Showing posts with label autumn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label autumn. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

November Beach

The day of the election I posted a link to a blog post and claimed that I try not to talk politics on the internet.

The next day, all I could do was talk politics on the internet.

Then I claimed that I was done with just posting pictures of my family on this blog. Sick of talking about how going outside always makes me feel better.

But now look at me. That's exactly what I've come here to do.

The point being, I can't be trusted. The only thing I do consistently is break my own rules. 

It's been a rough two weeks. You can think I'm being melodramatic. You can think that I'm being a poor sport. That I'm overreacting. Buying in to the sensationalist media machine. These things may all very well be true. Regardless, I've been pretty miserable. 

Inside, I find myself desperate to do something. To be the change. To help. To heal. But most days, after I've made a handful of calls, I don't know what else to do. I circle around my house, sweeping  the never ending piles of dirt and debris. I stuff the shoes back into the overflowing basket by the front door. I chip away at the Sisyphean pile of laundry. 

But outside, things feel better. Hopeful. Promising. 

Today, we all abandoned our shoes despite the cold. Embraced the almost science of grounding. Tom searched for turkey tail in the woods. I played with my camera and then laid on the sand. 

I'm not sure that I can stop Steve Bannon from being appointed or keep the pipeline from being finished. But after some time in bright winter sun, I can be kinder again. 

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

What I Do

I skimp on decorations. I pawn off pumpkin carving on Tom. Costumes are pulled from the dress-up box, ordered on Amazon, or made with things scavenged from around the house and yard. 

But I support trick-or-treating, and filling the house with friends for a bonfire and bowl of chili. 

Those are the things I can do, so I do them. 


Thursday, September 29, 2016

Weber's Cider Mill

A Tuesday with an old friend, a few days past her due date.

Running around hay bales mazes.

Sliding on burlap sacks.

Drinking cider and chomping on apples.

Chickens.

Goats.

Tractor tire play grounds.

Leaving filthy, hungry, tired and happy.




Friday, November 27, 2015

Thanksgiving 2015

In short, it was the most unremarkable of Thanksgivings. A long, shadowed quiet afternoon. Small, scraped helping hands. A blessing said at 5 pm. A game played before heading to sleep. Sweet and easily forgotten. Half formed memories that will blend into other years at the very same tables, with the very same people, eating the very same food.

But one does not need the extraordinary to give thanks.


Monday, November 9, 2015

This Weekend We // Blackburn Trail Center

This weekend we spent a couple of days unwinding in the hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in an gluttonously large cabin with a few friends. Although the intention had been to fill the place to its brim, I may have inadvertently booked it for a weekend that most of my compatriots already had filled with other plans. Nevertheless, I made sure to enjoy the commercial kitchen and hope to use it even more fully next year when I am able to entice a couple dozen more folks to come wander bits of the Appalachian Trail and spend countless hours on the covetous wrap-around porch. 

The simplicity of spending time in a place that isn't yours, away from the concerns of the everyday. No laundry to do. No bills to pay. Nothing to fill your time except long conversations circling a few key themes. Time spent remembering the person you thought you would one day be and learning to appreciate the person you did, in fact, become. 

Good food of the most wholesome variety. Relatively early nights. A chill in the air. Flannels and sweaters and inappropriate foot ware. One pretty adorable kitchen dance session. A harmonica lost to a rat's nest. The promise of doing it again next year.