LaughAloud

This beautiful pumpkin came in my CSA vegetable box last week. I was  torn between keeping it and using it for fall decor at Thanksgiving, but decided it would be more fun to cook it up and bake something delicious with it.

When I cut the pumpkin open to scoop out the seeds, I found this little seed actually growing inside of it. I've never seen something like this before, but Chip said it made sense, because in nature, the pumpkin would most like rot, and the seeds inside would start growing at the same time, eventually creating a new plant. what a cool thing to imagine.  

I have the day off on Wednesday for Veteran's Day and I plan to use my pumpkin to make chocolate pumpkin muffins. I figure pumpkin muffins with chocolate chips are delicious, so chocolate pumpkin muffins should be amazing. We'll see how they turn out.

 

Hello Fall

Thursday evening, as I was leaving work around 5:30, I noticed the light was different.  The sun was lower than it normally was as I left work and there was a crispness to the air.  For a moment I thought, oh, it seems so like fall, and that was when I realized it almost was. For the week before the air had been different, and it had gotten slightly cooler, but it was that combination of cool air and low, early light that made me realize, autumn was almost here.

Yesterday was the autumnal equinox. The first day of fall, and one of two days during the year when day and night are perfectly balanced (well, at the equator anyway).  From now on, the days will get only shorter.   This fall may not be leading up to sub-freezing temperatures, or lots of snow or ice, but its still Fall, and it still nice to feel the change in the air and see it in the days.

Let's Pretend

This evening when I got home from work, I took off my cute Mary Janes and put on my boots with maroon knee high socks.  I took off my light weight corduroy coat, put on my black peacoat (heavy cotton, not wool) and tied a gauzy black scarf around my neck.  I headed out the door and took a walk as ominous clouds crowded overhead and a chilly wind swept over me.  As my fingers grew cold in the 50-something degree air, I pretended it was a late fall day, and a nice long winter was still ahead.