Falling Along

The dogwood in our neighbor's yard is turning a misty burgundy. I can see it well out the window to my left when I sit here on the second floor at our computer even though on ground level, standing in the garden, picking tomatoes view of it is entirely blocked by the large viburnum hedge that divides our yards. The dogwoods are changing, the bees are going into a genuine work-halt at nighttimes now, the cucumbers have petered out completely and gone to a new life on the compost pile and the boys and I had our first little hearth fire this morning during our story hour. We are on to the chicken roasting season of the year. Time for baking and interior design and teetering stacks at the library every week.

I have begun a Pinterest page all about Autumn pleasures (so much fun!) and am working to carve out time again for reading. I find it more difficult suddenly with so much school happening. Am also finding that fall means more volume of clothing to wash and put away since everyone's wearing layers, cold weather in the morning and night and then hot by peak of day.....clothes, clothes everywhere. I feel like I spend all day collecting things and tossing them basementward for washing. On the upside, my new attention to life indoors here has meant that I am getting into a housekeeping rhythm for the first time in my life. I am sweeping the kitchen floor, wiping down the counters, swiping out the bathroom sinks and getting a little laundry moving, almost without fail every morning. Not bad for 10 years of housewifery lessons. Finally getting a little somewhere!

And now I'm off to heat up the oven for roasting dinner and take a quick breeze out to the garden to pull old plants and put in a few more fall crops....better late than never.

Downton Abbey Fever

Am always late to join these cultural parties [see the mentions about the series in this, this, this and this blog I read] but I am finally working my way through Downton Abbey (Hooray instant Netflix! And hooray rainy days!) and am much enthralled, wondering why in the world I waited so long.

Image by c_l_b via Flickr

I was getting ready for a break from the self-educational non-fiction that is my normal track, time for a little escapism. Especially, since the weather is so bizarre, dismal and even obstructive to normal springtime activity. (I have a feeling that it will take me longer than I imagined to get the garden all in, for instance.) But, no matter! I am neck deep in Brittania and suffragettes and butlers and proposals and ladies maids. *sigh* Ru has actually even taken to watching with me which has been quite fun. I'm not sure how much he understands, but he's interested and sometimes he asks me questions..."What's that thing he's carrying Mommy? etc..."

Someday I will go to England...and spend my own holiday "season" in London...someday....

Until then, it is blooming, floral May even if it is rainy although I have to admit I am finding myself swept back up in homekeeping interest, and less drawn towards the landscaping plans of old...all this grey makes the indoors the most alluring thing I suppose. I always feel a bit inspired regarding my housekeeping whenever I see films with lots of maid footage. This time what is catching my eye is the lovely rotating bouquets of flowers all over the manor house. There are quite a few times when maids are busily laying out fresh arrangements and some moments when we catch glimpses of a vase full of this or that on the dresser or the side table etc. And I swoon.

After watching an episode today I went dashing out into the yard twice "between the raindrops" with a basket to snip and clip whatever I found. Right now our lily-of-the-valley is all in bloom so it was my most leaned upon basket filler....and then I went inside to dry off and assemble a train of bottles, jugs and vases on the counter for stuffing with blooms. Such fun to sweep the house up, polish off the windowsills and set out little jugs of blooms while a big pot of split pea soup bubbled on the stove. Sometimes life is jolly.

My Inner Neat Nick

I am not pregnant, but I have a few friends who are at the moment...among them one of my sisters (Hi Doubleddog!!! *waving*). And the other day a few of us were sitting around sympathizing with one very pregnant pal over her irresistible nesting urges.

"EVERYTHING must be done now. It is really important. It will not be okay if we plan on doing it later and I think I'll cry." 

You know, that sort of thing. And I we all ended up in stitches laughing about how dire the whole thing feels and how ridiculous it sounds out loud, especially when you're not pregnant...and also how fabulous it is to know that other people have been the same sort of mutant life-form you turn into when you're making another small human. Golly there is hope in solidarity. Such a great word.

And then tonight A and I went out for dinner and I told him that although I'm a mildly messy person and not very organized about my housekeeping systems and methods I recently put my finger on the fact that disorder really bugs me. On some deep psychological level that is not very overt, I come undone and begin to unravel at the seams. Its just like how some people get grouchy when they're too hungry. I do that when there are too many dirty dishes and none of the toys are in the toy box anymore and the floor hasn't been swept in four days. I am not sure if this is a new part of me emerging as I become neater or if I've always been this way and just noticed, but I've found that if I notice I'm feeling ultra-grouchy and snappy and think about why, sometimes I realize that I think the house is driving me nuts. And then, if I find a little space to work on the house, I magically feel better.

And yeah. Its a tiny piece of that same mania that I feel when I'm at the end of a pregnancy. Except I don't feel that way all the time, around the clock even at every potty break in the middle of the night. I just feel that way when things get too out of control. But, yeah...its the same feeling.

And then today, while blog browsing....I bumped into a cartoonist's blog and they had this fantastic entry that made me giggle, but my favorite part was this drawing which perfectly captures "the feeling."

Occasionally, this beast is me. I feel it coming on.

Spring Cleaning Begins!

This is going to be a quiet week around the blog. I'm spring cleaning the house along with one of my favorite bloggy friends, Alison, from Brocante Home. If you're interested in joining in, either this week (as I clean or later at your own pace) then check out her fabulous Seasonal Scrub directions. I try to do this twice a year and when I get it done the house glitters in a very encouraging way and I feel very accomplished.