Fall Fun and Celebrations

Nicole and Ava and I visited Bellewood Acres and explored the pumpkin patch, then shared an apple drizzled with carmet and whipped cream.

On another beautiful Fall day, we went to Hovander Farm and Tenant Lake.

Pumpkin carving this year was definitely a girly themed affair--Ava's was a princess and Nicole's was a shoe and a dress.

Next came the birthday celebrations.  First, a joint party with Ava's friend Charlotte, at Charlotte's house.  The theme was cupcake decorating!

Then, in the midst of snow and sub freezing temperatures, Jon and Kaci came up for the day, and we celebrated all three November birthdays.

Still to come--Thanksgiving at our house, which is also Ava's actual birthday this year.

Just what I was thinking

This morning I looked out the window at the trees in the midst of their breathtaking autumn transformation, and I wished I could freeze time for a little bit, and enjoy this view a little longer.  It's so lovely, but a little bittersweet because you know one or two windstorms will sweep the fall beauty away and leave behind wintery starkness.  And then, later the same day, I came across this poem by Robert Frost.

October
by Robert Frost

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
To-morrow's wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
To-morrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow,
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know;
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away;
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes' sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—
For the grapes' sake along the wall.

Harvest Day

Blueberries, apples and basil came inside today.  Four batches of pesto are now residing in the freezer, ready to bring the sweet scent of summer to a chilly winter day.  The apples are biding their time in the fridge, waiting to become applesauce, apple crisp, and dried apple rings. (My latest purchase is a food dehydrator.)  The blueberries that didn't grace someone's cereal bowl were sent off to the freezer.

The next free morning will be the day to bring in the lavender to dry.......

Love this city!

Ron and I visited Boston for the first time over the 4th of July.  What a great city!  We walked almost everywhere and if we couldn't we took the T, the very easy to use public transit system.  We walked the Freedom Trail, climbed the tower at Bunker Hill, stayed in a really cool boutique hotel,

visited the Kennedy Library,

toured Paul Revere's house, visited the Harvard campus,

and saw the site of the very first public school in America.

We had dinner at the bar that was the inspiration for the show Cheers, one of our favorites when we were first married.  


 We saw the site that marks where the Boston Massacre occurred...

  and went to a Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park, a super cool old ball park. 

We visited the Boston Commons

and the Public Gardens, the setting for the book 'Make Way for Ducklings."

I bought a copy at the Harvard Bookstore.  I REALLY wanted to go inside the Harvard Libray but you needed a student card...sigh.

 We were there on a Sunday so we chose one of the beautiful old churches we had visited along the Freedom Trail to worship at on Sunday morning.  We went to King's Chapel, which was built in 1686 and  had been Paul Revere's home church.  We went forward to take  communion by intinction.  The bowl that the wafers were served in and the chalice that the wine (real) was offered in were made by Paul Revere himself!  And on the 4th we walked down to the river and listened to the Boston Pops play before the fireworks.  We then went back to our hotel room, where we had an excellent view of the fireworks from our window.  Early the next morning we reluctantly flew home.

One more thing Ava and I like...

Used book stores!  Nicole, Ava and I walked on the ferry to Friday Harbor yesterday.  In the conversations leading up to this trip there was some ferry/fairy confusion going on, but she didn't seem disappointed that Tinkerbell never appeared on the boat.  We walked around the little town, had lunch, ice cream, checked out a few the of the more kid-friendly shops and even found a park to play in for awhile.  Ava was a trooper--no stroller on this trip--but I'm guessing all three of us slept pretty well that night.

Fun with Ava

It's so lovely that we both like to do the same things--read books, bake cookies, work in the garden, feed the ducks at the pond, listen to music in the park... and the list keeps growing.

Glee's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" with Oil Spill Images