as cozy as spring

In the south...

...we do have fall color, we just have to look a little closer.

 

Autumn 2009

The days grew shorter and the moon shone bright and cold as a silver coin, cutting little grey shadows in the pine branches and telling all the forest creatures that summer really was at an end.

-Children of the Forest, Elsa Beskow

Happy Autumn!  We had the most perfect first day of autumn I can remember.  We wore cardigans (because it was cool!) and hunted mushrooms, had hot cocoa and coffee in the car, made miniature apple pies and roasted tomato soup, played football with my baby, and watched two of our baby caterpillars form brilliant green and gold chrysalides (I had to look up the plural form of chrysalis - do you ever wonder if some web site is just messing with you?  Like giving you a very wrong answer just for kicks?  I do.  Because I think that would be hilarious).

We had a lesson in chopping with a real knife.  Do you see how she is holding the knife in the photo? She was shocked at how much easier it was when she turned her hand around.  

In the end, it was exhausting.  My husband is home today and I hope to fit in a large portion of nothing this afternoon.

Summer 2009

Summer is my least favorite season and I started out today thinking "Yay and good riddance!", but as I looked through all of my summer photos while putting this post together... well, it was quite lovely in the end.  And sometimes I really hate that I don't post photos of my children's faces because 1) They're super cute and 2) My son has adopted this practice - think Calvin and Hobbes Christmas Photo attempts - and he is making a ridiculously goofy face in all my summer photos.  I can't be annoyed about that.  It just says a lot about who he was this summer.  

I'm thinking barbecued chicken and grilled corn for dinner, blueberry crisp for dessert.  Farewell summer, I'll actually miss you a bit this year.

See you in September

Summer seems to be winding down quickly and there is still so much we haven't done.  This blog sort of exists as an overflow for my creative energy, whether it manifests itself in knitting and sewing or gardening and education.  Right now, all my energy is going into all of those things.  We're pulling together our new fall schedule, revisiting all those questions I ask myself every August (gymnastics or volleyball? soccer or football?), and dreaming of cooler days and a fall vegetable garden, all with a notebook and a sharpened pencil in hand.

I do feel a vague pressure to write something here frequently, but I'm letting myself off the hook until the end of the month.  I hope all my friendly readers enjoy the last bit of summer.  We'll be at the pool.

Pick your own

 

Happy 4th Friends!  I really, really hope to spend everyday at home this weekend.  A bit of knitting and coffee for me, Peter in Blueberry Land for my son, new recipes to try with my little girl, and the wonder that is air conditioning for my husband.  Y'all, it's been a crazy hot summer here in Texas.  I walk outside and wonder how we are all still alive.  I usually feel guilty for flipping on the AC but not this year.  

This morning a friend and I succeeded in finally taking our children blueberry picking.  To watch the children pluck the ripe berries off the bush and pop them right into their mouths over and over was utterly charming.  Their baskets may not have been full, but their bellies were.  Just as it should be.

Summer Morning

We woke up this morning, started off with strawberries and yogurt whilst listening to Ladybug Picnic.  I sipped my coffee in the backyard and the children picked tomatoes on vines that towered over their heads.  It was cool enough to go for a bike ride.  Sarah wished that we would have our favorite weather the other day.  I thought, "Pfff!  Fat chance of it raining in Texas in June."  But July is (almost) here and thunder is in the air.*

My Dad brought us a bag full of blueberries.  I thought nothing could compare to the wild blueberries my sister brought us from New England, but East Texas blueberries are surprisingly delicious.  So delicious that I don't even scold my son for climbing right up on the dining room table and diving in (or blurring my blueberry photo with his chubby little hand).  And the color!  That color is just breathtaking.  That last photo is Tyler Florence's Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars.

*Name the poem that line is from for...  Well, you win nothing but I would high five you if you were here in person.

Standing Still

 

Happy Summer!  Now we feel justified in complaining about the heat. ;)

Feels like summer

Cake recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen's Raspberry Buttermilk Cake.  I couldn't resist the first cherries of the season.  They were surprisingly good.  And I can never resist a buttermilk recipe. Ripe berries + buttermilk = summer.

It's hot here and I don't think we're due for another cool down until September.  Our weekly schedule is now clear and I'm thinking of ways to fill the days.  Bike rides, picture books, mushroom hunts, museum visits and poetry (or just sitting around whining about the heat!).  I need to put all the pieces in place to begin our summer lessons.  Did you know Famous Men of Rome is on Librivox?  Very exciting.  We might finish it now.  There is so much competition for nighttime reading, it gets overlooked too much of the time.

Well that's all from me this morning.  My son is not up yet and I need to wrap this up and hit 'Save' before his tiny feet hit the ground.  

Lupinus Texensis

First Signs of Spring in Texas

These signs peppering the roadsides make me happy. Not my best photo but I may or may not have been driving when I snapped it, so forgive me if aperture wasn't my top priority.  

I don't think I've written anything of substance here this week.  Spring feels like a traffic bottleneck sometimes.  There's just so much going on here - my husband and I are working together in the garden, something I rather enjoy in our marriage.  There are so many spring picture books to read.  Flowers everywhere.  Projects to manage.  Dresses to sew!  Lessons.  Lent.  I can't filter it all down to one lane for a pretty little post here.  

My daughter is begging me to go outside now to see the first spring rose and my afternoon cup of coffee just finished brewing, so back out I go.  Happy weekend friends.