The last two weeks have been rather busy with family commitments and just plain life. Got to visit my mom and sister last weekend, and had a very fun day of eating, laughing,chatting and playing karaoke. Got to watch my son and his best cousin buddy playing a spontaneous game of their own design, sort of a cross between a mad scientist and the Iron Chef. He would create imaginary “potions” out of different ingredients she would suggest, he would pretend feed them to her and she would act in rather silly ways. They were happy doing this for a long time, then dancing to music, then acting out Little Bunny Foo Foo. These two have quite the silly imagination when they get together.

Meanwhile, something has been inspiring me to stock up for winter in various ways. Perhaps it is just Midwestern thinking catching up with me at long last, perhaps it is a God breeze ( those odd promptings you get that later turn out to have been right on the money), but it is heavy on my mind. I have bough oats, barley, rice, beans, dried milk, canned meats and have filled my freezer with chicken stock, pre browned ground beef , cooked butternut squash and cooked chicken meat. This weekend I want to lay in a stash of dried fruit, flour, oil and a few seasonings/herbs. I discovered a new to us apple variety( ginger gold) , went a little crazy and bought over 10 pounds of these, along with about as many galas. For a family of 3 this is a bit crazy, so I drug out my 6 quart crock pot, filled it with chopped apples, spices and a little water, and made a big batch of apple butter. I no longer own any canning jars so this will go into the freezer in small packages. Apple butter on fresh, homemade English muffins is absolute bliss!

Our school is going well. We are using MCP math, and it has helped to root out some issues that my son has struggled with, and present the concepts in a totally different light, with the outcome of a solid, long lasting understanding. He adores it, and math has become one of his favorite subjects at long last. It is so comforting to be able to rest somewhat easy in that development!

The turning of the seasons is very obvious here – the fall colors have arrived and the nights have a definite chill to them. We have an ash tree right out our living room window, and my son has been observing it throughout the year. He finally seems to be really aware of this seasonal progression. The tree has turned golden , and last night we had some rather stiff winds come through, stripping one large branch entirely. The grass below was littered in golden “confetti”, and the bare branch stands like a bony hand reaching to the sky. Son looks at the scene, gets a big smile on his face and says “Wow! This is why they call it fall! All the leaves fall down!”

Sometimes these little observations can keep you smiling for weeks!