I've not written on this blog since the middle of September. I've been back, opened the "write a new post" page, then exited, before writing a thing. I mean, look at that photo of the beautiful peaches! Why would I want to remove that photo, to put up a photo representing our current status - bitterly cold winds, windchills in the -25 range, blowing snow .... It is the middle of December. Two months since I've decided to finally write something and change the cover page. Yes, we had a beautiful autumn with amazing color and replenishing fall rains. We did have unseasonably warm weather, up until about ten days ago, when the first arctic blast shocked us with the temperature change. There's something about the warmth of the peach photo, though, that leaves a feel-good sense, and I guess I didn't want that to change.
All of those peaches are in the freezer now. Well, many of them - I have to discount the ones we've already turned into crisp or pie. As well as the bushel after bushel after bushel of apples, which, in the interim, became sauce, pie filling, dried treats. Why didn't I change out the peaches for apple harvest photos? Or the exceptional fall color we had this year? I can't say. The warm orange glow of those peaches ... a harvest of which we have not had for two years, just gives me such a feel-good sense, that I just left them, along with the contemporaneous article. Besides, look how well that photo matches the background of my blog! I mean, really, they were meant to be.
But, onward. I will be changing the cover photo. As I'm writing this I'm not sure what I will put up yet, however. In the meantime, we are looking at highs in the +30's next week, which makes me feel like spring must be just around the corner. The seed catalogs are here and I've already spent hours going through Amy Goldman's "The Compleat Squash" and "The Heirloom Tomato" trying to narrow down the varieties I intend to grow next season. And, in a another week it will be the winter solstice - which means December 21, 2013, will be the shortest day of the year and sunrise will be earlier and sunset later, henceforth, until same time next year.
The horses are all fuzzy with their winter coats and the sheep's fleece grows thicker under their suits and around their faces. No one outside seems to be as bother by the cold, as I am. In fact, the poultry all eagerly anticipate being let out each morning - even if its into the chilling winds and onto the snow-covered ground. They still prefer to have time to scratch nearby and bask against their shed door - if only for an hour or two, before they head back inside. The chickens have actually begun laying eggs again, too, after a hiatus of about a month. If I am lucky, and have a chance to gather them before they freeze solid and crack, I am once again able to enjoy my daily fried egg for breakfast.
So, I guess it is time to change the cover photo, let go of the peaches of summer, and move on. Thanksgiving has come and gone and Christmas Eve is just twelve days away. Throughout all of this I continue to have the warmth and love of family and friends - for whom I am eternally grateful, and who, I'm sure, also think its time to let go of the peaches and move on. So here goes, the cover will be changed as I once again move through the seasons of nature and life, and wish all a wonderful holiday season and happy new year.
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