The Bethlehem Fair, birthplace of holy memories

We just did our annual trip to the county fair, one of my very favorite, ever end-of-summer rituals. Little things can make wonderful traditions.

 We live in a size-able city that is a bedroom community of The Big Apple...that means that living around these parts is quite urban and rather devoid of fairs. In urban New England, people in our neck of the woods have mostly grown up attending carnivals which are like fairs, minus the agricultural bits. I love agricultural bits.

 I love the part about how you park in a tromped down hay field and walk forever to get to the gate. I love the quilts and the baking contests and the view from the top of the ferris wheel that is all trees and rolling hills and the occasional church steeple.

I love that you have to wear your old boots because the midway is just a dirt path that gets messy from so many feet tromping through it all week. I love that nobody thinks twice when our four year old has grass stains on both knees and our toddler is hanging off the fences by the livestock pens.

The fair was one of my childhood rituals. I grew up entering things I made, dreaming of owning a horse of my own after visiting velvet noses in the horse barn and spending my savings on the Tilt-a-Whirl and The Scrambler. I feel so right at the fair, lots of great memories there. Wonderful, precious to me, part-of-who-I-am, things-that-make-the-world-feel-right-memories. Its simple stuff and silly stuff, (the ridiculous carny patter on the midway still makes me laugh out loud and The Scrambler makes me giddy) but its so happy and so gritty and inspiring to me.

 I always come home and want to go to visit the area farms more and grow bigger carrots and teach the boys to knit and work more carefully on my pie edging. I love that fairs make me think of things that I can do myself and want to do them. I love that they make me proud of capability and relaxed warmth and my own state. I love how much the fair has become a celebration for my sons. Its super fun to share the things you love with the next generation.

And I have to say, my husband, who isn't an agricultural devotee has been very gracious about learning to appreciate this ritual that I love so deeply. Affectionate shout out to him for making me feel understood and helping the kids value things he knows matter so much to me.

Comb Honey and September Rain

The world is a sodden, dripping place today. We are having one of those gently, sifting September rains I am so fond of. I remember the year that I abruptly started to like autumn after years of being a whiny complainer whenever it wasn't springtime.

I was taking a culinary arts class and I remember getting up very early in the morning and driving off to school with my knife kit and my gigantic recipe book in my chef whites thinking glowingly "How had I never noticed that September rain was a hidden, unnoticed loveliness in life?" I had never noticed before how vivid all the colors are in the rain and how the world slows down, such a lovely thing after the harried panic of school-starting-up-season. I love the mist that comes tip-toeing ahead of the rain in the early morning and the chilly, dankness inside once it really begins to fall....just daring you turn on the kettle and get a good book out. Everyone loves the way rain smells and I love the fact that September rain is often gentle and soothing, a reason for migrating birds to stop their flight and take a pleasant, little congregational water break.

Image via Wikipedia

Bird Migration Patterns of the world, our birds head to South America.

This morning the boys and I pressed our noses against the window and watched a flock of robins stop in our backyard on their way to Brazil or Argentina. They were singing some beautiful rainy day tunes and taking turns hopping around the gravel drive looking for weed seeds and other tidbits. I hope the find all the crabgrass seeds. Ru cocked his head and asked me, "Mommy, why do birds get so happy when it rains?" Maybe he needs to wait awhile for his own autumn epiphany.

First Harvest, my first frame of honey from my own hive.

I screwed up my courage and broke into the bee hive again to check on their stores and also harvested a little taste of honey. I won't really take in any quantity of honey this year at all, the bees need all the boost they can get just to be sure they are able to harvest enough honey to get them through their first winter on our property.

Beautiful natural comb.

I took one frame of honey and we are eating it, sliced in thin, melting globs or cut into golden, sticky squares and ferried to our mouths with dripping speed, right in the comb. The honey is very pale blonde, almost clear, just the gentlest yellow with a very high floral flavor, not at all heavy or dark. The first bite was legendary, transcendent eating.

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September Time

 We are making our annual tomato sauce. First time in the new house, last summer I just didn't have it in me. I'm experimenting with a new method, no skinning, no seeding which means less finger work and less boiling, just a lot more slow simmering over the stove and the use of my food processor. The house smells amazing, ripe luscious tomatoes, top to bottom. We sat there, snuggled on my bed, reading for our Story Hour and it was incredibly cozy with the bright sunshine, the cool fall breeze coming through the open window and the warm, round scent of tomatoes drifting into every nook and cranny.

 Part of why I am making sauce today is because I need to use up our current tomato harvest. I only had to buy one box of tomatoes this year, half of my normal purchase, because I had so many tomatoes ready from my own garden. That felt like a great coup! We have been eating every which way but we're leaving town for a week in Michigan and we can't take tomatoes along since they don't exactly make good traveling companions and they sure won't wait quietly for us at home, at least not in a solid state. Heh.

 My biggest sauce helper this year was Nib...he was always in the kitchen and pottering around picking things up and poking holes in tomatoes and helping me make sticky orange footprints on the tile floor. Fun to have him becoming such a little boy and independent person.

 Otherwise we have been enjoying quite a bit of outdoor time, the weather is exactly my very favorite right now. 75 degrees, slight breeze, sunny. You can wear whatever you want and do anything from swimming to wood-stacking in weather like that. We're soaking it in.

 We've been doing a lot of painting around the house which I am am beyond excited about!We started by finishing the white walls in the playroom. Such a relief! I got really bogged down there. I painted the corner cupboards with a pretty terracotta inside and a smooth, new layer of gloss white on the outside. I am so pleased with the way they turned out and am so thankful to the friend who brilliantly guided me to this color idea. Gotta love it when people come over and you leave five inches taller and stuffed with great inspiration!

We've also finally painted the stairwell to the second floor which was all layered in retro, faux wood paneling. It is now a smooth, light taupe/grey with the beginnings of fresh, gloss white trim. I hope to finish the trim sometime very soon (I am working on it a little bit at a time in stolen moments) and continue the taupe on up into the upstairs hallway. I am somewhat addicted to the smell of fresh paint.

 This beautiful Siamese kitty has been slinking around our property from time to time, sometimes even slipping into the garage. I have always been rather taken by Siamese cats, I know that Disney painted them as villains in Lady and the Tramp but it didn't take for me. I think they're gorgeous. Is it okay to admit that I am considering leaving some bits of fish or a little dish of milk out for this kitty in hopes that I could lure it to stay around and curl up in the sunshine on our back porch? *wince* Don't tell my asthmatic husband who does not want a pet.

September is a good month and I'm excited to make a pilgrimage to my childhood home this time of year. I plan to swim in The Big Lake no matter how cold it is, roast a marshmallow, catch a fish and stay up way too late playing guitar. I am hoping to get the chance to take some pictures and maybe even log a few posts from way up north...I'd love to share my roots with you all. 

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