It’s been a few weeks since I made an update, and I apologize.  I’ve been busier than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs, as they say.

After the big garden to-do on the 23rd, my whole life seemed to wind up to an incredible level.  We were getting ready for my mom’s annual visit, classes started on the campus I work at, leading to a massive increase in workload, and two of my private clients sent me huge amounts of work.  I seem to spend every spare moment catching up on that contract work and keeping up with the garden, while my workday is spent trying not to lose my mind from the incredible workload.  There is a lot of juggling going on to be sure we have food in the house, clean laundry, and for me, at least a few hours of sleep a night.

But fall is coming, and in fact, here in Colorado, I would argue that fall has firmly arrived.  There has been snow in the higher elevations, the leaves are starting to turn, the garden has slowed production to a crawl, and the nights are brisk.  The weather forecasters are gleefully tossing around the “snow” word this week as we are expecting a dusting on Thursday night, when the temp will drop into the low 30’s for the first time since early June.  This may spell the end of the growing season for me, at least for the majority of what I’m growing.  The kale, cabbage, and peas will do fine, but most other things will be goners if we get close to freezing.

And that is fine by me.  I could use the rest!

So Mom arrived on the 4th, and she’s settled into the guest suite in our lower level.  Her Florida blood is thin, and we turned on the heat for her.  The suite has heated floors, as well as hot water baseboard heat.  This is a wonderful luxury.  There are warm spots all over the floor.  I won’t need my slippers and a space heater to spend time in my office this winter!  It gets pretty cozy down there pretty quickly.  Since it is going to get pretty chilly in a couple of days, it’s good to know she will be warm.  We have the heat ready to go in the rest of the house, as well.  This will be the first time in a long time I have had water-based heat.  The heaters are on baseboards in all the rooms, and there is no blowing air.  That part may mean the house stays clean longer.  And I’d be okay with that, too.

Mom brought with her the antique secretary she has had for many years.  It has been in storage for several years, and she was finally ready to part with it.  The piece is a curio cabinet on one side, and a set of drawers and a fold-down desk on the other side.  The glass in the curio side is curved, and expensive.  Her biggest worry was getting it here in one piece.  It arrived safely, with no damage. It now sits proudly in my bedroom, filled with my prettiest chickens.  I love this piece and am very happy to have it.

She also brought with her the china I bought from my friend Patricia.  It was her grandmother’s, and I’ve been waiting for it to make its way west since January.  It is so pretty and delicate, and looks lovely in my china cabinet.

And speaking of Patricia, she and a friend flew to Colorado for a vacation this week.  I drove up to Estes Park this morning to have breakfast them.  It had been raining, and it was dark, and the highway up to Estes is the one that is still under construction after the floods, but I made it, and up that high, it was sunny and beautiful.  I was just up there 10 days ago, and just in the last ten days, it has turned to fall.  There was also snow on the flat-tops, which you can see from downtown Estes Park.

Yes, fall is coming.  Winter will be here soon.  And I am thankful for the change of seasons.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 10th, 2014 at 9:36 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.