Coffee Chat: A New Season

Hello dears, do come in.  I've coffee for you or an iced soda or water, if you'd rather.  It's warm outdoors but we can sit here near the window and look out at that bluest blue sky and the lovely leaves tumbling slowly down from the trees in that hot breeze and pretend it's actually Fall.  It looks enough like it that Friday Josh stood gazing over the front yard at the leaves upon the ground and said "Gramma!  It's...It's fall!"  As I shared with a group of friends earlier, Josh is four and a four year old is brutally honest.  They don't mean to be hurtful or mean but are just learning to take note of things ("Gramma...Why do your arms flap like that when you move them?" sigh, lol), so it can't be just that I think it looks like fall. Josh thinks so, too.  It must be true!



John worked yesterday and I got up a little early Saturday morning, mostly to insure I had a small window of alone space which is funny when you consider how often he naps the day after he works. But I've discovered there is a difference in having him home napping, and having him actually gone.  And it's funny too, when you think how often I miss him when he's really gone that I even seek out that bit of alone time on the mornings he's coming in from work.

I decided that this year September is worthy of celebrating.  Saturday morning, the first day of September, I made myself a coffee tray, using my little teapot and  a pretty cup.  It's time to re-establish a lovely ritual I'd dropped and missed. I sat down to do my Bible study and had my coffee and later I picked up my phone and shared a photo on my Instagram account, the same I've used to head this post.  I thought about having Josh to visit and wondered if he wouldn't like a tea party...  I scanned quickly through instagram and saw I wasn't the only one celebrating this new month, which ushers in a new season.  Some had the first pumpkin spice latte, and a dear Nebraska friend did a pumpkin spice Dutch baby which looked delicious, and someone else had maple doughnuts with fall colored sprinkles.  All worthy ways to celebrate the day to be sure.

You know what else I did Saturday?  I ordered a coat.  Now if that doesn't say I'm ready for a change of season, I don't know what else could.  I ordered a coat on a day when it was 90F outdoors.  I call that anticipation, don't you?

I'd priced coats a few weeks ago after clearing my closet,  but cool weather seemed too far off to worry over it.  September...Well if September isn't cool, it at least brings the thoughts of cooler weather.  I found a very good buy on Zulily with the added bonus of being able to return the item (not always possible with Zulily).  It's not the ideal coat.  An ideal one, would have had a zip out liner and more classic, tailored lines.   I discovered that I have a very old-fashioned idea of the sort of coat I want.  I want something like  I had as I grew up and something much like Mama and Granny and Grandmama also wore: a nice tailored trench-like coat with a lining that you could remove so that it served both as winter wear and a raincoat or light coat.   It's such a classic look that you can wear it as an evening coat if need be, though I don't even own evening clothes. Why on earth is that not a coat like that to be had anymore?!   It truly is a classic look and you wouldn't think a trench with a removable liner would be so very difficult to find or to afford!

I guess I was just feeling nostalgic, because I saw many sorts of coats but nothing half so nice as I really wanted.  I could purchase trench coats but not with a removable liner.  Winter coats were predominantly puffy or anorak type coats (and seriously why not a nice tailored wool coat if we can't have a very nice all weather sort of coat?) and the anorak is what I ended up with,  having looked long and hard for what I wanted.  It's really a rather casual sort of coat to my eye and hardly what I'd call a tailored classic...but there you are.  It is a winter coat and will be suitable for about 98% of the occasions for which I might wear it,  and it was a very decent price, so I'll call it  good enough.

Another old fashioned idea I have is related to purses.  Growing up, I had some nice structured straw  or wicker bags for summer.  Not the big huge beach tote type of straw bag that is far too casual for most occasions.  We had very nice straw ones when I was growing up.    Lovely ones really.  Mostly from the Spilene company (which had a manufacturing plant in our town at the time) and they looked similar to this one I found on eBay:


The one above is a later model.  It is a soft woven sort and the one I really enjoyed was a varnished wicker sort of purse and creaked as you carried it about,  was sturdy and had nice leather fittings much like this.   I probably shouldn't have gone to eBay for the sort of purses I wanted to share with you but I thought about how in the autumn we usually got a new purse, one that was a woven sturdy fabric with leather trim.   The woven fabric looked like a tiny check with a white thread and a second  color thread that matched the leather.  Well, having gone to look and not finding one of those fall purses, I stumbled upon vintage Spilene tapestry bags...and I ordered one.  I'll claim I'm just using a portion of the savings over the coat, as I thought I'd spend a great deal more on that item.  Now I shall step away from the eBay page and behave.   It is a lovely purse, though.  Want to see?

