Outside my window…the sun is up and there is a nice breeze blowing.  I think today is the last of the nice fall days for awhile.  Rain and cold are supposed to move in here during the middle of the day.  This fall has been an intoxicating one.  I don’t know if it is me or the season but the colors seem to have changed more gradually and the smells have been more intense.  The farmer who rents our fields started combining the corn yesterday.  Now there are ribbons of brown interspersed with the gold, it looks like a package all done up for Christmas.

I am thinking…about meanings and about the people who get so hung up on the connotative meaning of words and ignore the actual true meanings.  Life would be simpler if folks would use their dictionaries, just saying.

I am thankful for…my brothers and sister.  I thank God everyday for my parents and the beginning that they gave me.  Without the faith that was instilled in me from a young age and nurtured as I grew up I would not have been able to weather the trials and crosses that have peppered my life.

From the kitchen….there is leftover roast chicken from yesterday.  I am thinking of doing some chicken tarragon with artichoke hearts over a bed of spinach and pasta.

I am wearing…cozy sweats! It is chilly out there yet.  Today is a casual dress day though. I think Layn and I will go to the pool when we take Uncle Matt to work.  A little strenuous exercise might be just the ticket to drive this cold out of both of us.

I am creating….four brilliant research papers for the last week of the semester.  I would like to get them all written and submitted by Wednesday. We will see how that goes.

I am going…to take Matthew to work, have a swim at the pool, pick up a few things at Price Chopper and then come home for the rest of the day.

I am reading…nothing yet but my fingers are itching to pick up my new book.  Only a few more days.

I am hoping…that Ian is able to get his corn picked without getting stuck too many times, that Jason can get his beans combined successfully and that both of them get a good price when they are done.

I am hearing…the schoolbus going by on the road out front, Melissa fussing around in the kitchen, the fan running on the furnace in the basement, and the soft sighing of the wind in the cedars outside my window.

Around the house….the weekdays are too quiet.  I love the weekends.  Everyone is home and it is almost like when the kids were younger.  I like to sit in the bedroom upstairs and listen to the rumble of the boys, now men, talking in the kitchen with their father.  I can hear the sounds of MK, Melissa and Kim in the livingroom chatting about movies, the babies, and horses.  Punctuating all of that is the sound of Layn’s chatter as he plays and Savannah talking to herself as she sits in her swing.  Wrapped around all that sound are the enticing odors of roasting chicken, mashed squash and potatoes, and green beans. 

One of my favorite things….the long walk that we took after dinner last night.  Time together to talk over the day and the coming week.  Just the two of us reveling in our children and grandchildren and the joy that they bring.

A few plans for the rest of the week….finish up the research papers that I have to submit for school.  I’d like to get them all done and gone by Wed.  I have a pile of crochetting that needs to be finished up.  Two sweaters need buttons, two prayer shawls need embellishments, a headband needs to be put together, and there is a pile of mending to do.  I have to visit a young friend on Friday and take a half gallon of cookie dough ice cream to pay her for the fall ornament that she is making.  Perhaps Layn and I will carve some pumpkins also.

Here is a picture thought that I am sharing with you…

Half a mile out and half a mile back!  He is a good walker.  Ian only had to carry him a little way (around those pesky mud puddles)

My dear blogging friend Lisa,  http://arewethereyet-davisfarmmom.blogspot.com/, graciously presented me with this lovely award.  I want to thank her very much for thinking of me and for appreciating my blog.  There are, of course, rules to follow in order to be able to post the award.  I have to post seven things about myself and then bestow this award on five blogging friends.  Posting 7 things about myself isn’t difficult but for those of you who have been here before I am afraid they won’t be new.

1. I am head over heals in love with my family.  There is not a thing that I wouldn’t do to help them become better people or happier.  The fact that that family is expanding everytime I turn around makes me terribly happy too.  I plan on spending the rest of my life working everyday to be the best mother, wife, grandmother, and person that I can be for all of them.

