Time for Soup and Knitting

Snap, one day it's 70 and that toasty end of summer weather, the air is warm and smells baked, the light shifts to the south...and then suddenly the air chills. Then the rains come and the air smells like fall. The leaves are just turning, it fees late, mid-October.

The pumpkins are finishing their orangification in the yard. The tomatoes have all been harvested to ripen indoors in paper bags before the frost takes them. I'm roasting squash for soup and baked goods and making roasts and drinking hot coca.

The sweaters are out of storage and the tank tops are in their place. The extra comforter is out and the pilot is lit on the heater. All these little seasonal preparations. I am quite enjoying them this year.

It's been a Long time since I could enjoy a fall. I think I enjoyed the first one in Portland due to novelty, but the next few succumbed to the adjusting to the higher latitude and dealing with seasonal depression. Last fall, we just want to forget last fall. This fall? Marvelous.


Summer finished up in a flurry of work. Work has been a bit life consuming lately but not in a bad way. I am finally settling into a comfortable rhythm and can get back to projects and hobbies and such.

Like my sister, (but not in a copy cat way!)I did refinish a table, the one in my kitchen with the horrible varnish that would stick to anything you placed on it and discolor if you put anything wet or hot on it. So I sanded it off and oiled it with linseed and now it doesn't stick and I can put wet and HOT things on it and it does no harm. It's useful! amazing!


Recently in the kitchen, we have enjoyed butternut squash curried soup, pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin spice cake (both gluten free) roast beef and potatoes, and tomato sauces from the garden.

The carpets have been cleaned, the kitchen cabinet has changed from green to veneer, soon windows will be sealed.

Finding a way to keep the carpets clean with wet bikes around is being worked out. Rain gear dries on a rack by the heater.

My hair is short again, I have new shearling slippers to keep my feet warm and I've been thrifting for winter clothes that actually fit that I don't swim in. Sweaters and long sleeved shirts. I scored a bright red Land's End rain slicker that I plan to sew some reflective tape onto, for winter commuting. This will be the first winter I attempt to bike and not drive to work through.

It's time to start knitting for Christmas gifts.


Pics below from earlier this summer.