Over the Fence: Fall At Last

 

Well hello to you...and to Fall!  Isn't it lovely to finally be officially in a brand new season?   Yes, even though it mightn't feel like a new season just yet, at least not the days...But the mornings!  Jacket wearing mornings.  Snuggle into sweaters mornings and late evenings.  Nights cool enough to pull up all the covers and snuggle together under them.  I'm so glad to have it so!

Shall you join me for coffee?   I'm full of random thoughts today and I am so ready to share a few of them.  Have a seat, won't you?

I'm contemplating apple options...Shall I bake them, make a Brown Betty, or a pie or an apple cake?  Or do I want a lovely spice cake with a broiled frosting?  Oh the possibilities!  What sounds good to you?  I love to cook this time of year.  I like to bake more often, something I really miss in summer when I really don't want to add unnecessary heat to the kitchen.  I like slow cooked dishes, not just those I put in the slow cooker, but those simmered on stove top and the ones I cook in the oven for a long time.  I like that they are often budget friendly and find them comforting and satisfying.  There's just something homey too about having the house filled with the scent of good food.

I've really been thinking I should create an autumn bucket list.  In fact, I'm thinking of creating one for each season of the year, little things I'd like to do but seldom think of until a season is winding up.  I always think of the jobs I might do but never do I think of the pleasures of a season I might enjoy except perhaps at Christmas.  That's one holiday I do try my best to make the most of, but it seems to me that there is pleasure to be had in every season and I for one would love to begin to mindfully savor it.

I've already said I love to bake and cook and feel a refreshed interest in both when Fall draws near.  And I always plan the things I'd like to make with cooler weather.   So I'll just plan the things I want to do as well.  Hardly any of them require money.  Some of them include seasonal food treats but that is something I try to incorporate into every season, to enjoy the fruits and vegetables that are ripe and ready at that set time of year.

So I started on Sunday.  I had noted that the Hardy Farms boiled peanut huts were up at most of the convenient stores and I asked John to stop.  All the way home we ate green boiled peanuts.  I probably will get one more bag this year.  I can cook them myself but it takes a long time and it takes LOADS of salt to boil peanuts.  Most people have gas burners and huge stock pots now but in my childhood a common site was a wood fire with a big black cauldron full of water and peanuts hanging over it.   The men who set these up would start them really early in the day and stir them with big wooden paddles.  If you stopped to buy hot boiled peanuts they took a dipper and filled little paper sacks with them.  That wet paper bag was as much a part of boiled peanuts as  the peanuts themselves.  It didn't affect the flavor but the aroma of peanuts, salt and wet paper bag were all part of the experience.   Nowadays they are put cold into a zippered bag.  They still taste good but it's not the same.  You can always heat them up once you're home but I'm usually slap out of the paper bag to pop them into!

One of my favorite memories is of a chilly autumn morning picnic at a local park.  The sky was brilliant blue, the water reflected the blue back, the trees were every shade of crimson, maroon, gold and our breakfast was piping hot.  I'd made a homemade Croissant breakfast bun and we had hot coffee.  It was absolutely lovely.  That memory is from my first marriage but it's something I'd love to do with John one morning if we can, when the leaves actually start to change.  Perhaps we won't be near water though we could probably head to the very same park since it's not far from here.  

So that's the sort of thing I've in mind for enjoying autumn this year.  

Today being the first day of autumn, I was a bit put out  to find it humid and heavy when I walked outdoors this morning, but this evening, we were on the front porch with Caleb and a cool northwesterly breeze was blowing.  The world about had gone golden and leaves tumbled gently to the ground. It came home to me in that moment, that summer is fully over.  Autumn is here. Tonight the temperatures will drop.  For  a few moments I wanted to cry.  Completely unreasonable, I know, but I was suddenly so sad to realize that summer was done.   

I'm sorry to make this chat so short.  I've had a full day of Caleb here and I'm tired.  I expect writing will be less for a bit but I'll stop and chat when I can.