It's Fall.

Everything says so: the trees, the changeable weather, the golden hued sunlight, the wheat and corn all brown and rustly. The garden vegetables are long past their prime and our store room is filling up with squash and dry beans while the jars of tomato sauce and jam look pretty all lined up. Today has been a beautifully sunny day so we trimmed the school day to do some yard clean up and outdoor work. We transplanted trees, mowed the grass, raked up leftovers from the woodpiles that are being moved indoors--some to our indoors, some to another's indoors. The children have harvested their giant pumpkins and are setting them up in a display. With only half the afternoon gone we can already feel the air cooling into evening and it adds urgency to the tasks.

Soon winter will come. Then our biggest jobs will be keeping the wood area in the furnace room and the bird feeders near the shed filled. For now, we will enjoy the transition time from summer's heat to winter's coziness in front of the woodstove. We'll enjoy the warmth on days when it's available and adjust to the incoming cold on the wet and rainy days.

It's Fall. And I get to eat soup.

Cattails, children running through the fields and woods, fall colours, pumpkins, tomatoes rescued from frost, hot soup and hot chocolate, squash and beans harvested from our own garden. The crunch of leaves underfoot, a warm sweater. Cozy. Fall. Yes, it means winter's coming but what a waste to not enjoy today.

(And after all, winter's beautiful too!)

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My bulbs are planted, my cana lillies dug up and stored. I found a few sweet pea seeds and they have been dispersed. The shovels are put away and the gardening gloves too. Time now to wait till I start the tomatoes and things indoors to give me hope that Spring will come.

The boys have kept the furnace blazing with new wood every hour. This could be a warmer winter than last year!

It's only 8:30 and already I've run an emotional gamut. From wishing I had not woken up to realizing that my head was hurting and sleep wasn't possible anyway; from feeling groggy to invigorated and then to somewhere in the middle; from joy over news to dread of the day ahead; also looking forward to said day. Gamuts aren't always clear cut.

We're out of regular coffee. I've been tricking myself for the past day or two with decaf but today I wanted caffeine to try to help Advil kick the headache. Sometimes it works. This morning I'm trying hot chocolate with whipped cream. The sugar crash in an hour or two might be counterproductive.

BTG brought home the most beautiful maple leaves yesterday. She laid them all out on the white tablecloth. I neglected to take a picture. Today the edges are curled up and the effect is lost although the colours remain brilliant. She had talked about ironing them in wax paper--I think some of them are salvageable for that. It means changing our school plans to seize the moment. I think it will be worth it. Certainly we've derailed for reasons less noble than the preservation of beauty.

CTM has created a papier mache puppet. It's nearly done. I'm so proud of my children!

And KTU is enjoying stomping around the house in his new winter boots that he has proclaimed as cozy and comfortable. Actually he's not stomping, he's walking very softly. But the boots look like the stomping kind.

Lots of caterpillars lately. They're curling up, tucking themselves in. This one we found on our purple basil in the garden.

This one was in the park where we had our nature walk this week. The colours are changing, becoming more brown and golden and orange. The seeds are developing as the flowers fade. I used to think of Winter as a dead time. I now see Fall as preparing for that time of Deep Rest where Nature prepares herself for the burst in the Springtime.

Just moments before, as we were walking down the path, a Great Blue Heron took to its wings from this spot.

A walk

As we wandered yesterday through a local park with some good friends, we didn't get to see much by way of animals. Only a black squirrel was brave enough to stay amidst the running, shouting and splashing of sticks and stones into the river. Four little and not so little boys and two older girls who forgot they were "older" for a moment can cause quite a racket. We let them run off steam for a while before reigning them in. Still, this Great Blue Heron flew on ahead of us twice before the kids realized that quietness would get them a better sighting. This time, the heron walked away from us before flying, enabling us to get a couple of decent shots. It circled away and then over our heads (us adults at the back got to see that part--the kids missed it). Later, on our way back to the cars, we were startled to hear the sound of a branch cracking above our heads. Looking up we saw again the heron flying off away from us. He must have been sitting in the tree directly above us. I'm sure he was glad when we drove off!

Our friends have been doing a study on monarch butterflies. They "bought the kit" that included a tropical milkweed plant, caterpillars and a tent to let it all live in in their house until the butterflies "hatch". They have been in awe by the awesomeness of the process. So, as we passed a milkweed on our walk, of course we had to stop and look. (The milkweed plant is such has such funny little elves-hat seed pods.) We quickly saw these fuzzy caterpillars--not monarch--on leaves here and there. Then I lifted one and saw this colony of fuzz. They moved a bit so I tried to be quick to take the photos and leave them in peace. My guidebook tells me they are Milkweek Tussock Moth larvae.

And then I spotted the wild cucumber vine twining itself around the other plants. I remembered it from previous walks in this park but had forgotten about it until I ran across it on a website somewhere. The round, prickly pods dry to a lovely brown and the bottom pops open to disperse the seeds. The pod is then left looking like a loofa sponge with these neat cavities inside where the seeds had been. So of course I had to take a picture.

Over the way you will find our reasonable facsimiles of some of our finds from this walk.