Change of season...

October is putting on a show in New England this year. The light on the foliage is breathtaking, and I find myself gasping as I run mundane errands. Just driving to the grocery store or the transfer station is a celebration for my eyes. 

I pulled summer foliage out of most of the planters and window boxes. Then I laid some hay on top of each and got a little whimsical with pumpkins. The grands were thrilled to see my efforts. 

One of the ancient lilac bushes got a good pruning, and I hauled the pulled plants and trimmed branches out to the goats for a sumptuous smorgasbord. They make short work of such "waste." 

Every year I treat the house to having its windows professionally washed. There are several reasons for this. First, I am a terrible window washer, leaving streaks and smears despite my best efforts. Also, since we have a two-story house, climbing on the roof and using tall ladders is necessary to reach the second story. Third, wrestling with our old windows and screens takes strength and talent I just can't seem to muster. Oh, and the windows always have a lot of spiders hiding around the edges. Way too many legs for me to cope with. All of these factors make it much easier to save up, write a check, and have the job done perfectly.

Maine winters are long, dark, and often dreary, so it feels important to me to have sparkly clean windows that let in every speck of sunlight possible. 

I always take down all my curtains before the washing crew arrives. This makes it easier for them, and gives me time to wash all that fabric. I had a moment this year as I took the fragrant curtains from the washing machine... re-hanging them has always been a "Chris job." He was so tall it was an easy chore for him to go from room to room and place the rods in their holders. I miss him in a thousand ways. Sweet Rachel understood that and took the job on as her own. She had to scramble around on a stool, but she kindly did it for me to help save a little sorrow. 

This time of year we normally make many quarts of tomato sauce, capturing the flavor of summer to enjoy for the rest of the year. I didn't think I had it in me to do it this year, but Rachel pulled a quart from last fall out of the freezer to make pasta for us for work lunch one day, and it was so delicious I had to rouse myself to tackle the coring, chopping, seasoning, stirring, and packaging. Rachel helped, of course, and we are so glad we did it. The scent of it cooking was indescribably delicious, and the flavor of this year's efforts is excellent. We are all looking forward to enjoying the bounty. 

After my sweet friend Angel did me the great kindness of cleaning up Chris's office, I gave the room a hard look. Before we ever bought this house, someone had covered the ceiling in some sort of wallpaper and then painted over it. The seams were gaping in spots. There was peeling paint on a lot of the woodwork, and damage to the drywall that needed skills I do not possess to repair. The nice men who built our deck last year came and got to work scraping, sanding, mudding, sanding some more, and priming. It was a bigger project than I realized; they spent many hours making everything smooth and paint-ready. I'll use the space as an additional guest room and homeschool space for the Owlet and Cygnet. Just as autumn arrives with glorious color, flavor, and predictability, it is time for this room to have a new season, too.