2.  My favorite colors are the colors of the fall.  Greens, golds, burgundies, browns, and the grey of a lowering sky are the colors that stir up the creative in me and soothe the beast as well.  The color green especially has mystical powers over me.  The greens of spring can clear away the murk and must of a long winter and freshen the spaces in my heart.  The deep greens of a forest can fill my soul and make me imagine that God is strolling right beside me.  The more sprightly greens of fall, as the color is leached out of the leaves by the cold, give me an odd sense of safety and blessing. 

3.  I am going on a trip with my husband in two weeks. Our second son, Ryan is graduating from the training he has been doing to get his green beret and he has made arrangements to fly us there to share his special day.  I rejoice and cry alternately at his generosity.  Not only will we be able to see his graduation but there is a chance that I will get to see my father too.  Only my family can possibly know what that means to me.  I had resigned myself to our good-byes two years ago and had not even dared to dream that I would ever get to see him this side of eternity.  God is so good.

4.  I wear glasses but not to see only to read with.  My arms seem to be getting a bit short lately.  This has become a bit of a joke around here.  Mom can’t keep track of her glasses since she really doesn’t need them.  It isn’t vanity really after all there are some really beautiful women who wear glasses.  My husband says he loves me with them or without (is there hidden meaning in that statement). If I could find my glasses I could read his expression and figure out if he is teasing me again.

5.  I write poetry about very strange and unusual subjects.  It’s the muse I guess but love is rarely on the menu.  I wrote a haiku about asparagus once and I just turned in one for a class about soybeans. (do we detect a common theme…food)  I am rarely inspired by emotion but frequently inspired by my stomach.  That is a sad testimony.

6.  I taught my grandson to eat some very uncommon foods (uncommon for an 18 month old).  He devours such things as asparagus, pate, tomatoes, spinache, broccoli (both cooked and raw), raw green beans, radishes, and peppers and onions. My philosophy is if you are going to beg for food from grandma’s plate you’d better not spit it out.

7. Last but not least, I drink coffee by the pot.  Never used to drink the stuff but menopause seems to have cured that.  I’m the same way about chocolate, gasp! I never touched the stuff until menopause.  Now my husband is amazed at the way I can’t seem to stay away from it.  It works for him since he has a mouth full of sweet teeth.

Now that I have revealed all, I would like to bestow this Stylish Blogger award on @amelia, @jessicafleur, @saintvi, @wildwomanofthewest, and @seedsower.  These women are some classy bloggers.

In my poetry class this week we were asked to write a poem.  It has to be either a sonnet, a sestina or a villanelle.  This is like a totally impossible thing for me.  I don’t write inside the box. I don’t do anything inside of any box.  I have been struggling with women’s lit and feminist theory and having to explicate poetry using specific theories just because someone says so. Having to write a poem, something that I ordinarily for pleasure as the muse inspires, with a list of rules was a daunting task.  My family of course has been more than supportive of everything that I have had to do.  My husband has been indescribable.  He simply assumes that anything that I am assigned I can not only do but do with the greatest of ease (how I wish that were true!). 

This morning I read an essay about poetry and ambition which really struck a chord.  So I took my notebook outside and cleared my mind.  I said a prayer that I would be inspired to write something and what follows is a rough draft of my sonnet.  Whoever heard of writing about soybeans, I don’t know but that is what the muse inspired me with so that’s what came forth.  The rhymes are weak but they work and the syllable counts are off, but this is my offering so far.

Soybean Sonnet

Gold bands stretch as far as the eye can see,

precious as any metal beneath the earth.

Mined not with ax as these used to be.

No, this gold is more gently laid in its berth;

drawn away to be sifted and to weigh.

Bright jewels through thieves fingers the bounty runs;

 packed and stored for an uncertain day.

Lock up the treasure of summer’s golden suns.

But this gold is not worn, not kept unseen,

this treasure is for feed, fuel and to bless.

Every year renewed that powerful bean.

Enough for all many more, no excess.

