Summer then Fall

Life with a planner continues.  My first forgotten appointment has come and gone.  Otherwise we are off to a good start.  Naomi starts preschool on Tuesday.  It has a play-based structure so I'll be grading her block towers on height and durability as soon as she comes home.  We are also stepping boldly into the food allergy department.  No peanuts, no tree nuts.  No sesame seed products.  This includes hummus.  No hummus wraps.  That was number one on my list for lunch ideas.

The air has been cool here in the mornings recently.  Spring might always be late in New England, but Autumn never misses its cue.  Wool awaits us.

I bought this for six dollars and fifty cents.
Handmade by someone's grandmother or great-aunt Ida.  

We will take good care of you.    

Blueberry Bay

We were a little late getting there this year but we acted as gleaners, filling half a pail between us all before settling down to drink our blueberry lemonade.  I was just happy to have made it there this summer.  Labor Day is on its way.  My planner arrived in the mail today.  I'm told organization doesn't close you in.  On the contrary -it will set you free to do the things you always wanted to do.  I'll give it a whirl.  So far it has just meant doing more laundry.  I hope you all are enjoying these last lovely days of carefree summer.  

We still have September in our back pocket.  

Ice Cream Dinner

"Why not let it be the meal instead of adding its calories to already satisfied stomachs?"  That is exactly what I was going to say.  I read this quote from my More With Less cookbook and off we drove down one of my favorite back roads to Kimball Farm for an ice cream dinner.  Along the way I craned my neck to peer into all the immense gardens and beautiful backyards.  We eyed the beautiful old homes (like this one) and imagined.  It was a celebration of a perfect summer evening.

No Stone Unturned

Slowly, I'm realizing that the older you get the more what-if scenarios you have to play in your head.  They start to pile up.  Or stack up at least.  They are like the stones that sit on my front porch painted in gold by our neighbors.  For a while I didn't think life worked like that.  I thought there was one path charted out for you and you walked the line as it curved and veered.  Uphill and down.  But once you've lived some, or for me, until you reach your early(ish) thirties you realize that the unanswered questions don't go away.  You have to make peace with them.  To look at what might have happened and didn't.  And then to look at the life you have and know it.  

Last night I went to hear Jason Harrod play at Club Passim.  This was a big moment for me because I was mad at him for a number of years.  We were friends back in the day.  He slept in our guest room.  He played a concert for our neighbors in our backyard.  We ran together at our local track where we got in a fight about something.  I think one of us wasn't running fast enough.  He played the guitar with my brother and then complained about it afterward.  He visited me at my mom's store while I daydreamed at the counter.  I had just moved back home to New Hampshire and he was in the area singing songs and playing gigs.   Then the day came that we both knew would come when we started down separate paths and carried on with our lives.  For a while I missed the friendship, for a while I was mad and stopped listening to his music.  And then time passed and I got over it.  Now I am able to remember those days without pain or anger.  And, I'm glad because those days are significant to me.  They are some of the last I had with my mom and they are clear in my memory.  It's good to be able to turn over the proverbial stone and be okay.    

These two paragraphs will be inserted into my life's essay.  :)

Roadside Raspberries

We ventured up to New Hampshire yesterday and stopped at this roadside stand.  It isn't much to look at but it has always been there.  One pint of raspberries on the way up and one pint for the ride home.  I go for the break in routine, time with my aunt and my favorite hideaway consignment shop.  Naomi goes to push the double baby stroller.  Verity goes for the lovely crawling terrain.  :)