Harvest (A Fall Photo Album)

Jackie says I need to write about our adventure with our Christmas tree, and I will but this post has been waiting it's turn in line, and is rather delayed by the planning of the church party and the making of much fudge and such.  So please consider this an appetizer...

*****

There is a nip in the air, and giant leaves have fallen from our trees as though it were a race to get to the ground.  The crickets have gone quiet, and in the dark evenings as I walk outside, usually from the van after an activity "in town", the cheerful return of the creek's chatter is the only sound besides that of my own feet hitting the soggy leaves I should have raked before the first rainfall.

It's a blessing that there are a cluster of celebrations and holidays between now and January, because it gives my heart a net to keep it from plunging into the darkness which now comes far to early each afternoon.  I count the days until the solstice, when at least I'll know that the sun will linger a few minutes longer each day, even if I can't see it yet.

Another first in our new house; first Autumn.  The two apple trees that we pretty much ignored all summer have not taken it personally, and have given us quite a bounty of fruit, first one tree, then the other.  The kidlets did the harvesting and had such fun.  Besides eating as many as our bellies could hold, I made a couple of pies and desserts and the kids made apple sauce.  

On Halloween I made our annual Candy Corn Soup, to be consumed before trick-or-treating.  If you are new to the concept, or disgusted at the idea, each year my Candy Corn Soup is actually just some form of pumpkin or sweet potato or butternut squash soup, topped with 3 candy corns, because (sing with me...) "a spoon full of sugar makes the healthy soup go down" before the candy deluge.  

I forgot to get bacon, so it was vegetarian style this year (though not vegan, 'cuz I like me some cream and buttah!). 

The last holdout in the soup department.  All she wanted was cornbread. Note the crumbs.

Here you witness the kiddos in various stages of costuming, fulfilling the command "Eat your candy corn soup or NO CANDY for you!"

Steampunk Jonah

 The Jensens joined us, and though we tried like crazy to get out early, we still didn't hit the road till 6:30.  I had planned to take the kids down main street in Jackson to the shops that stay open late for trick-or-treaters, but we were too late.  So we tromped up to a nearby neighborhood, but quickly learned that ours were the only children that that neighborhood had seen all evening.  We had been told that certain neighborhoods get hundreds of kids, but apparently we didn't land in one of those.  The kids were met on those sleepy streets with enthusiastic homeowners who nearly emptied their bowls into the kids bags.  It felt strange though, to be the only families still on the streets at only 7:30 pm.  We've learned our lesson, though.  Next year, out by 4pm!

After tromping around until well after dark, we came back to our cottage in the woods and watched To Kill a Mockingbird.  I fell asleep halfway through, but it's okay... I have the whole thing memorized.

It was a great night.

The Photo Album

*****

In other news, earlier in the week Guy and I had our first Halloween party at the new house, and enjoyed the company of both new friends and old.  It was awesome.

Guy doing his "dead face".  Yes, he does sometimes make that face the split second before I turn out the light at night, just to creep me out.  To see how that works, look at his picture and then real quick shut your eyes.  Creepy, right!?

This was my mother's Halloween costume that she wore over 50 years ago.

Ellie at the church Trunk-Or-Treat with new friend McKenzie.  The kids have been so welcoming to our kiddos. 

Velma, Shaggy and Scooby.  Apparently, there is no such thing as "too old to go trick-or-treating".

J boy in full makeup and Ninja Ryan

 A darlin' lil' Cheetah.  The cutest wild life in our neck of the woods.

I guess I've always loved Halloween because for just one day, you get to be someone else.  But when you move, you really do become someone else for a little while.  You are the new person.  A person who suddenly doesn't know anyone.  A person who is starting over.  

And that, indeed, is a little bit scary,

But that was way back in October. A lifetime ago in your first year in a new place.

 I know some folks now.  

Real nice folks.

It's feelin' more like home all the time.

Hallowed

 

A family of pumpkins sits near the hearth, smiling out into the dim, golden room.  Candles lit on pedestals and in gourds glow and flicker warmly.  My children are cozied up on the rug, pillows and blankets tucked around them, traces of facepaint in their eyebrows, their candy bags snug in their laps.  Guy and I collect Mommy and Daddy tax now and then; for me a Butterfinger or Junior Mints, for Guy a Peanut Butter Cup.  I make herb tea with milk, brown sugar and butter (trust me... awesome) and we settle in.

