Fall

Early runs in the predawn darkness with Lu have become a part of my morning routine. After

years of running without a partner (miss you, Em!), I think I've finally found myself a good match. Though clearly this dog is built for speed, and clearly I am not, as I find myself trailing along behind her enviously watching her effortless pace. We arrive home after a three miler and she will stare expectantly at me as I stand at the sink to slam down a glass of water. Again? Can we go again?

Jack was up at 6 on Saturday morning chirping loudly and enthusiastically about Halloween decorations. We are all basking in the changing season: pumpkin cookies, applesauce, cider, costume designs, though it's difficult to match the excitement of a four year old at 6 in the morning. I never thought of myself as much of a Halloween person until I had small people in my life who love to dress up. This year we will have Harry Potter and a cowboy. I'd better get started on that cloak.

Fall. A time for tradition. A time to relive and savor bits and pieces of my own childhood. A time to reach out an hold, for a passing moment, a tender memory. Fall is a time for family.

We are all about Harry Potter these days and as much as I loathe the thought of my kids getting so much into specific characters, I have to admit that having a kid who wants to talk about muggles and Hogwarts and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is pretty cool. After reading the chapter about Gringotts and explaining to Jack what a goblin is, he turned to me and demanded why our bank has no goblins. "That would be cool, Mom. I would never rob a bank if goblins were guarding it. I bet our money would be really safe. They should get some goblins to guard our bank." Indeed.

We had a rough afternoon last week- one that involved time outs and frustrated tears and hurt feelings and endless squabbling over toys. You know what I mean? And so the next day we decided to do something different. When in doubt, we pack up the kids, a frisbee and a soccer ball, an eager dog, and some food and head out to Mount Pisgah for a picnic.

Fresh air and lots of room to run. I think that's exactly what we all needed. Though next time I'll be bringing along a choice beverage to sip while my kids and dog run laps around me.

Last year at this time we froze about 7 gallons of cider. Turns out nobody in our house really goes crazy for the stuff and we still have some left over. This year we are trying a new approach: hard cider. It's been bubbling and fermenting on the kitchen counter for a week or so now and, though it looks absolutely disgusting and smells kinda funky, we have pretty high hopes for this latest endeavor. I'll let you know.

We had our first wood stove fire of the season last night. The kids and dog gathered around and we all toasted ourselves silly until no one could take it anymore and so we went to cold beds with the fire's warmth lingering on our backs. Fall. It's definitely here, like it or not.

We choose to like it.

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