December

December around here has been merry & bright, and has looked something like this:

Jan Michael has made 15 batches of caramel corn since the beginning of the month, two of which were sent to Germany & Portugal. Caramel corn world domination! :)

Have I been clear enough about how we love him so? 

Just missing a few very important people on both Christmas Eve & Christmas day, but we'll take what we can get! 

November

I've neglected our little home here on the internet something awful lately. My heart has been so full with everything that's been going on, but it seems like my ability to describe it all is hunkered down in a cave somewhere hibernating. So, not many words again to go with the pictures, but I do want to share those at least, because it makes me sad to see this small glimpse into our days all grown over with cobwebs.

November has a special kind of sunrise and sunset all its own:

A combination 15th-anniversary / We'd-better-hurry-up-and-figure-out-something-for-the-Christmas-cards-before-it's-too-late! photo shoot:

Thanksgiving projects - we had the LOVELIEST Thanksgiving:

And over & over again, the undisputed star of the show:

October catch up

I'm dying to share pictures from October, but for the life of me, I can't think of what to say about any of them. So - no words, lots of photos. You'll get the picture from the pictures, ha!

October party

October gave a party;

The leaves by hundreds came - 

The Chestnuts, Oaks & Maples,

And leaves of every name.

The Sunshine spread a carpet

And everything was grand,

Miss Weather led the dancing, 

Professor Wind the band. 

- George Cooper

P.S. One of these pictures was taken in September, but never mind :)

Collision

I've said this before but I must say it again: September is a lovely, perfectly crafted mash-up of summer and fall. Let's look at the indisputable proof, shall we? 

My friend Halcyon and I, along with Miss Mabel the puppy, went marching up a small-ish mountain Wednesday morning and saw all kinds of green in the trees and blue in the sky, which means summer is not lying down quite yet, at least without a fight. Besides, it was hot as all get out, and I mean hot. 

But then, all month long, every time I pop into a grocery store, it's nothing but mums, mums, mums, which I think must be the floral ambassador of fall. I always want to bring dozens home, but then I remember the territorial squirrels who roam our yard, and that once I planted ornamental kale in the fall and that the squirrels took umbrage to this and ripped them right out of the flower bed. Now I feel like any and all fall planting is jinxed and so I've resigned myself to admiring them whenever we're out of bread or milk.

And one more thing: On Friday I spent an hour or so reading in the front yard, which is such a summery thing to do, but I was drinking iced pumpkin spice tea at the very same time, and anything involving pumpkin is so  perfectly autumnal, isn't it? Also, you can see some of the leaves that have slipped from the trees already (fall!), but hey! I drank that pumpkin tea with a twisty straw (summer!) AND my feet were delightfully bare (summer again!) but my book is about [nice, friendly, not scary] witches (fall!!) 

Anne of Green Gables says, "I'm so glad I live in world where there are Octobers" and I wholeheartedly agree, but I feel the same way about Septembers, too :)

On the banks of Lake Wenatchee

We tumbled home Sunday afternoon from our last official fling with summer. This beea-uuuu-tiful weather we've been living under is supposed to last through the month, and we'll continue to enjoy it (I took a nap in the grass yesterday!), but the weekend marked our final big adventure in this season of sun.

And speaking of sunshine & blue skies, the likes of which really have spoiled us rotten since June, on this camping expedition, we had none. Wait, that's not quite true. We had a dry-ish reprieve Saturday night, and the sun burst forth Sunday morning just as we were packing up to leave, but until then, it was mostly wet and damp and gray. I'm sorry to report that besides the rain, there was also a brief but thunderous temper that passed through Friday night as we were sloshing around setting up the tent, and the culprit was not the 4-1/2 year old niece-of-our-hearts. I love living in a tent, but I do not like to do it while I'm soaking wet, thank you very much.

But! There are some very cozy things about camping in the rain, and when one is given a very kind and gentle reminder that one is not in fact 4-1/2 and should probably try and recover, they are easy to see! Drinking cocoa while playing Uno & Go Fish in the pop-up trailer, for one, and using the weather as an excuse to spend a few hours in Leavenworth, browsing through toy stores and and eating blackberry ice cream cones, for another. And really, it doesn't get much cozier than being snug as a bug in a rug under a pile of sleeping bags and blankets while you read yourself to sleep as raindrops patter on the tent.

"Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, bring your own sunshine." Anthony J. D'Angelo