Autumn

I love the change of seasons. When my daughter and I returned from vacation it was dark outside and we couldn't really tell if we had missed the beautiful fall colors while we were away. Last Sunday was a feast for the eyes! The trees had begun to change before we left and now they were in full color! The ones that were in our neighborhood were just beautiful. Reds, golden yellow and on some trees a lush hot pink! As an artist, the changing seasons makes me very happy with all of the beautiful colors against the steel grey Oregon sky. The contrast in colors is stunning.
The change of seasons is also a time for preparation for me. The Oregon summers are amazing, with their cerulean skies, warm days and the focus is on being outside and being active. The winters...well they are wet. Lots of rain, lots of snow in the mountains, and lots of time spent indoors. The Fall is a chance to prepare for all that. This year I did some canning. I made jam, pickles and I'm in the middle of stocking up on home made applesauce. The jam and the pickles are a summer thing, but the applesauce, now that smells like fall and it makes the house smell amazing! This is also the time I get my winter reading list together. I've already started downloading books on my Kindle for those wet weekend afternoons.
I appreciate these changes though. They allow us to wind down and rest. Animals hibernate and I think to some extent, we do too! For me being indoors brings the focus back to my family. My daughter and I love to cook and bake. We make many of our holiday gifts, and we love to do crafts and puzzles. We usually get a new video game that we can play together and spend many happy hours figuring those out too. There are trips to local ski resorts for sledding, snowboarding and cross country skiing. Those are some fun times too! Then just when we've about had enough of being cooped up inside, the seasons change again, and we look forward to the next season and the fun activities to be done. Not a bad way to live!
Have a safe and happy Halloween/Harvest weekend! Cheers!