October days

Well, that lovely month just flew by! We've been busy with our barn project (photos to come soon), so we spent lots of days outside in the waning sun watching the leaves change.

We've noticed so many caterpillars inching their way through the yard, presumably searching for our mythic basement "where all insects go to die." We're making an official prediction here at 1.7 that we'll have a drier and milder winter than usual. It's all very scientific...based on the width of the Woolly Bear Caterpillar's orange stripe.

There was mushroom hunting as well. I was tickled watching Ole search through the woods with a mushroom ID book tucked under his arm. This beaut is some sort of Russula, maybe. I feel pretty safe letting him pick mushrooms as the chance of him eating one are truly nil--you can see it on his face.

I trudged out to the garden in rain and gathered one last harvest, enough to put up a batch of salsa and enjoy carrot sticks all week.

And then there was Halloween. We carved a few homegrown pumpkins and enjoyed a bit of trick-or-treating.

After a giant rainstorm. That fellow on the right sure has a good attitude!

This fall weather has me reminiscing about our trip to Turkey four years ago this October. Of the many great memories are the smells and tastes of their cuisine. Apple tea is the customary drink hosts or shop owners offer to guests in Turkey, so I've been including tea with Ole's afternoon snack on cold days in lieu of hot cocoa. In addition to apple tea, he's sampled Good Earth, ginger-green, peppermint, and that delicious Aveda blend so far. As we toasted the other day, he tried to pronounce a new word.

 

 

 Salud!