This And That, Because It's Fall Now!

I don't know anything scarier than hearing your beloved child's voice on the cell phone at night, and hearing, "Mom, we had an accident..." My heart about stopped! Thankfully it was followed very quickly by, "But we're fine. We hit a deer." I got a preliminary damage report, but of course I had to ask a million questions, and am not sure I even heard the answers. They're OK. They're fine. Stacey and Brian are fine. It was a relief. Brian was driving, in his new used car; and not too many miles from home, on a narrow and hilly country highway, a deer dashed out in front of them. There was an oncoming car, and the deer stopped directly in front of them. Brian had the presence of mind to swerve just enough to catch it a glancing blow with the headlight area instead of full on with the grille, which would likely have thrown it up and through the windshield at them. The deer was never found, so it ran off, but left some costly repairs and two very shaken young people behind. The car was drivable, the damage mostly cosmetic, and not a scratch on the most precious thing in my life, and the most precious in his. Two mothers gave thanks that night, knowing that it could have been much, much worse. Cars are replaceable, but children aren't, and a parent worries no matter how old they are. If you look closely you will see a tuft of deer fur in the broken headlight cover.

Not a surprise to see a deer in the road, the rut starts soon and they are beginning to chase one another. Deer get careless during the mating season. While I would never suggest such a harsh lesson, and I know he is generally a careful driver, I am sure Brian will be super cautious at night after this. We live in the country, and deer collisions are always a possibility out here. There are lots of brushy shoulders on these roads and so at times something will dart out from seemingly nowhere. Thankfully the insurance company will pay for the repairs and Brian and Stacey are fine.

Ah September, when the skies are blue as blue can get, the afternoons warm and the nights chilly. More clouds now with the heavier morning dew burning off the land in the afternoon.The sun goes down earlier now and only the mid-afternoon has any warmth reminiscent of summer - not that we had much of that this year. It was a very cool and wet summer for the most part. Yet, I still welcome the fall. I love this time of year, when the growing season is winding down. We're starting to get some color in the trees. Colder, longer nights and shorter days make the green chlorophyll recede, leaving the true color of the leaves reflecting the minerals they drew from the soil and the food it produced. Fall can be breathtaking here, this is just the prelude, like listening to the symphony tuning up.

Just a little bit of color goes a long way. Nature is more subtle than we are, and doesn't splash the canvas with bold strokes all at once. You go out there one day and there's a bit here and there, a few days later, an entire tree is clothed in gold or blazing with oranges and reds. If you look closely though, it is not an even distribution of color, but sort of a patchwork shading and stippling. Leaves are already starting to drift down in spots, Lee and I drove through a storm of them one day as we went out shopping. There's a lot of foliar disease spots on them this year, a sign of all that rain. Still, it will be a lovely show. I am always inspired to do something creative in the fall, I think it is all that color.

Golds seem to predominate here, we have a lot of birch and hickory. The leaves don't all come down at once, but you can look into the woods now and see farther, so they are thinning. Even on the gray days the trees seem to be lit from within by all that color. Some people find fall a sad time, knowing the summer is passing. Personally, I love the changing seasons. To me fall is the time of harvest and winding down of the garden and all outdoor activities, so that I can start thinking about indoor things, like crafts and writing, again. I cook differently at this time of year too, the meals are heavier food, and meant to be served hot. Time to start thinking of casseroles, soups and stews. When I'm done putting up veggies that is!

We've been running the woodstove off and on, it gets cool in here. The furnace is all cleaned and ready for the heating season too. Even the cats are in more at night, it's more fun to curl up next to a warm human than to hunt for mice or prowl the yard for intruders.

We have barred owls in the woods up back and tonight as I write this a pair of them is having a sing off. They have a tenor hoot series that sounds like they're asking questions, and sometimes make monkey noises. I love their quavering hoots. Duncan and Ranger are inside for the night, but we have a dog lead out back, so that they can be clipped out to use the facilities. Duncan was out there for a bit, and decided he had to answer the owls with howls. It was kind of funny, but I know his loud voice carries with the hill behind us as a sounding board, so I was glad when Jason went to bring him in. He spooks the cats when he does that, and there are three more huskies up the road who would love to join him in his mournful cries. No one is going to sleep if they all get going at once.

Speaking of cats, Oreo has gotten to be quite the hunter this year. We see less of him than we do the others. He's always out there stalking something.

Hard to get him to sit still like this and actually take his picture.