The music begins.  The amazing opening credits to what is fast becoming my all time favorite movie, To Kill a Mockingbird, sweep me away to the rustling, dry leaves of my own childhood, and Halloween nights long since forgotten linger like faint spirits in my heart.  I feel my mom's touch as I remember her using her lipstick to paint round circles onto my cheeks the year I dressed as a clown.  I think of Dad and his enthusiasm for a well made costume the year we made me into a 7Up can.  I trace the streets of my childhood home in my mind, hearing the leaves skuttle across the sidewalk on the evening breeze as though they were being spirited along.  Somehow I remember a certain house, here and there, the rustle of my costume, the itch of the makeup, and the thrill of the night air.  It was scary and exciting, and safe and comforting all at once.  I am called back as the movie begins, our Halloween night tradition.  Now I am here, watching my children's memories being created - right at this very moment.

Jonah has long since been unconscious.  He didn't make it home from Kathy and Joanna's neighborhood awake, but a "high-bop" (lollipop) fused in each hand remained held aloft, as though he might eat them in his sleep.  Ethan has been the recipient of generous donations from younger sibs, who can't bare to see him treatless.  It brings out a soft tone in his voice as the kids ask what his favorites are.  Adam is freshly showered, a must for detatching his bald cap that was painted right on to his head, fusing it to his hair.  I cuddle Tessa who is too squirmy in my arms, and Guy sits close.  Ellie is deep in the throes of candy carnage. 

Children begin to fade, and by movie's end we shuffle sleeping souls off to their beds.  I leave the DVD menu playing for a while so that I can hear the music a little longer.  It's so mournful and sweet.  The candles in the pumpkins have almost all burnt out, and Guy snuffs out the last few. 

Candle smoke lingers faintly.  The now childless floor is strewn with wrappers.  My Sweetheart kisses me.

You know, if you look waaaay back, before the black cats and witches, Halloween was a celebration honoring family members who had passed on to the other side.  It was really all about family, living and gone.  A bon fire believed to be sacred was lit in the middle of town and everyone carried a gourd - with a flame from that main fire inside of it - back to their homes to light their hearth fires with a small portion of that sacred light.  They welcomed the new year, honored those who had died, and spent time together as family.

At least some things haven't changed with time. 

The focus of the night was almost more on the collecting 

of pumpkin seeds than on the carving.

 The kids carve away as Guy compares 

the relative sizes of his thumbnails. 

"Would ya' lookee there!  This one is smaller!"

 Carving directions: "With ears like this, Daddy!"

 There is a certain family resemblance...

 Ethan's cool logo.

 And now on to the Trick or Treating with friends.  

Kathy even ventured out with new baby Ryan, 11 days old.

 "Forget the candy, I think I am in love with this lamppost!"

 Don't know how it happened, but we had 3 skeletons this year.

The cat was lonesome.

 Jack Skelington and "The Haul".  He made his costume himself.  

Somehow the red eye really finishes the look.

All tuckered out.

He was asleep sitting up with the crazy head bob thing.  We laughed at him freely.

There is nothing better than making fun of your exhausted children when they are unconscious.



Harvest Cider

A mug of some fresh pressed apple cider
(the good stuff) - hot

A big ol' squirt of carmel ice cream sauce

A big ol' scoop of Egg Nog Ice Cream

Ahhhhhhh......

Kahwry!

You wanna know what's really scary? 

Jonah and the neighbor kids hiding behind the tombstones in the yard to get away from the search helicopters (lovingly dubbed "ghetto birds"). 

Don't worry, we call the kids into the house at the first rounds of gunfire.

Love this town.

***

Things Jonah has been heard to say in the past few days:

kahwry! - scary

Hah-WIN! - Halloween (repeated, getting louder, while jumping, fist in the air!)

tanyee - candy

Tee-ooh Teee! - Trick-or-Treat!

hey-bop - lollipop

My bag! - his Trick-or-Treat bag, spoken clear as a bell

No fooht, no eat, tanyee! - what we hear at lunch (fooht - food)

rrrraaarrrrrr! - What pumpkins say

***

Halloween night to come, as soon as we can find the camera!

Magic Roads

 Adam has been announcing 

the countdown to his pending teen-hood at regular intervals lately.  He will be 13 in a month, or by his reckoning, one month, three days and 8 hours.  I feel like I am watching his childhood fade away behind him, like a dusty road he'll never travel again.  He is sprouting so fast.  He is certainly not my little boy anymore.

