Autumn on the Way

...and here it is! The first Sweatshirt Morning of the season! I was puttering around in the kitchen, making fresh hummingbird nectar and a crockpot of bean soup, and the breeze through the open back door raised a few goosebumps on my arms. Sixty-seven degrees, with last night's downpour picking back up again.

I love cool, rainy mornings. Somehow it's a relief to have the sun covered up for a little bit, and to be just a little more grateful for that hot cup of tea. Bonus - I don't have to go anywhere today. I can just be home home home. Snug. Kettle on the stove. Fresh box of Earl Grey tea and some of Mr. Harry the Bee-Man's honey from the greenhouses, Woody crunching through her breakfast and giving me an occasional "weep!". Home.

There's a book with an idea that I just love - The Deliberate Home by Susan Miller Cavitch. The introduction starts out, "The purpose of this book is to remind people that we have enormous freedom to creatively design our lives at home...Home is a haven, a private world where we have infinite possibilities - choices we can make about how we want to live." It then goes through different things that make up Home - from "clearing the land" (metaphorically speaking) to gardening to crafting to feeding the family, promoting emotional health, raising children, welcoming others, and keeping the Sabbath. I have read chunks of the book, but not all the way through yet - I just love the idea of it. And mornings like this make me want to dive back into it, grab all the ideas, and make my own home a snug, candle-light-glowing, dust-and-clutter-free refuge filled with the sound of Celtic music and the smell of freshly baked bread. (And a totally weeded garden, going to sleep for the winter.)(And a hand-knitted afghan or two.)

Whoops. Reality Check Time!

I get this way every Fall, just when Sweatshirt Days start happening. This year, I'm finally consciously realizing a few things: firstly, all this does not happen at once! It happens fifteen minutes at a time, in between real life stuff. Secondly, it especially does not happen with me seated in front of the computer. Thirdly, having part of it happen is better than going into Fully Frozen Procrastination Mode and winding up with none of it.

So, I've got a crock of bean soup going, and will be making cornbread to go with it (that counts as freshly baked bread, I guess). I can put the Celtic music on any time I'd like - scuse me, be right back... Okay. Music is a "go". We can eat with candles on the table tonight. And the garden, while far from perfect, is better than it's been in years. Cool, so far.

The rest of it? Well, ask me six months from now.

...the afghan, however, might take a bit longer. I really ought to finish the one I'm on first - and I started it somewhere in the early 1980's, for two friends' wedding.

(Yes, Nancy and Dale, I still have "that dog I'm knitting for you". Somewhere.)
(Um, does your living room still have rust and cream colors in it anywhere?)