A day of brilliant light and spiffy fall colors. How many more will have before the leaves tumble and leave behind a landscape that stays naked until April? You never know. Gusty winds and pelting rains could bring it all down pretty quickly. It's important to take in everything that's bright and beautiful now, today, before we are pushed into the next season (visually, if not according to calendar readings).
The morning sunshine moves us to the Sun Room (how apt!) for breakfast. In these colder months, we chase the sunny farmhouse spots from east to south to west. It's worth it!
In the afternoon, I pick up the kids and suggest an outdoor adventure. Actually, I don't merely suggest it -- I insist on it. If we are to catch autumnal colors, it better be now! I borrow the young family's travel stroller (the one they necessarily had to purchase in Amsterdam), I ask Ed if he wants to come along, I pack a bunch of snacks and set out.
As I suspected, initially the kids balk. It's so much easier just to head home where toys and books and warm sunny spaces await them. But I don't give in to this. Every season deserves a respectful outing where we notice all that's grand and beautiful about it. Today we pay homage to autumn and there's no better place for it than here, at the Arboretum.
And it is beautiful. And the kids take note.
(a snack, and a hunt for the reddest maple leaves...)
(tall grasses)
On the return drive, Snowdrop asks if we could stop at Culvers. If you're not from these parts, perhaps you'll not have heard of it -- it's a fast food chain originating from Wisconsin. What sticks in my mind is the commercial for it -- Culver's: home to the original butter burger.
I ask her -- what would you like to get there? I'm thinking -- she'll want the frozen custard. Surely that's on her mind on this sunny if not too warm a day.
The fried cheese curds! -- she answers without hesitation. A true Wisconsin girl!
It's a true indication of how much we love these kids that I pull over and fill the car with the smell of greasy curds. Three out of four of us wolf down the fried breaded melting curds (though one of the three knocks off the bits of batter). (I'll let you guess who's the holdout!)
Finally, home. Farmhouse home. These two mainly play in their own spaces, but every once in a while, they come together, like this:
Sparrow is a pretty tired guy. He naps at school but not nearly long enough. Toward evening, he is in my lap, barely keeping his eyes open. It's a long day for everyone, but without doubt, a most beautiful day -- with all the colors and scents of spent leaves and autumn sunshine.
The morning sunshine moves us to the Sun Room (how apt!) for breakfast. In these colder months, we chase the sunny farmhouse spots from east to south to west. It's worth it!
In the afternoon, I pick up the kids and suggest an outdoor adventure. Actually, I don't merely suggest it -- I insist on it. If we are to catch autumnal colors, it better be now! I borrow the young family's travel stroller (the one they necessarily had to purchase in Amsterdam), I ask Ed if he wants to come along, I pack a bunch of snacks and set out.
As I suspected, initially the kids balk. It's so much easier just to head home where toys and books and warm sunny spaces await them. But I don't give in to this. Every season deserves a respectful outing where we notice all that's grand and beautiful about it. Today we pay homage to autumn and there's no better place for it than here, at the Arboretum.
And it is beautiful. And the kids take note.
(a snack, and a hunt for the reddest maple leaves...)
(tall grasses)
On the return drive, Snowdrop asks if we could stop at Culvers. If you're not from these parts, perhaps you'll not have heard of it -- it's a fast food chain originating from Wisconsin. What sticks in my mind is the commercial for it -- Culver's: home to the original butter burger.
I ask her -- what would you like to get there? I'm thinking -- she'll want the frozen custard. Surely that's on her mind on this sunny if not too warm a day.
The fried cheese curds! -- she answers without hesitation. A true Wisconsin girl!
It's a true indication of how much we love these kids that I pull over and fill the car with the smell of greasy curds. Three out of four of us wolf down the fried breaded melting curds (though one of the three knocks off the bits of batter). (I'll let you guess who's the holdout!)
Finally, home. Farmhouse home. These two mainly play in their own spaces, but every once in a while, they come together, like this:
Sparrow is a pretty tired guy. He naps at school but not nearly long enough. Toward evening, he is in my lap, barely keeping his eyes open. It's a long day for everyone, but without doubt, a most beautiful day -- with all the colors and scents of spent leaves and autumn sunshine.
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