That looks a bit blurry...but it's quite pretty, with blues, greens and reds.  It should go well with my current wardrobe choices.

You see I've gotten very 'new season' minded ordering a coat and a tapestry purse.

This month also brings in the Jewish 'New Year', as well, which is usually associated with the autumn months of harvest.    Even better reason for making a fresh start at things, if you feel the year has been rather rough on you, as I feel it has with our family. I'd like a new start at things.  I'd like others in my family to get a chance at something fresh and good and not hurtful.  I'd like a few family relationships healed.    To see an easing of financial strains, too.

I was thinking  as I read my Bible Saturday morning about going to the mountain top to worship God.  I realized that while I may whine and complain my way through the vallies, there's something to be said for being in the valley.  There's water for one thing and protection from the elements can be found, for another.  Not so when you're on that mountain top.  Not to say I'd stay only in the valley but I guess there's good reason God doesn't want us perpetually on the mountain tops as exalting as those times are.

I've been thinking of the mountains a lot lately, remembering childhood trips through North Carolina and the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountain ranges  Oh my gracious the views were majestic!  John is no great fan of the big mountain ranges but I  long for the mountains just as much as I long for the ocean.  I need to see something bigger than myself.  I need to see far beyond my usual horizons and get a better idea of the real proportions of the world and of me, which makes my problems and concerns shrink down to size, as well.  It's harder to do here on this land now that the trees have gotten so large.   In winter, when the trees are bare, it's easier to see the full scope of the skies above and that shrinks me to size, too.  This time of year I need the mountain tops, or the far horizon of the ocean, to set me straight.

Saturday also brought the first college football games.  We love watching our state university play and it's always been a fun time for Sam and Bess, as well as John and myself.  John and Bess spent their time watching the games and texting one another over the last two years. I watch but divide my attention with a magazine.  I'm generally the one who sees the quick but spectacular moves a player is making, despite my inattention, which frustrates John.   Some days though, it's a wonder he knows the game is on at all.  He turns the TV on, the crowd roars and John snores and that's that.  I was surprised Saturday he stayed awake through the whole thing.  He said they'd run all day and night both and I know he looked weary.  Guess the first game is the one you just want to watch for sure.

So there we were trying to watch the game and the announcer was a woman with a rather irritating voice.  Irritating enough I'd looked up from the magazine I'd been engrossed in and scowled at the TV.  John ended up finding the game on the radio and we watched the action on the TV with the sound muted.  There was a 10 second delay perhaps between the two broadcasts.  So we'd hear "Touchdown!" seconds before we'd see it occur, lol.  Still the announcers had some life in their voices and didn't talk in a constant monotone.

Sunday we went to church.  It was the Sunday for the children's church pastor to preach.  He only does his service once a year before the whole congregation.  It's an opportunity for parents and grandparents to get an idea of the sorts of things they do in Children's Church.  It's a fun Sunday for most all the adults.   I even learned something.  I learned that the ten plagues of Egypt corresponded to the ten gods Egyptians worshipped most highly during that era.  I've been asking for years, online and off ,why it was ten plagues... Now I know!

We didn't go into the grocery at all this Sunday.  I'd told John we could go in and I could spend but I didn't need to so we might as well skip it.  John stopped at the gas station to get his newspaper and we came home to eat our simple lunch.  No big Sunday meal.  We had other plans.  Those plans were originally meant to include just Josh and us, but we somehow got Isaac as well.  No harm.

