late October

Today was not a day to fritter away on inside chores. After attempting to clean my bedroom and ending up sneezing my head off (where does all that dust come from???) I decided to skip the whole indoor thing.

While breathing deep gulps of late-autumn air, I raked, cleaned up the garden, hung laundry on the line, scrubbed windows and screens, tidied the porch, and tossed a number of frosted mums. While barbequed pork was bubbling in the crockpot, I pulled fistfuls of baby carrots from the cool, moist earth and discovered baby-bunches of broccoli hiding under the cover of frost. I also gathered a basketful of parsley for drying, along with a generous bouquet of mint.

As Friend #7 and I were hauling leaves to the back field, we lingered in the raspberry patch to enjoy the last vestiges of dark-red sweetness. Lazy bees mumbled as we disturbed their slumber. A chickdee chattered amongst the rattling dried heads of the blackened sunflower stalks.

Now, as dinner is readied, long golden bars of sun pour through squeaky clean windows and pool onto the oak floors. They imbue everything they touch with that peculiar glow that only fall can bring.

I hope your day was full of beauty, just as mine was.