Savoring fall flavors

This morning I really should be madly grading essays for my online classes. The students deserve to know their first essay score. But the cool morning air during my walk and my lovely weekend of relaxing makes me want to take every task slowly, savoring the chance I have to learn from the doing. So even though some students may not get their essays until tomorrow, I'll write a bit here today. I'll make bread. I'll finally hang up the rest of the pictures. I'll just breathe deeply. The air is sweet from rain overnight. When I go for a walk, I wear a light jacket even though I don't need it just yet. Hundreds of sunflowers line the path I walk along, nodding slightly under the weight of water droplets.

Last week I wanted a bouquet of them, like I used to pick in Logan. Here I feel like a thief, stealing the weeds along the side of the road. I first ventured out with a pocket knife, then upgraded to scissors. It takes all my courage to shoo the bees away (I really do have struggles with bees sometimes) or to gently pluck their slumbering bodies out of the middle so they don't wake up in my home and angrily try to get out. The towering stalks of sunflowers makes autumn vibrant to me. I want to gather it all in and somehow bottle it, the same way I bottle peaches and tomatoes for winter. The change in seasons is always bittersweet to me. I ache to hold on to the warmth of summer, the freedom of traveling and sleeping in and the taste of corn on the cob. But then fall comes along with the smell of grape vines and the steam of herbal teas and then need to accomplish things and I lean in, ready to move forward. The same kind of pattern will happen again when the first frost grasps the ground. I'm meant for seasons.

Recently I've struggled with doing the things that used to relax me more than anything else. All summer long I think I only read a couple of books. I just couldn't sit down and pick them up. Instead I made long to do lists: projects that needed completing before we moved, before Neal started school, before I started work, before the baby comes. It's funny because few of the projects are actually completed. Sometimes I honestly don't know where my time went. What was I doing all that time? And how can the time be so close where my list making ends?

Of course I'll keep making lists after the baby comes. I can't help it. But I try very hard to hold off, to take this new experience as it comes. I want to really live in the moments instead of trying to cross them off my 'to do' list. It's a difficult adjustment for me to make, but one that I hope increases my ability to enjoy those moments as they come.

The water bath to stop our corn from cooking so we can freeze it for later! It's the first time I've frozen my own corn, so we'll see how it turns out. 

This year we really scaled back how much canning we did. Mostly, we just restocked our freezer. Next year we'll restock the pantry again. You just can't do it all every year, right?

Look at this crazy piece of corn! 

Okay, this is really just something we got in our Bountiful Basket: prickly pear. But I couldn't stop singing "The Bare Necessities" because you shouldn't prick your paw on them. After a few days, Neal and I realized that there is no way Baloo should have eaten them. They are definitely native to the Americas (though they have been transplanted) and a desert plant. I'm not sure why Disney decided the Jungle Book should have them...Neal says he can no longer watch Disney because they are a lie. If the prickly pear is the final straw, Disney has been fooling us all for a long, long time.

Corn all ready for freezing. Isn't it pretty?

My fabulous sister Holly threw me a baby shower! Here I am in all my hugeness, enjoying the lovely gifts from close friends and family. It was so nice to see people and visit. 

Also, the lovely gifts were nice...I feel almost ready (almost) to actually have this child.

For the longest time, I have been wanting to start one of those ever popular 'fairy gardens'. Only, unlike every pinterest post I ever see, I want mine to actually survive more than a week because it's planted somewhere with proper drainage. Here is the garden. It still needs time to fill in before I start arranging rock paths and such. But I already love the little forest section and the mossy hill. 

And Neal and I both love the venus flytrap in the middle. I've never really been successful with these, but we're hoping it will keep the little flies at bay which plague all keepers of lots of indoor plants. I think we should name it. Any suggestions?

And a teacup succulent which has no proper drainage to show my hypocrisy. Sometimes I do just go with the fad, okay?

We realized that all our herbs are perennials and we should get them rooted before cold hits. I was so proud of the little herb garden we started in pots this summer. Now I'm so proud that Timothy and Terra let us steal their front area to make a real herb garden. We'll see if they survive long term, but so far so good we even made a fake riverbed! I know, it needs time to spread out more. Cross your fingers that the roots grow deep.

Some more photos (and a bit more to say)

Now that I've mostly caught up with where life is now I'll try to write in complete sentences. The end of summer came earlier for me than officially defined by the calendar. Mostly, Neal went back to school and I suddenly had lots of time on my hands. Until I didn't. At the last minute, I was offered two sections on English 2010 online at Utah State and several piano students. Although I'm still nervous about balancing work and motherhood, it's been a grand adventure so far. I love being able to teach even it isn't in a face to face classroom. I also love being able to teach without feeling guilty for neglecting my schoolwork. This is the first fall away from school and it is strange to the umpteenth degree. In some ways I just go on with life, but in other ways I deeply miss the structure and social network and clearly defined goals of school.

But with so much to do, I am adjusting quickly.