     So long as rains fall and sun does shine.

     That long will grow the golden bean benign.

Outside my window….the sun is shining and there is a light breeze blowing.  Don’t be deceived by that sunshine folks, it is a brisk fall day.  The beefers across the road are loving this weather.  They are kicking up their heels and trotting back and forth across the pasture as if they are putting on a show for me.  The trees have managed to hang onto their brilliance in spite of the winds that blew over the weekend.  Fall seems reluctant to give up and yield to the dreariness that heralds the change over into winter.

I am thinking…of cares and responsibilities.  Last night my school’s system went down and I was unable to upload my assignments.  I must remember to do that before I go ahead and start the work for the coming week.

I am thankful for…the blessings of good friends and family.  We went to a baby shower this weekend.  The young couple having the baby is the daughter and son-in-law of some friends, friends who are continually blessing everyone that they come into contact with.  It was a joy and pleasure to see a large part of our community blessing this young couple in return.  They are not going to need anything for that new baby for a very long time and that is the way that it should be.  The most wonderful part is that they were so genuinely pleased and surprised by all the generosity on their behalf.

From the kitchen…ginger ale and the BRAT diet!  The master of the house is down with the stomach bug and Kim is here sick as well.  The rest of us can just scrounge for leftovers.

I am wearing…blue capris and a white tee shirt.

I am going…to get a lot done today.  Matthew can take the car to work since I don’t need it and I will just hole up here at my desk and work on school.

I am reading…nothing yet.  My sister-in-law ReNee’ sent me Robert Barron’s Catholicism: A Journey oto the Heart of the Faith which I am itching to start.  But I am trying to be a good girl and wait until the semester is over.

I am hoping…that Doug and Kim feel better soon.  There is something so unsettling about having the stomach bug in the house.

I am hearing…MK, Melissa, and Kim chatting in the living room, Archie barking out back, and the fan running on the furnace downstairs.

Around the house…everything is cleaned up and ready for the week to start.  Both washers are going, the dishwasher is almost done with its cycle, and Layn is down for his first nap.  Sounds like a normal Monday here.

One of my favorite things…knowing that my family is safe and happy.

A few plans for the rest of the week…I need to shut out the world big time this week.  I have four research papers to set up and write.  They are due next week but since there is so much to do I need to get an early start.

Here is a picture thought that I am sharing with you…

Savannah is spending some time with her toys while mom rests and gets better.

The richness of fall

Autumn is ususally thought of as a season of death and dormancy.  With the falling of the leaves and the bringing in of the harvest there is a distinct air of completion about the whole season.  I have found however that if you look closely enough there is an unexpected richness and abundance about fall that goes beyond the bounty of the harvest.

Out in the barn life is in full swing.  Both Mary-Kate’s and Melissa’s sows farrowed last week.  The simplicity and earnestness with which the animals go about the business of life is a richness in itself.  There is no awareness of the coming of the cold in the pens where the mothers and babies live.  There is only a calm that pervades the air and a sense of purpose as the piglets nurse and the sows get down to the business of raising their young.

Even in the gardens, though they have been stripped bare of the summer’s bounty there remains the hint of newness and promise.

The hydrangeas bravely flower and hold their heads up in spite of the two or three frosts that we have experienced.  The depth of color in their foliage and the delicacy of the blooms proclaim a defiance of the coming snows.

The lawns continue to grow and shout out their lush green hurrah of the last warm weekend of the season.  It will not be overcome by frost or dismal days, the rich green spears seem to cry out.

The leaves on the trees hang on until the very end and, though the colors deepen and surrender their summer shades, the suppleness of youth is in the bright colors as well as the green.

Even my roses defy the temperatures and burst into a final glorious show before yielding to the barrenness of the winter. 

The gloominess of the day cannot dim the vibrancy of the show that God displays for my pleasure.  “Sit here and soak it in,” that bench seems to beckon. 

I wonder, does the need to soak it all in, to save the beauty and splendor, infuse the young as well as the old?