On Friday we took the hour drive to Wheatland where there is a pumpkin patch that thinks it is Disneyland.  We had gone last year and had a real ball, particularly Adam.  He jumped and ran an played, and all the way home he declared, "That was awesome!".  This year we went as part of the homeschool, so we got to do all of the extra fun stuff that I am too cheap to pay for, like train rides and hay rides.  But there was a strange difference this year.  Adam was subdued.  I asked him if he was having fun. 

He shrugged and said, "Kinda."

It turns out that he has rounded that bend in the road.  The one that made mining for marbles on Coyote Mountain something for the little kids to do.  The bend that means the giant slide was too small and the corn maze was, "Kinda lame."  The boy is still losing teeth, and yet there is that other part of him that has left childhood behind.

I remember the heartache I felt when I realized that I really didn't want my stuffed animals anymore.  That maybe this would be my last trick-or-treat.  That I was growing up, like it or lump it.  It felt sad.

I think that a new magic eventually replaced the old, outgrown one.  I now love witnessing the wonder of childhood, knowing what discoveries are waiting for my little ones just around the next bend.  I look so forward to trick-or-treating this year.  Jonah won't remember last year, so this year when that first door opens and that first piece of sugary bliss lands in his sack, I will delight in the baffled look on his face. 

"Is this for me?  Is that lady crazy?"

He will look into his bag, get the candy out, and want to eat it immediately.  Then we will tell him he can go get more candy.  The look will be priceless;

 "So you are telling me if I go up to all these doors here, 

I'm gonna get candy and I don't have to ask you if it's okay???"

Then the light will come on. 

"Nandy!?"  

He will declare, and he will waddle down that driveway into a world 

that has forever been changed in his eyes.

I love this part of being a mom.  I love witnessing them as they discover the world.  I guess being with little ones is so familiar to me after all these years, I will have to learn as they move into their teens how to enjoy a whole new kind of magic.

And there is still magic out there for Adam to discover, too.

It's called

girls.

Candy Quote of the week

"That Baby Ruth was naaaasty!

I had to eat two Milky Ways

just to get the taste out o my mouth."

*

Boo! A Halloween Album

 

Adam with a beard of wool and Karo syrup glue.

* 

It is that time of year again.

  So busy.  So fun.  So stressful.  

*

I love Halloween.  My kids are thrilled by homemade costumes and the promise of all the candy their gullets will hold.  There is no disappointment.  I don't even make them ruin their costumes by wearing sweaters (not that they needed them in the balmy 74 degree evening).  They are sugar junkies and I, for one glorious night, am Mother of the Year.  I guess you could say that is my costume.  It will be shed in the coming days as the pumpkins rot and the good candy is all gone.  

Then I will just be mom again.  

Stressbucket-before-Christmas Mom.

If I were in charge if things (not that I really want that job), Thanksgiving would be at the end of the school year (now that is a time to be grateful for!) and Christmas would be in September, after a nice long summer of prep time.  

Alas, the winter cometh.  

Short days with long shadows. 

Heavy grey skies and soggy tennis shoes.

 I guess Halloween is my last hurrah 

before the world strips down to her skivies

and leaves me feeling as cold and drab as wet cement.

What a fright.

Can I book your vacation for you?

Hazel and Tink, from Watership Down and Peter Pan, the books we are currently reading.  I love it that the kids are finding new heros through our homeschool adventures.

 

Handsome soldier or burly super-hero... how is a girl to choose?

 

I made this awesome straight jacket (complete with leather straps on the back) and mask for Ethan.  It was good for a whole week of bribery.  And I quote, "I'm sorry son, but if you don't get your chores done,

I will not be able to finish your straight jacket for you."

 

It warms the cockles of a mother's heart to see her baby boy

decked out as a serial killer.  

* Sigh * weep *, that's my boy!  

 

I learned one thing this year... 

linoleum carving tools rock for pumpkin carving!

And now for something truly scary...

 

 That is the "you must hold me now!" cry.

I don't know what this is, but it cracks me up every time I see it.

Candy Corn Soup.  Yes, I put candy in the soup.  I rock, that's why.  

(it is not entirely made of candy corn, but of yams and bacon, but don't tell my kids!)

"So let me get this straight... we go up to the door, 

knock, and then we don't go in?  But I want to go in!  

And you expect me NOT to eat every piece of candy as soon as they hand it to me?  

What's the point here, people?"

~Mind reading quote from Jonah, the one legged lion.

 

OK kids... time to go Trick or... wait a minute... is that...???

 

my husband?!?!

Looks like more than one wild animal was on the lose Halloween night.  

Too bad you can't see the back of his shirt.  It reads:

"Grandma Lila's Childcare

555-HOME".

Now that's scary.