Fall nature

I don't do well with the cold. Although I truly love all four seasons and am thankful to live in a state that provides a good sampling of each, I prefer to spend the coldest days snuggled under a blanket with a good book and a hot toddy. Until those days arrive, though, we try to get as much outdoor time as possible, hiking in the brisk weather before its frigid sister wind arrives. 

So when today dawned bright and warm, and delightful 60 degrees and sunny, we decided to take school to the park: our favorite local birding park. We hiked the trails said hi to some of our favorite winter bird species, and enjoyed the first dawning of brilliant fall colors. 

Fall at home

Next to "Michigan strawberries" (that being the middle half of June), fall is my favorite season. It's another one of the reasons that I love our state so very much, because not much beats the richness of colored leaves reflected in lake water, and we have a lot of colored leaves, and a lot of lakes. 

Fall in our house is many things. It is Jon's birthday month. It is the month of Halloween, my second favorite holiday. It is a month of putting gardens to bed, and switching meals from simply grilled to oven savory. We live our seasons as fully as we can. We eschew the air conditioning in summer, and only reluctantly shut the house to fall cold snaps and the blustery weather that follows. We eat foods that are in season, or at least seasonally in style, switching to fall squash when the summer squash is done. 

Fall is also tailgates, and the first days of indoor homeschool group and a new semester of classes there. It is always magical to me how, as the earth cools and the frigid winds come, our homes and our lives get warmer in color, in cooking, and in habit. And just as I love the shedding of layers in spring, I love the adding of them in the fall. 

The everything there is a season.

W.U.T. (CY365), week 40

W.U.T. = What we were up to in week 40!

Licorice stick

Fifth grade band. I remember starting fifth grade band, oh so many (too many) years ago. We went through an "instrument try out" with a music technician who let us try all the mouthpieces, asked us what we wanted to play, and ultimately told us what we would play. I wanted to play the trombone. They made me play the clarinet. I'm no longer bitter about that. Really. I simply bring it up because I remember it. I remember it oh. so. well.

Anyway . . . fifth grade band. It's an elementary school rite of passage, and while other homeschooling parents worry about missing out on homecoming or prom, I confess I was a little sad to think that without the public school we would miss out on the blaring, squawking, and squeaking of a child's first year in elementary school band. Thankfully stores sell ear plugs. Also thankfully, our state law provides that all homeschooled students are eligible to participate in any extracurricular programs offered in the local public schools. So we called, we connected, and, after filling out a tome of paperwork, Calvin is now enrolled in the public school for twice weekly band, which runs from 11:18 to 11:58. Apparently it's in the details.

Calvin's own instrument fitting went more smoothly than I remember mine because he immediately fell in love with the instrument they wanted him to play, which, incidentally, is the instrument that I played. Maybe it's genetic. Regardless, although I tried to talk him out of the clarinet at first (it's harder to get into the marching band, I warned him), he really does show an aptitude for the thing, and it's certainly helpful that we not only have two nice specimens for him to play, but I know enough to tutor him through the first couple of years so we don't have to seek a teacher elsewhere.

And so far it's actually been a joy. He happily gets it out to practice at least once very day. He's already mastered Row Row Row and Twinkle Twinkle, and I think the less repetitious music might be just around the corner. And he's making great strides in his tone. It won't be long before we no longer need the ear plugs.

Although the dog is a little less sure.

Photo dump (CY365), week 39

A football game (the season's looking good!), a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster IPA (and for those of you who will enjoy this joke—I found The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy shelved under "travel writing and guidebooks in our library sale room a few weeks ago), Hugfun with a giant teddy, and our dog, who is petrified of power outages.

What dog is afraid of power outages? How does she even know????