A taste of cooler mornings and things to come

   This morning is a cool 54 degrees, a light fog sits across the lawn. Fall weather, or at least a small taste of it this cool Friday morning, a brief reminder of things to come. I love the Fall, the smell of cool crispness, cool nights for sleeping, the need for nice warm woolly socks each morning, yes I love the Fall.  I know Summer is not ready to be pushed aside just yet, but these small glimpses of whats to come make dealing with the sticky heat of summer just a bit easier.
    As "Summer Vacation" winds down, we are beginning to prepare for change, after being home schooled for the past few years our daughter will return to school as a middleschooler, and our oldest son returns to high school after a year of home school, leaving mom at home to "home preschool" our youngest. A challenge I look forward to embracing fully and most wholeheartedly ! Learning how wonderful it is to be 3 years old again with the whole world yet to discover is something I look very forward to.
     Yes, many changes, many new rhythms to adjust to here on Maple Hill but I think by the time Fall does finally settle herself down upon our doorstep we will have made the necessary transitions smoothly.

A Bit of a Beginning

          Set back off the road on a gentle hill dotted with maples, an acre or so in upstate New York, not a huge amount of land, just enough for our family of five to call home. Most of the trees have names, given to them by our two oldest children as they became acquainted with them when we first moved here. There's Branches, a  maple, standing tall and having many sturdy climbing limbs, most of which have been thoroughly tested, dad only having to preform a rescue operation every now and again (mom is afraid of heights). The Circus tree, another maple, bursting with many limbs, all thick with leaves, standing beautiful and tall, its lower limbs bending close to the ground, perfect for climbing under to discover the secret inside, a big wide open interior, the outside foliage so thick and lush the area inside opens wide like a huge natural tent, the perfect spot for spending a long afternoon. The "Winnie the Pooh" tree, so named because its low wide spread branches look like something straight out of the hundred acre wood. More trees, more names, three smiling children and two large dogs all here at our "Maple Hill".
     Not a huge house, and not perfect by far, many home improvement projects clutter our "to do" lists, maybe even a bigger garden out back and some berry bushes next spring. The older kids will return to school in September after a few years spent homeschooling, leaving me at home with our youngest (an by far our most challenging), to home preschool and just enjoy some one on one time together. What we will do with all our free time? I think we will meander, a bit of this, a bit of that, just enough to keep us busy through the afternoons and then maybe we'll cozy up under that beautiful maple in the yard and read a good book.