Three

Sean and I made bird masks for Halloween. I’m not usually interested in making costumes for some reason. It may have something to do with the pressure to have a good costume for school when I was younger, dreaming up some big plan and then, half way through the day, realizing that my costume was not measuring up to my expectations. This year I put a little bit of thought into the holiday since no doubt Snowden will, in a few years, want to participate costume and all. It would be great to have some family traditions that can reflect our values and tie into the bigger picture of harvest and the changing season. I thought mask making would be something we could all do together; an activity that would steer us clear of store bought Disney costumes and focus on art traditions. After going to the educators’ opening of the Salish Art Exhibit (go to this link and open the “Click-it” screen for a beautiful preview), Wednesday, at the Seattle Art Museum, I felt much more inspired to take an interperative approach to the masks and also embrace Sean’s idea of foraging our materials. We bought nothing for these masks. The beaks for Snowden and my mask are made of fabric scraps, as is the foundation of Snowden’s and Sean’s mask. The other materials consist of a pine cone, grasses, a feather, dry corn cob papers, some glitter thread and sequins. And wow, I forgot how much I like to play with a hot glue gun. So, here’s to the season! Cheers!

October is my favorite season and not just because it’s my birthday month. I love the month because it’s a sweet spot, remembering summer, enjoying the fall harvest and anticipating the long winter months with a bit of excitement (for skiing and storms) and dread (of cold rain and short days and too little fruit) at the same time. I love the intensity of Ocotober’s colors.

Fall evening at the beach. As you’ll see, Snowden’s new coat from Grandma and Grandpa is not only getting a lot of use already, it adds a lot to our fall pictures. Thank you, Thank you for that lovely jacket!

Pumpkins lined up at Jubilee Farms Barn, our beloved CSA. It’s time to sign up for fall session #1 and now is also the time to sign up for Summer ‘09 twenty week session. Remember, CSA participation is all about getting money to farmers early so they can plan their crops before spring. From Eric and Wendy Haakenson:

“As I’m sure almost all of you know, October is our subscription month for next year’s Summer Session. It’s important to us to get October registrations for a couple of reasons. First, although we know others will join us later during the winter and even in the spring, based on previous years’ October registrations we get a pretty good idea where we will be the next year in terms of the land we need to plant, seeds we need to get, and other plans that need to be made for the upcoming season.

The other thing the October registrations provide, through the $100 deposit we request, is the “seed” money to get us started in the spring. Although we don’t start Summer Session distribution until mid-June, we, along with our crew, start work very early in the spring. Early Summer Session registrations help with the cash flow to provide for the summer harvest.”

October is very busy (note the cars in the cow pasture!) at Jubilee with the Pumpkin Farm activities but as Eric emphatically points out, Jubilee is NOT a pumpkin farm, Jubilee is a biodynamic farm producing a huge array of organically grown food.

The last of the berries.

Snowden’s winter hat made by me our of Plymouth Yarn’s Yukon (35% mohair, 35% wool, 30% acrylic) and from the excellent pattern for the Meathead hat in current fav knit book: Knit Along.

And our glowing toddler cruising on the beach at sunset headed for the slides and swings. For lovely contrast, here is Snowden 1 year ago, October ‘07:

I’ve been thinking about posting, feeling inspired, wanting to keep little notes about our life on this blog but actually doing it, well, that’s another matter. Where did September go? I had to open my day planner and look at our pictures to find out. Just what have we been filling out days with? Here’s a snapshot of September:

Of course September is the back to school month so the coffee is set to brew the night before the morning; we wake up earlier and it is even dark now, we greeted the moon this morning. Sean resumed his daily walk up to his classroom and Snowden and I resumed attendance at a couple of parent/child classes: swimming and creative dance. There are specifics about the swim and dance class that I think are good for Snowden to learn but at her age, I’m not really concerned about skill building, I’m more interested in raising a child who embraces participation with groups, who enjoys activities with other people and who is uninhibited when it comes to moving freely,joining in, expressing herself. So in our way, we went “back to school” too.

September was also a busy nesting month for us as we made plans, outlined materials and interviewed craftspeople to help ready what is to be our new home. We are moving into a family owned house in November. It’s a place with a history special to the Baughn family so our remodeling plans have been directed at every juncture by our desire to retain the spirit of the home. This overlap of my professional life with my personal life has been challenging and my fingers are crossed that decisions I had a hand in making are well received by all the people that love that home.

September was also whittled away at the beach, Golden Gardens in particular but on Labor Day weekend we went up to Kayak Point and Snowden spent probably a full hour actually in the water! The weather was warm with only a hint of fall in the morning air. We went to the beach probably 6 or 8 times in September and always the weather was mild and the sand soft and clean. This last week though we went to the beach in the evening: the air was cold, the wind was up blowing leaves across the grass and the waves hit the beach with enough force to carve the tide line sand into wintry looking cliffs piled with sea weed. Fall is here.