Let me just say that while I will watch the boys for the parents when they are working if necessary, there is a HUGE difference in "I have to watch the boys," and "Let's get the boys and have some fun."
We had the best time and I mean that sincerely.  For one thing, they'd both had naps and were feeling quite well.  We knew that we had a limited window of time to be with them and from the moment they came in and Isaac did his happy dance when he saw Grampa we laughed and played.  I'd brought the stick horse out of the closet once more and told Josh no swinging him about like a bat. Hailey named the horse 'Brownie' ages ago and Brownie he's been ever since.  Josh rode him.  We fed him pretend oats and gave him pretend water.  We walked him about the house holding onto the side bridle and Josh rode him some more. I showed him how to 'giddup', have the horse turn left or right or stop.  Isaac wasn't sure what to make of horse head on a stick but he did pick him up and pet him.  Do you know sometimes, I forgot he was just a stick horse and not a real one for just a wee bit myself?

We had a tea party.  Turns out little boys like tea parties as much as girls do.  We had a real tea pot and a real tray and little plastic play cups .  To Josh's surprise I put in real water and later milk and let him pour it into the cups.  He was quite proud to pour and did a fairly good job with only a little spilling (got to love a tray!).     We had vanilla wafers, too and I can't tell you how sweet it was to watch Isaac dunk his cookie in his cup of  milk which I held for him.

Josh and I played with an old alarm clock that won't keep time but rings nicely when it's set to whatever time is on the dial.  We rang and rang and rang that alarm.  Sam was horrified to hear we'd played with it well over two hours but it wasn't continual and it was fun!  It's funny what isn't half so irritating to Grandparents as it is to parents, like drums and alarm clocks that ring, etc.   We played in turns that we had to get up for school and ride the bus and go to and from the cafeteria and the bus with the bells and then we came home and had supper (almost always pizza with marshmallows, a fantasy Josh apparently has, lol) and went to bed only to rise to go to school all over again.  Isaac spent time walking all about the kitchen and living room bringing various toys to play with.  I tried several times to pick him up but he'd shy away and say "Nunh uh" but would then go right to John and climb up in his lap.   I didn't get my hands on him until we had the tea party and later when he was just about to leave when he came to give me kisses.

John had his bit of fun.  He played horsey himself, bouncing the boys about on his leg, and there's another little game that they love where he drums lightly on their tummy and gently tugs their ears until they are in tune.  The boys always giggle away at that tuning and laugh out loud when he pronounces them in tune and plays a little drum roll on their belly.     Then it was his turn to feed the boys.  He made them peanut butter and honey sandwiches and when Josh mentioned marshmallows for the eighteenth time, John pulled down the jar from the cabinet and gave them each five mini marshmallows.  Gracious!  Feast fit for queens said Josh.  I pointed out that men were generally kings and women were queens and he made sure to call himself King Josh after that.

Yes, we had a grand time with the boys.

Today I saw John off to work and piddled about the house trying to find things to do until time to leave to go to Mama's.  I tried to think of something Mama might like to do.  When she said her knees were hurting her terribly today, I asked if she'd like to just ride a bit and get drive thru for our dinner.  We went about in my car which was loaded to the gills with items to be donated.  We drove by and dropped off at Goodwill and then went to get lunch.  The first place we tried was closed for the day.  Disappointment.  The second didn't have the item I'd meant to order, nor the one John and I usually have ordered there.  I offered to take Mama somewhere else but she said no she'd just settle for this.  Ack.  Needless to say neither of us ended up feeling very satisfied with our meal.  Second best is never quite good enough, is it?

We took a rather long drive about old country roads and then I took her back home.  I think she seemed glad to be back at home and frankly I was worn out.  John arose especially early today, at least an hour before the alarm was set to go off.

On my way home, I looked at ragweed blooming (achoo!) and the goldenrod which is just about to burst and the trees which are showing hints of color.  I thought back to how the Jewish calendar seems to be somehow nearer in tune to the seasons, at least it seems so after nine years of observing the five main feasts and the times of year in which they occur.  Just as our Roman calendar changes Passover/Easter from year to year, the Jewish calendar has so many days between this feast and that one and sometimes the New Year begins in October and sometimes in September.  But it is more an agricultural calendar than the Roman calendar.

Now, I shall send you home once more.  I hope you've enjoyed our visit and we will get together again soon!