Oh Autumn!

Seasons of mist and mellow fruitfulness, indeed! Autumn is giving us thrills here in upstate NY. The weather is gorgeous, the leaves are magnificent swirls of color, and the area is ripe with possibilities for our weekend adventures. Last weekend we went to Behling Orchards and picked 34 lbs of apples! We went with our good friends and neighbors, and all had a blast.










We've made apple pies and applesauce. We might try an apple cake today. And more applesauce to freeze, of course. Today is also pumpkin carving day. Thank goodness the kids are off from school today, or I' not sure how we'd get all our fall fun done!





Ode to Autumn
by John Keats

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eaves run;
To bend with apples the mossed cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'erbrimmed their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reaped furrow sound asleep,
Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers;
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too, -
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing, and now with treble soft
The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Productivity? Nah.

I'm trying to think of what I've accomplished in terms of crafty stuff, or creativity in general, over the summer and it's kind of embarrassing. I made a tote bag for Sophia's best friend as part of her birthday gift, but didn't get a picture of it. But! Look, I did make these curtains for our living room. Finally, WE HAVE WINDOW TREATMENT. It's a big window, as you can see, and the room just needed something bright. So I got this Robert Kaufman fabric from Sew Mama, Sew and whipped these up. It wasn't exactly hard...I almost feel guilty bragging about it.



Anyway. I think they do add some sunshine to the room. I bought some of those little rings that hang on the curtain rod and clip to the fabric, so I didn't even have to worry much about my top measurements since the rod doesn't actually run through the fabric. See? I'm lame.

The kids are staying with their Nana and Papa in West Virginia for probably about 2 weeks. That seems like such a long time...I feel a little weepy about them being gone for so long, but they were very excited about it. And! And! I start a job at Border's next week! I really wanted this job. It's just part-time right now, but that's perfect as we transition Benjamin into Kindergarten and Sophia into 2nd grade and we all get used to it.

And this week? I'm going to clean the house. And what I clean won't be immediately demolished as soon as I leave the room. And I'm going to read. A lot. Yes.

in which I am beyond pathetic

Yes, somehow a huge chunk of time has passed me by, and I haven't paid a bit of attention to this blog in the meantime. It's pure laziness.

We have been having a good summer, though. It's funny, but summer has always been my least favorite season. (I am not a fan of Heat, and I don't cope very well with sweltering temperatures.) But summers here, in Northern New York? Have me definitely rethinking that preference. It's just gorgeous here on a sunny summer afternoon. I'm used to humid river valleys in the summer. And then there was last summer, in Missouri, when walking outside actually felt like being slapped in the face. There was that day my car's temperature gauge read 112 degrees, too.

I heart you, Northern New York.



So, we've hit the Renaissance Festival at Sterling (where the Masked Man and the Faire Maiden had much fun and even rode this camel!), went camping with Sarah and her kids, toured Genessee Country Village with them, spent a lot of time outside, and enjoyed the wonderful free splash park here on base with lovely friends. The kids are seriously thriving here; the neighborhood is awesome, and they have Best Friends who live just a few houses up to play with every day. I can't believe our good fortune, or quite how much I love it here.

Here's some gratuitous picture spam.



Benjamin chases a chicken at Genessee Country Village.




Sophia rocks the Faire Maiden look at Sterling.










Spalsh park fun.

And now I can feel like I have accomplished something in terms of this blog. And vow to update more often, and soon.

I am so popular among the younger set

This week Clint is on a field mission so I've been letting the kids sleep with me. (It's a beloved treat, for all of us.) I started in the middle last night but around 1am had to shift a kid over and get that little bit more space to stretch out. Tonight I set my terms that I wasn't in the middle and the negotiations began. Sophia claimed the middle and Benjamin got all put out and started pouting about not "laying beside Mama." The deal was that tomorrow night it's his turn to be in the middle, and there was lots of "Benjamin, you always get to be beside Mama!" and "Sophia, why don't you go to your own bed!" but the issue pretty much got settled and they quieted down.

Then as soon as Sophia started snoring (about 3 minutes later), Benjamin promptly rolled over her and proceeded to wedge his little body between us. Now he's patting my arm while I type and savoring his Machiavellian triumph.

I feel so wildly popular.

Mother's Day

I love this picture. It's my great grandmother, Violet, with my grandmother, Ghislaine. My great grandmother passed away a few years ago, but this picture of her, a young mother looking over her shoulder with the sunlight on her back, makes me happy. I have another picture, with her and her grown daughter encircling my mother and her two siblings, that I would have liked to post, but alas...it isn't scanned to my computer. I have a deep, desperate love of old photographs, and I've been lucky enough to be given quite a few from my mother's side of the family.





