My Pumpkin Patch

Plump and shiny,

fruit of harvest,

pumpkins orange lay afield.

Hailing cheerful

change of season,

Seed of spring is autumn's yield.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Round and glowing,

children's faces

Sparkling eyes; an impish smile.

Mine to nurture,

tend and cherish

Only for a little while.

-- VQ

Kaley -- my smallest "pumpkin."

My incredible kids at the Whitehouse Farm Festival.

Kittens and Little Girls

My Kaley spends hours holding (and sometimes annoying) our 7 week old kittens. My kids have named them Smoky, Stripe, and Shadow. Before the oldest 3 leave for school, some of them are outside playing with them. And when the van pulls in after school, they can't wait to get out and "see" the kitties. But Kaley has the kittens for playmates all day long. She has pushed them around in a toy truck, carried them in a butterfly net, rolled them over her head, and held them in about every way possible. But, like little girls, kittens were made to cuddle and love. I'm thankful for them both......

Another birthday?

Well, as of 5:01 this morning, I have now added another year to my age -- which sum shall be untold -- though I was born in the year 1970 :-)

Yep, that's right. Right smack dab in the middle of double knit and flower children, I made my world debut (although I don't believe they made platform heels in baby shoe sizes!)

I was too young to recognize the fashions of the day, but I do recall my warm, happy childhood. My very first birthday gift -- from day one -- was a set of wonderful parents. Thank you, Daddy and Mama.

"No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace

as I have seen in one autumnal face."
John Donne

An Autumn Longing

Today is the 1st day of September, and I feel autumn calling my name. Here in the northeast where I live, there is a peculiar, indefinable something that spills the secret, whispering in softest tones that the seasons are about to change. It's a certain scent in the air, a certain shade of blue in the sky, a certain consciousness that pervades the atmosphere -- the glorious days of fall are on the way.

Autumn is an almost tangible perception that affects everything from my coffee to my clothing to my home. In my contemplations about the approaching season, I can see misty images of myself dressed in plaid with a woolly sweater and java-colored loafers or leather boots. In this mirage, I am always smiling and full of vitality, sporting a cute purse and walking through a patch of pumpkins or a path of swirling leaves. (the fact that this vision has no factual base makes it all the more palatable.)

In the fall, I cherish my cinnamon and pumpkin spice coffee, and cast loving glances around my home which is decked with gourds, leaves, pinecones, and every other thing that bespeaks autumn. It is a season that lives in my very soul.

So, I am making a deliberate and tedious choice to wait a few more days before I pull my autumn treasures from the attic. (Actually, I have put out a few fall flowers already:-)

After the celebration of Labor Day this Monday, I can go through some of my fall rituals: taking down the American flag on the bracket outside the house; putting away my girls' white shoes to be worn after next Easter if they still fit; turning my mind from sunny days to crisp evenings. And I will rejoice because the words of Genesis 8:22 are fulfilled with each dazzling autumn day......."While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."