Fall-ish Ramblings

It's autumn, and I'm so glad. We don't celebrate Halloween here; my reasoning can be reduced to 2 Corinthians 6:14 "What fellowship has light with darkness?"  I acknowledge that many Christians do not feel the need to offer up Halloween for the sake of Christ.  That's one of those things we all have to decide for ourselves, I suppose.  But we're content to buy discounted candy on the first of November and give Gemma other opportunities to play dress-up in the future.

We recently had the joy of visiting the Biltmore Estate with friends, and all the pictures in this post are from that day.  John took all except the one he is in, and got some neat shots if I do say so myself!  

The colors.  Ahhh.  We were privileged to get our first dose in New York where the colors peak earlier in the season, and now the trees on Cottage Lane are taking their turns at the melody in the beautiful symphony of autumn.  I love how, shortly after a rain when the sky is still grey, the yellows, greens and golds are especially vibrant against the dark, mossy trunks.  I have in my mind that very view layered upon a plum-colored house with evergreens in the background . . . Oh, I could almost inhale and respirate upon the beauty instead of on oxygen.

Then came my sister's birthday on the 7th, and now it is the 15th . . . where is the month going?  It was thrilling to be at Trader Joe's recently and to see all the autumn foods in stock.  There was even a man wandering the store and handing out chocolates!  I bought a bottle of cranberry spiced cider and remembered the joys of hosting our own Thanksgiving dinner last year.  The only reason we did not travel to be with family was that I was 39 weeks pregnant, but I loved hosting our own special meal . . . even though our friends brought half of it and the turkey wasn't done until 4 p.m. . . . how the memories rush back . . . We finished the evening by watching Harvey. 

This is the first November of our married life that I have not been pregnant.

Do you know that I once worked at a pumpkin farm?  It was the first autumn after I'd graduated from college, when I was taking evening grad school classes and waiting for the subbing calls to start coming.  They were days of layering on the rain clothes and carrying big clippers, and prying heavy, mud-laden boots off wool-socked feet in the farmers' house at lunch time.  Our boss's wife would make us hot dogs or grilled cheese and we would sit for that half-hour in their farmhouse dining room before returning to the fields or the pumpkin washing machine.  My coworkers called each other Hispanic names for fun, because we felt like migrant workers.  It was a brief season, but it was good.

Our pumpkin for the year is on my kitchen table.  It's another Cinderella pumpkin, and Mom and I bought it from a farm stand in New York.  I'm enjoying it a bit longer before cooking it, but I have bought canned pumpkin to make pumpkin muffins, crumble cake, and a pecan-eggnog-pumpkin pie in recent weeks.  I just couldn't wait.  :)

Now, with Thanksgiving upon us again, I want to actually write some "thankful" posts.  But we will start tomorrow, I think . . .