I like the way he looks so suspicious, like he's wondering what you are up to with that camera.

Oreo is still young but once the bitter weather arrives it will drive him indoors at night. Oreo and Max are the only two of the five cats who will go outdoors regularly. Shadow is a bit old now and he has never hunted or been much interested in the great outdoors, unless it is midday and sunny. The kittens are still too young to be outdoors, we live close to the woods to take that chance. Believe me, I worry about the adult cats, and would keep them in if they didn't yowl half the night to be let out.

Max is the king of the pride here, though Oreo challenges him regularly. Here he is stalking purposefully down toward the garden to see what can be done about those chipmunks and field mice. When Max has hunting on his mind, you can call him repeatedly and he will totally ignore you. He is thinking one thing, "I have to kill something!" He is country cat, and so we allow for some small animal carnage in exchange for less rodents and their damage. Max can be territorial, but most of his battles involve that upstart Oreo, or late at night, a female cat that is the terror of the neighborhood. Not too many cats around here any more, this is mostly a dog lover's area.

Doesn't he look like a cat with a mission?

I don't know what Max saw, but something caught his attention. Could be a bird flying overhead or a gray squirrel working the hickories. We also have red squirrels in the spruces and a never-ending supply of chipmunks.




I called to Max, and he turned somewhat away and got a far off look that is almost kind of facetious. "Hmmm, did I hear a human voice crying in the wilderness? Naw, it's just the wind..." No one ignores you quite as effectively as a cat.

Well Max is off and stalking something else. I guess I am just that boring. Until night time that is, when he and Mischief will vie for a place on my bed; snuggled up beside me, on the pillow behind me, or at my feet. I'd hate to to think it that is simply because I'm warmer than the floor or the back of the couch. Their purring is very soothing when I am trying to get to sleep, but sometimes it is hard to move or turn over without disturbing one of us. You know you love your pets when you find yourself uncomfortable for their sake rather than your own. As I type this, little Mischief is curled up in my arms, precariously propped between me and the keyboard.

Fall is the time for crafts, and I love best of all crochet. I do some off and on all summer, but don't always have time to sit and work something out. The latest project is a box cover for... well, panti liners. My upstairs bathroom is a long room with storage at one end and the toilet area at the other, so things sit out. I think this looks a lot nicer than the advertising on the box, though in these shots it is empty. I used the gray yarn on the large panels because I didn't have enough aqua or white to do it. The little cord and bow doesn't match, but it is pretty yarn so I used it anyway. BTW, that cording is crocheted from two different colors. I make a chain, and then slip stitch down the back side. I left the raw ends out after securing them, and just kind of frayed them to look sort of tassel-ly.

This is the back. The mesh of one row of spaced double crochet allowed me to weave the cording in and out. I prefer single crochet for projects that need to be a bit stiff and where I don't want much to show through. Crochet still has enough give that though this fit the box tightly, I could stretch it over easy enough. That is crab stitch (AKA reverse single crochet) along the top. I just learned that one the year before last.

Just a shot of the side, showing one of the aqua panels. I made the rectangular base first (it is white) and edged it with single crochet all around. I then started each panel on an edge by picking up front loops only on the bottom edging, which helped the side bend upwards. When the panel was tall enough, I fastened in the white and edged it. When all four panels were done, they were only attached at the base. Lifting two together, I slip stitched from base to top. Then came a row of single crochet, the mesh stitch double crochet, another row of single crochet atop that, and last of all the crab stitch. For the corners on the topping, I added some chain 1 sections around the corner stitch to give it a bit of bend. No pattern for this, I made it up as I went along, but that is the gist of it.

I think the thing I like best about art and crafts is the ability to create on the fly. Crochet is probably the thing I am best at because I have the confidence of years of practice. The more you handle materials and tools, the better you know them, and what to expect when you do something. I enjoy making things that are useful or interesting with my hands, a metal or plastic hook, some sort of yarn, and an image in my head of what I want it to be. Best of all, I can do it in front of the TV in the evening when I sit with the family. I look up, I look down again; I watch, I listen, and I stitch. It is rhythmic movement and rather soothing too. Another nice thing about fall is the new shows for the season begin now, so I have more reason to sit down with hooks and yarn in hand and get busy making things. My family gets to see me and spend time with me, and I feel relaxed and refreshed when I head back upstairs to write my goodnight email(s) before bed.

What's not to love about that, eh?