Thoughts

 What is it about Autumn that stirs my soul?  I'm a gal who loves nothing more than a garden filled with color.  I find peace in a land verdantly robed in all manner of growth, and yet, watching the green change to the golds and reds of Autumn as the color drains from the flower beds, I am filled with the joyful anticipation of change.

To me, witnessing the change of seasons is the best reminder that Mother Earth knows what she is doing.  There is a plan.  No matter how mankind tries to engineer the world, in the end, Mother Earth wins out.  She has her way.

The light has changed now.  No longer is the sun high in the sky above my head, but instead, hangs midway to the horizon, casting tall shadows from all who walk across its path.  As the sun retreats, the temperature drops.  The earth grows quiet and still.

  

Leaves float on cool breezes as they find their way to the ground beneath.  Over time, they will become one with the earth... nourishing her with gratitude.

I am reminded that life is circular.  So often we disconnect ourselves from the Earth and think of life as linear... with a beginning and an end.  But, instead, like the leaves, our jobs complete... we return to the earth - our substance returning to the soil, our essence released on the wind.  We were never separate from the Earth in the first place - but always an integral part of the cycle.  

It is this atmosphere that fills our lungs.  This sun and soil that nourish our bodies.  This is our home.  This is where we belong.  Mankind must find a way to work with Mother Nature - to conserve her resources and maintain her health.... it's much easier than packing up and leaving would be!

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Yesterday we were supposed to golf with our good friends (we golfed with them earlier in the summer.)  Unfortunately, Hubbs had a minor workshop accident - a long brad made an unexpected turn, as he was using an air gun to nail the latest gnome home together,  coming out at a 90 degree angle from where it was supposed to go - ending up in his thumb.  Needless to say, he is now on Worker's Comp from the "Gnome Home building company", and unable to use his thumb right now.  (It will be fine, I am sure - just painful and swollen from internal bleeding.)

As a result, I spent a few hours alone in the workshop finishing up the current gnome home.  Thanks, Deb, for suggesting that we needed a medical facility!  After yesterday, I would definitely agree!

(Almost complete -

-we are just awaiting the arrival of the staff.... the Doctor and Nurse arrive today.)

As you can see, the clinic already has its first patient waiting to see the doctor...

the fairies apparently got the best of this poor little troll.

(I will share a photo of the finished clinic in my next blog.)

Yesterday was also baking day.  Bread - cheddar/rosemary...

and sourdough pizza crusts for future pizza oven gatherings.

I'm still harvesting figs on a daily basis... what a year it's been!

Lastly, to answer a couple questions from yesterday:

  We shear our sheep each spring as soon as the weather turns warmer.

And when asked whether we eat the mushrooms that I find: The only two that I feel confident enough in identifying beyond the shadow of a doubt are the morel mushrooms and the hen of the woods (maitake mushroom).  Unless I have a professional to advise me, I will not eat any other mushrooms, on the off chance that I end up poisoning myself.  Better safe than sorry!