Autumn is here. Truly. And with it our home and our lives feel different somehow. We are as busy as ever and yet life is somehow, quieter? It’s hard to quantify. The huge, long, out-breath that is summer is suddenly shifting as everything is drawn swiftly inward. Our life at home is always important to me, but I think that perhaps there isn’t a time where it feels as important as in autumn time.

There is a peacefulness that comes upon us now, that I find somewhat lacking in the summer months. Not that we don’t have moments of peace at other times, but it’s somewhat elusive, harder to pin down and hold, requiring more effort on my part. At this time of year it seems to occur more naturally…coming from some outer source and not just my sheer will and determination!

I’m taking the time to appreciate these moments, more then ever these days. To know that the moment when I decided to turn our table into a fort for Galen, draped with blankets and outfitted with board books, where he is now happily installed with his teddy and a lantern, was a moment of choosing. Of stepping away from the commitments of my everyday life and seeing this child in front of me and knowing that he needed something very special and just for him. And of loving the rewards and the gratitude that comes with recognizing that. Knowing that the half hour spent laying in bed with Iain and Elijah this morning, each with a hand on either side of my belly, giggling at the little person bouncing around in there, was a blessing to be cherished.

Other bits and pieces from the last week, that came together “just so”…
The morning that we went out gathering leaves to press. Coming in, I asked the boys to snatch up a pile of books to press them in. At the top of the pile? The Complete Unabridged Poems of Robert Frost. And so I read poetry to them, while they all sat about me, sorting leaves into various volumes. The second book in the stack inspired a game of sorts and a learning experience that I never would have conceived on my own. Our copy of The Living Alphabet is now adorned with leaves, all filed under the correct letter…red maples under “R”, forsythia under “F” and so forth.

That Sunday morning, sequestered upstairs while Steve painted, where I sat in the center of my bed with my work basket, and within 10 minutes, everyone had joined me. First came Galen asking for something to sew. Next came Elijah with a long forgotten penny rug in progress. And finally Iain who opted to make a bag for Galen out of some of his very own fabric. Completely unplanned and yet, there it was, one minute I was sewing buttons on a sweater and the next I was leading a full-fledged sewing class, with everyone working contentedly at their own speed.