laundry - and still have extras to wear! I wonder that, too!)

In spite of all that lurking laundry, the days have been lovely! Golden sunshine streaming through the trees, their green leaves just beginning to be edged with the colors that Autumn will unveil. We live in wine country and the vines are laden with their fragrant grapes - we are eager to take the kids picking so they can be surrounded by the heady fragrance (and so we can have grape pie!!). The crickets still chirrup at night and the blue birds still dance from tree branch to the ground and back again - one of my favorite sights! And the golden rod, lovely golden rod! I'm so glad I don't have allergies! Smelling a full stalk of golden rod is like inhaling the scent of honey!

We sure are enjoying the last not-so-lazy days of summer!