autumn

my morning commute

Inspired by Shari's autumn walk series, I decided to take my camera along on my walk to work this morning. Once at school we took the children on a leaf walk through the park since it is such a beautiful day. The children collected bags full of maple, sycamore, gingko, and oak leaves as well as various walnuts, bark pieces and sticks. One boy found a gorgeous flat piece of sycamore bark on the ground and said, "tree paper!"

Passage



Hello. Here we are in the middle of Monday already and I am still thinking of our weekend and the good and simple moments that filled it. The temperatures were warm, the sky was bright blue and more yellow and red leaves were carried to the ground by autumn breezes.

We celebrated my birthday, a birthday in which for a long while I had been anticipating with some anxiousness because there are certain expectations one feels upon reaching this age. But now I am standing here looking at this new age and not {totally} panicking and I realize I am ok. That's a good feeling.

So we celebrated by having dinner with friends, a latte from the coffee shop, chocolate torte with fresh creme, taking bike rides in the sun {my husband surprised me with a bike from the Lawrence ReCyclery!}, homemade biscuits for Saturday breakfast, mushroom risotto, salad greens from the autumn garden, and making starburst rolls while enjoying the sun pouring in the kitchen window Sunday afternoon. We had a wonderful end to October and quite a nice passage into November. I hope your new month is beginning with a little sun and something delightful in your days,

H

Regarding Autumn



Last night before dark I stood out on the balcony looking at the black wet trees and the remaining color. We've had a beautiful autumn. Wednesday during my walk to school, I passed by a young gingko tree in the park with a small cluster of leaves in it's lower branches. On my return home, there was one leaf remaining. The rest had fallen in the wind. I find myself noticing these changes with a sigh as autumn slips into the "w" season. {I can't bring myself to say it yet.}

Do you have any weekend or Halloween plans? I am looking forward to some homemade chocolate torte tonight.

Have a great weekend, and enjoy the extra hour of sleep!
H

a little brown story



Hi,
It's a slow, thick grey morning around here, one where I woke up thinking, this is a good morning for frothy in the coffee. I don't get to make it every day, because it's another step, but on studio days, I consider it a little treat.

When I was collecting and arranging these leaves yesterday {leaves seem to be a running theme for me this autumn and oh, one is cut paper} I remembered as a child everything I owned was brown. My mom made my curtains and bed pillows and they were brown, the bedspread, carpet and little sleeper sofa were all brown. Most of the furniture was made of wood, by my dad, and of course wood is brown. And since I have brown hair, I was always given dolls with the same. My sister is a blonde so when we'd watch Charlie's Angels, I would always have to "be" Jaclyn Smith or Kate Jackson, while my sister was Cheryl Ladd. I remember wishing for something other than brown. And now I wish I wouldn't wish for something other than what I have.

. . . . .

Have you seen Gretchen's beautiful print for The Working Proof?

Off for a sip more coffee,
H

frost in the garden





I enjoyed a few moments of poking about our sleeping garden this morning, in my pajamas, sneaking up on the frost. I hope to do some more looking at the world through a lens this weekend with some film.

This morning we have coffee, yesterday there was none. All is right with the world again.

Enjoy your day!
H