Been sick since last Thursday, think I am on the improving side now thanks to the magic of nebulizers and antibiotics. Everyone is telling me how stunning the weather is, just perfect, perfect end of September, first of October weather. The husband positively sang rhapsodic about it as he left the house. I recall sunlight as I staggered, coughing and wheezing, to the doctor's yesterday. Outside the window it does indeed look nice. You can only drink so much tea, really, and thumb through old magazines, so I thought I would take a stroll around the house. Maybe look for the old boards and brick in the back and make a nice throw together bench for the pumpkins.
out past the side where signs of the daughter's visit remain - the cloths from where she washed and waxed her car (unamused by my croaky song of "wax on, wax off" - I really know far too many inane songs from commercials and old television shows).
Past the growing moss...very pretty although I am sure some people would be tossing bleach all over it to clean it up. We are not those people. The yard is in a complete lean towards Autumn, lovely, since it was kind of a forgetaboutit summer - too much interior house work, too many outdoor icks like blistering heat and an endless swarm of the most maddening crickets.
The late day light is lovely. Into the back where I have old bricks, wooden boards, various yard stuffs...or I had. Now the ivy has claimed it all. I am not about to root through all this - that is what cold winter winds are for - to kill it off so we can find all the junk we bloody forgot about in the stupid yard. Meanwhile it feels like a bug is in my hair. I feel very dizzy. That's the nebulizer and congestion. It is weirdly hot out here. The house where my nice chair is seems far away. What did I come out here for?
The yard is full of noise, birds dashing out of thick branches startle me, there is the sound of much movement (who lives in this wee hole? Too big for bees or crickets or whatever, it must be one of our zillion chipmunks).
It is so pretty. I feel so out of it. Is this what it is like to be really old and slightly dotty? Or someone smoking plants instead of taking photos of them? I swear, hydrangeas never fail to deliver even as their flowers fade. I swear there is something in my hair. I am exhausted. What did I want? Oh, yes. Something to put the pumpkins on. Oh, the heck with that. I need some Earl Gray.
the closest I get to farming is visiting this one, a gem about a half hour from my house, Muscoot Farm. We drove up hoping to wander the trails and hit up the Farmer's Market. The trails were unfortunately closed due to hay rides - should have realized with the season - but the Farmer's Market was in full swing, got some fabulous olives and artichoke hearts in some briny wonderfulness. The place was teeming with children but I found some hidden corners away from the children (I love kids but I work with them all week and sometimes one really needs some quiet time!).
The farmhouse is really quite an elegant affair and often has gallery showings - this time a very lovely ceremics show. Was tempted but already have too many things that require shelf space and table top time - and not enough space of either sort to count.
this cow looked serene, smartly avoiding the crowds of excited toddlers. Ah, inner peace, cow. Teach us all. Love the working farm feeling (laugh at me, real farmers, but there seems to be such poetry in these working spaces).
And of course, tis the season. Halloween decor everywhere.