Most days I send Neal off and take a walk. I don't know if I mentioned earlier, but moving to the suburbs has been a bit difficult for me. I love the people and we have the nicest place to live ever, but I miss the mountains, trees, water, smell, feel of Cache Valley. We have wonderful air conditioning, but I miss hearing the birds in the morning. I've begun sneakily opening the window while it's cool to let in the breeze and the birdsong. When I began taking walks it was disheartening to have only houses to look at. Luckily, we live next to a trail just a block or so away. It's surprisingly beautiful. I just had to learn to see the beauty even if it's different than Logan.

Here are a few photos that may or may not capture the essence.

There is some kind of plant which is probably parasitic to the cottonwoods, but it is breathtaking. It just drapes over everything.

You probably can't tell, but all along the trail there are these little hollows that look just like doors to the Secret Garden. I want to find the key!

Even the supposed weeds have brilliant splashes of color which brighten my day.

One major complaint we've had is that our area is lacking tall trees. I realized that I wasn't always looking up at the right time. 

So the short version of the story is that I am adjusting to life, even though it will soon change all over again. Baby is due in a month. I feel a far cry from actually being ready, but am simultaneously so excited to meet our little one. We still haven't found out the gender so I love being able to decorate and shop without feeling swayed toward blue or pink. Soon enough we'll know (and let you know, I promise!). In the meantime, we'll just keep plugging along in life, enjoying the small moments. 

Photo-ful summary of summer

Gee whiz guys, it's been about ten years since I blogged. I feel like life has been pretty much the same story as my thank you cards from my wedding. I wrote lots and addressed them and mentally sent them, but found them a year later sitting in a drawer. It was too late to go back and send them. So, in a similar fashion it's a bit late to start updating you on my entire summer. I'll summarize briefly.

We moved. I know I covered that in my last post.
We took a simply lovely trip to Seattle with our friend Whit and Dave (thank you both!). Here are some photos from the journey. And Whit, I'll actually share the photos with you so you can have copies of ones you want. There are lots more...

Sunset improperly captured with my out-of-date camera. I still just love the colors and the water.

Visiting Seattle could mostly be summed up to: "look, a pretty tree!" times a thousand. But they really are pretty trees!

This one time we all went for a walk and I got tired and Neal wanted to see what was on the other side of a bridge. I made him take the camera to show me. Here it is, the bridge!

Neal, being all handsome and such.

I know I'm only like halfway through pregnancy at the point this photo is taken. Let's just pretend  I stayed the same size. I'm not roughly the size of a barge now, really!

The one pregnancy craving I cannot do without: pretzels. This pretzel cost way too much money and was purchased on a ferry ride. In terms of quality, what you see is what you get. It was like eating play food. But it tasted soooooo good at the time. Speaking of good, maybe I'll make myself some pretzels today. Yum.

Remember my comment about my old-timey camera? We kept trying to capture how incredibly beautiful it was on our ferry ride. This is the closest I ever got. I'm not a city girl, but even I can see the beauty of the city at night. 

Look! It's Mount Ranier (sort of)! We drove past the peak on our way home, but never saw it because of the clouds. It was an incredibly beautiful drive though, despite feeling like we might fall off the edge of the earth.

And onward in the summary of life. 

July happened. I'm not really sure what I accomplished other than lots of tv series and relaxing time with Neal. It was fabulous. I know you're all jealous that Neal and I get summers together. Perks of working in public education folks. Ya'll just think on that for a minute.

I got to see my friends from high school for the first time in a very long time. They were so lovely and happy and good parents. And it was nice to have time to actually see people. We went to Chick-fil-a together. 

I'll have to refer to my photos to remember the rest.

We went to the 4th of July Parade with family. My nephew Tommy loves me so much that everytime he sees me he just gives me a sour look and says, "NO!" And we live with them, so this happens quite frequently. Yup, I'm gonna rock at parenthood.

We ate waffles with white peaches. I'm not terrible at making waffles, these are just blender whole wheat waffles using whole wheat berries. They're snazzy but hard to cook in pretty shapes.

Good old Milton (my 1997 Buick Park Avenue) reached 100,000 miles. Way to be Milton! 

We grew pretty herbs that are still alive in September! And we may even keep some alive through the winter because they're perennials and we have faith.

We grew strawberries galore for a bit, until I killed the plant for the third time and it refused to revive. 

This photo is a symbol of my domesticity. I spent money on fake flowers (first time ever!) and a basket bowl thing for decorative but edible fruit. It's a pretty big step for me. 

We made hand crank homemade ice cream. 

Neal is pretty great at explaining that these are ducks. And even though I understand why we can no longer feed the ducks bread, I'm still bummed out that we can't show my niece and nephew how fun it is to do just that.

During our visit to the duck pond we found wild blackberries.

And the kids discovered just how awesome cottonwood looks when it's all snowy on the ground. Or they're looking at a bug. I'm not actually sure which.

If you were able to view all these photos then you have awesome internet. I will now create a second post so I can actually, you know, blog with words.