I had a great Mother's Day. Not only did I get the Best Mama Present Ever, but the day itself was a joy. We went for a hike on a beautiful trail here on base, which circled a pond and was just long enough to be a hike without too much carrying of the children involved. (Ok, Benjamin isn't the best walker and he spent about 10 minutes up on my shoulders toward the end.) It was such a gorgeous day. I can see us doing that walk a lot. Clint grilled after that, and we even had brownies while we watched a movie. Perfect.





This was my present. I found the artist on Etsy and she did a fantastic job on this necklace. I just adore it and have been wearing it constantly. Sophia also brought home a card she made for me in art class, and it's pretty fabulous.

We saw Iron Man on Saturday, and everyone enjoyed it. Benjamin had been pretty ambivalent about Iron Man, which is surprising given his love of super heroes. So when we left the theater I asked him if he liked it, and he said, "Yes. And when I say 'yes,' I mean 'AWESOME'!" Score.

On Friday I got Sophia out of school a bit early because Clint's company was having a family event at the bowling alley. They had a lane set up with bumpers for the kids and they had cake. Cake seems to be a universal happy-maker. It was the kids' first time bowling, and they both loved it. I'm not a big fan myself, but I can see I'll have to suck it up and take them more often.

Anyway, the whole weekend can basically be summed up as: I am one lucky mama.


Happy Belated Mother's Day to all!

It's May Already!

Man, where did April go? Hmm.

Anyway, Sophia gave a gripping performance this week in her school's spring concert as Blind Mouse #3. She had about six lines, which she memorized with great deliberation and delivered with impressively calm perfection. Her favorite part? The tail on her costume.

Also, see those glasses on her face? They're new. You can't see them all that well in that picture, but they're the classic tortoise shell, plastic frames. Sophia does not have a very good track record with glasses. This is her fourth pair since she was screened not quite two years ago. The first two pairs? She simply lost. The last one? She left on the floor and the dog put a few chips on one of the lenses. She continued to wear them until they literally fell apart and fell off her face in school one day. The girl is hard on eye wear. And she wanted me to spring for Hannah Montana frames. Um, maybe next time, Sophia.





Benjamin's new favorite thing is to have his breakfast on a tray. Pictured is a general favorite around here: hot chocolate and oatmeal with syrup and brown sugar stirred in. Earlier this week I had to take him to the clinic here on base to have a tick removed from his head. He was so brave and kept so still, even though it hurt him a good bit while they were trying to get all of it out. They tested the tick, and unfortunately it was carrying lyme disease, so he's on a fairly heavy dose of Amoxycillin and is going in for a blood test tomorrow morning. Good thoughts are appreciated. Apparently ticks and lyme disease are pretty bad in this area.

I think we're going to see Iron Man this weekend. Everyone is excited!

Feels like Summer...

For all the snow, and for all that it felt like spring was never going to quite arrive here in upstate New York, we're having weather that is positively balmy now, and have been for more than a week. It is quite simply gorgeous. I think I will adore the summers here. The kids got new shoes to see them through all their summer adventuring: "performance sandals". They love them because they're comfortable and they can get them wet. I love them because they keep their feet fairly protected and they just wash off when they get muddy or dirty. Plus they can be worn to school and such. So versatile.





Benjamin and I went thrifting today, and I totally scored. I found these vintage orange pyrex mugs, which I love way too much to be normal, and this hand-sewn patchwork panel at the lovely local store that encloses antiques, a nursery/garden supply shop, and foody, crafty new things all in one delightful and dangerous stop. (It's the same place my birthday table came from.) We also picked up two small vases at the post thrift shop, which we've filled with some of the flowers growing in the front garden. And I only spent $20!!



Here's a close-up of the patchwork piece I found. I debated turning it into a pillow, but instead decided to use a frame I had on hand from a picture I was gifted but just isn't me, and turned it into some wall art. I really like how it turned out, even though the piece doesn't quite "fit" in the frame.




Clint is in the field for the week, so I'm making a non-meat dinner. I can't do that very often when he's here; he says he can't get full without some meat, and unfortunately he just wasn't raised as a veggie person. Oh, I make him eat them along with the rest of us, but his caveman heart just isn't in it. He is so very happy grilling season is here, and he can "burn some meat myself and eat it." And I really do *love* his grilled chicken and burgers. But tonight, we're having steamed veggies and rice. Yummy, easy, intensely satisfying...and good for the one person in this house trying to shed some extra pounds, too.