Fall and all

The woods at the edge of our neighbors field. See the moon up there?

So, here's a big surprise:
I. Love.Fall.
I love it! I love all the colors, the smells, and all the Hallmark bull crap that goes along with it!
Pumpkins, wreathes made out of colorful leaves, scented candles from Bath&Bodyworks, Halloween, carving jack-o-lanterns, hayrides, bonfires, trips to the pumpkin patch, the fact that I become the Martha Stewart of the kitchen when it comes to Fall themed baked goods, that I can now layer clothing and wear sweater dresses with thick tights, or leggings as pants with oversized sweaters and boots, etc, etc!
I just love it all.
I have fond memories as a kid, of jumping in leaf piles on chilly Friday afternoons after school, as the sun was starting to set and my father was trying to get the last few piles in our yard, which was set far off the road and into the woods, (so there were PLENTY of leaves) raked before dark. And then running inside to the smell of chili that had been cooking on the stove for dinner, and warm corn bread. I remember anxiously awaiting to light our jack-o-lanterns, that didn't have your typical, run of the mill, faces carved on them, but spooky looking characters from a really awesome carving kit that they only sold in the early 90's (which we still use today, because honestly, the crap patterns they give you now are way too cutesy-pootsy cartoony for my taste!).

My Frankenstein jack this year, from an old pattern my parents had!

In my teenage years, I remember letting the goats out of their pens to run around and eat up all the crunchy, golden leaves on the ground, and laughing as they happily pranced around the yard, free for just a little while to eat until their hearts content.
Then there were my young adult years. Living in Pittsburgh with my friends in a big house just outside the city, dressing as whatever we could come up with and going to Halloween parties that lasted early into the morning. The walks home from the T station, after a long shift at Starbucks (the job that fueled my love of CAFFEINE!), with my favorite version of a pumpkin spice latte in hand, breathing in the smell of the leaves on the little road around me, and missing my home in the woods back in Ohio.

All 6 of the pumpkins we grew!

And now, here I am, back in those woods in Ohio, teaching my daughter to love jumping in the leaves, to listen to the rustling and crunching they make under her feet, and smelling the air. To drink apple cider and get excited about carving pumpkins, and growing pumpkins--which we did this summer, and it turned out quite nice! To have a love as deep for Fall and it's beauty that I may not have fully appreciated until I was older.

 I'm so glad we have the opportunity to be here, where I grew up, even for only a two year stay,  and I can share my love of seasons with her. All seasons, which I think are 10x's more beautiful, here in our woods, than anywhere else.

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This was a particularly warm day last week. Full advantage of it was taken!

This was the one...

Yesterday, we spent the day raking and "catching up" on laundry.
I use the term "catching up" loosely, because we are no where near caught up. Our washer broke about 2 weeks ago,(been doing laundry at my parents house, next door) about the same time we were running out of hot water every 2 days because the propane company decided we could wait a week to come fill our tank that was empty.
(Needless to say, Grandma decided to buy an electric water tank so we would never have to worry about that again.)
It was one of those days where I felt like everything was just flowing nicely.
My favorite kind of "be productive" days, which seem to be few and far between for me anymore.
It was one of those, "throw a pork loin in the crock pot, clothes in the washer, dishes in the dish washer, vacuum the floors, while the cookies are baking in the oven, then out to do yard work, multiple-things-are-being-accomplished-at-once" kind of days. I just love it when everything flows and I feel like a master of time management, which I am not, but yesterday, yesterday I WAS!
I was so proud of myself for leaving my phone inside on the charger ALL day, and not getting caught up in the app-trap I often find myself falling victim to (habitually checking all your apps social networking apps for updates).
So, naturally, the one day I don't check my Instagram for 8 hours, what happens?
Oh, just that picture that I tagged with #enjoyingthesmallthings for a chance to have it put on Kelle Hampton's Friday Photo Dump gets chosen, and she comments and asks me if I could email it to her to be featured with the other pictures she liked that day. And I don't get the message until AFTER the blog post goes up.
I was in total shock and disbelief when I saw the comment on my picture. I never thought, of the hundreds of pictures that get tagged a day, that she would like one of mine!! She's a blogging celebrity in my opinion,and I adore all her pictures, and this was like...like a BIG deal to me, haha, and I TOTALLY BLEW IT!
I was shaking so hard from excitement and shock, that I could hardly type!

So, I sent her the picture anyway, hoping that maybe it could be used next week, although, I'm not sure if that's against the rules or not.
I'll be super happy if it is, but of course, there are so many pictures out there to choose from each week, I could understand if it doesn't.
Ah well. I'll just keep taking pictures, and maybe some day, she'll like another one of mine?
Either way, that'll be the last time I don't check up on stuff all day!

 Well, the day is still young, and I have many things to do, including working on a little girls costume for trick-or-treating (and possibly figuring out how to modify it to fit a SNOW SUIT underneath the whole thing...)
as well as a laundry room to paint.
Until next time, keep caffeinated!
~Marinda