earliest autumn days

Though the very first day of autumn was rainy and grey, we have had day after day of blue skies since then. Sunny and warm. We are very appreciative of course!

My sister visited recently and we have a bit of a lakeside picnic tradition going on with her. Although this time we ended up closer to where the creek is coming into the lake. (And I don't have any pictures of the actual picnic, or my sister...)

Warm enough for bare feet and water play.

This little one really, really likes to play in the water.


Last week we had our own little Michaelmas celebration at home, and on Saturday we went to our nearby Waldorf school for their Michaelmas Festival. It was sweet and quiet (well, kind of) and just right for the girls.

Here is Chessa facing her dragon. (No, not the dear kindergarten teacher!) It really takes such courage for her to participate in a group activity like this. The children walked across the balance beam, watching out for the dragon below. The received a special little treasure at the other and then made their way back across.

Brave little Chessa!

Contemplative Chloe. We have been told she is a very good observer. I love observing her dimples while she is observing something else.

On the way home from the festival we stopped at a wild apple tree we had been noticing lately. The apples were a little bit small but super sweet and yummy. We came home with lots and lots of apples!

To add to the apples and pears that had already been harvested in recent weeks. We have many baskets and basins full now.

This morning we made a large pot of applesauce. And then we decided to keep on cooking. We do this often on Sundays, cook and bake all day long. We roasted a bunch of potatoes, we baked some tempeh at the same time. This afternoon we baked some chocolate chip cookies for Jason, a big batch to last for many days. We baked bread, of course, this we do every day. We already have a big pot of pinto beans in the refrigerator. I am thinking of making them into some kind of stew for tomorrow night. I love having so much food prepared for the week ahead!

We have a lot of greens still growing nicely in the garden..Swiss chard, lettuce, and cilantro mostly. Happy to still be harvesting food from the garden.

Happy for autumn flowers also.

Today those autumn winds started blowing again. Colder evenings are returning. And now October is here with us. The warmth of the last weeks seemed to have had me in a kind of in-between state, it was almost more summery than autumny. I am glad the winds came. I am ready to embrace autumn!

I hope you are enjoying many beautiful autumn days too!


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