Gourds

I live in the country, as I'm sure I've mentioned before.  In the middle of nowhere.  And when you move to a place such as the one where I live you sort of show up, look around, and then a part of your brain says "Is that it?"

I have learned through doing this for years now, moving and strange new places, that it is never it.

If you ask people, they will never tell you all the weird, hidden, fantastic places you can go and the incredibly interesting people you will meet and the fairs no one has heard of and such - and I'm assuming this is because to them these things are not cool, they are just the same old things that have always existed and the same old people who have always been there.  There's nothing interesting in them.

And because of this I've learned that you need to have patience when you arrive.  People are going to tell you about the touristy stuff first.  After a while though you're going to start to hear about the interesting things - and that's how I heard about the gourds.  The librarian mentioned them in an offhand way, just off to pick up some gourds.  Oh, where do you get gourds?  I wanted to know.  And she told me about a place down one back road where a farmer grew all sorts of amazing gourds and left them for people to take for a donation.  She came back with all sorts of gourds, all different kinds.

Now, what an interesting thing, eh?  And who would have known that that existed - it's not the sort of thing anyone would tell you when you arrived in a new place.  They don't tell you that there is a wonderful spot to get crabapples or a place you can watch them shear sheep or a lovely beach no one goes to.  I've learned to love moving to a new place because of this; I'm never bored and I always know that when I arrive there will be exciting things.

Fall Nonsense

It's been very cold in the mornings here the past week or so.  I like to keep the thermostat set very low all the time, but first thing in the morning I get up and turn the heat up to luxurious, extravagant heights - soccer team and organic food heights, and then I sit around in my pajamas and feel the air temperature rise up to what I imagine other people's houses feel like.  This only really works if I get up before everyone else does which fortunately hasn't been much of a problem lately because I've been up before five most days.  Was it Simcha Fisher who wrote the 'early morning worries' post?  The one about lying in bed thinking "Oh Lord, there's so much rhubarb".  Hahaha.  Yes.  Oh, Lord, there is indeed flowing from your merciful hands a wealth of rhubarb.  Please reign in the rhubarb slightly.  Sincerely, your humble servant.

Anyway, I apparently also wrote a post about this, looking back, although I can't find it.

We're in the thick of fall insanity over here - especially in regards to David going to school.  He's off to New York State soon to do some courses towards ordination and then back and then two more via a distance program and then a bit of a break and then two more through the same program, another through a different program, and then rounding of the school year with the final two in Michigan State.  New York State is first, though - I have to get through that without dying.  I deeply, deeply dislike the times I solo parent.

We're about halfway through running the Alpha program at the church, and I have stepped away from Bible study because the children are attending Awana on the same night, so we're pretty busy.  Once Alpha is done, the first rush of courses should also be done, and it will be Christmas.  Mustn't let the stress overtake the season of Advent, I tell myself, heaping yet more pressure on my head.  Mustn't flail about.

Fruit

I was lying in bed last night reading the last of a book I wanted to return to the library today and thinking over what I'd accomplished.  I'd say not much, except that in the evening Samuel and I hiked out to the park and picked a bag of crabapples and then over to an old apple tree in town and got some of those as well.  Best apples in town in my opinion.  And then we came home and I wrote down what I needed to make pickled apples and apple chutney, so I'll be doing that today and it makes me feel better.

Today is Tuesday and so it's also the day for stitching group and I'm trying to decide if I should bring the sweater I'm crocheting for Samuel because it's so cold I should really get that finished, or if I should bring some rug stuff and start another rag rug.  It's a nice problem to have.

I froze 6 litres of peaches yesterday and I can't wait for the cold February day to come when I can pull some out of the freezer and make a cobbler.  It's a wonderful feeling knowing that I have them and the strawberries and rhubarb.  I wish I'd managed to get some raspberries in as well.

I went out and cut away at the weeds overtaking the raspberry canes in the backyard and I'm more confident now that next year we'll get some fruit.  I'd cut them all down last year so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that they didn't fruit but I was disappointed.

Looking Back Over Autumns Past

I was looking back over pictures of recent Falls, and I just find it so odd every year to see how our lives have changed, in some cases drastically.  I picked out some of my favourites taken outside over the past few years.

In Fall of 2010 we had a 6 month old and lived in rural New Brunswick, mostly overwhelmed with the challenges and joys of being fairly new parents, and completely blown away that two very average people could create the most handsome and intelligent baby either of us had ever seen.

A year later Samuel looks so very much older...

...and I was expecting Clara as well.

Fall of 2012 meant a move from the apartment we'd lived in for years and into a house better than anything we could have ever dreamed of.  It was also our first Fall with Clara, who was about 5 months.

Did you notice both babies are wearing the same hat?

And now here we are, in Fall 2013.  We're in a new town, the children are older, but life, well, life is busy and crazy and wonderful and weird.

They're so big.  Wow.

Linked up to Cari's Theme Thursday.