Autumn Pickings!

Today was a day for picking apples and pumpkins with Fiona! We picked her up early, chatted with her already busy-on-yard-and-housework parents, then loaded up the Toodlebug down the lane. Spying FOUR black squirrels on the way we talked about the population boom of this unique little breed, and of the albino white squirrel that I see every day near my workplace. Squirrels of all sorts give me enormous joy, but a special place is held for the black and white ones :) We then hit breakfast at McDonald's. Fi & I shared a Big Breakfast of hot cakes, eggs, sausage, hashbrowns, biscuit and chocolate milk, John opting for a Sausage and Egg Biscuit. Having a nice, relaxed meal indoors, getting out of the parking lot was an adventure in itself! Wow, loads of people go to Micky D's for brekkies, although who can blame them? Me & Fi's Big Breakfast was $3.95! After navigating the sea of crazy drivers, we made it out of the packed parking lot and hit the road to Afton Apple Orchard! The drive was stunning with all of its autumn beauty, and we listened to Fi's adorable 10-year-old chitter until the lull of the road and the gorgeous colors set us all into a calm trance. Minneapolis and the surrounding areas must be at peak fall colors, because the palette was a perfect mix of greens, yellows, oranges, reds and browns. The sky was tumultuous, baby blue behind an array of clouds, some fluffy white, others unsettled, grey and rolling. The sun made sporadic appearances throughout the day, making it overall an absolutely perfect Saturday.







Once at Afton, the winds revealed themselves and it was quite cold. Bundling up, we paid our entrance fee and hopped onto the hay ride to pick some Honey Golds! A first apple picking experience for all of us, we had fun finding perfect apples to pick, making our way down the little lanes of trees. After gathering a few Honey Golds, which are green, by the way, not gold, we wanted some red apples. Hopping onto the next available hay ride, we trundled along until we reached Regent's and a large, beautiful patch of pumpkins. The sun came out full throttle, and we lingered over these lovely trees as we picked their fruit until our bags we at capacity.











Time for pumpkin picking! The highlight of this trip was definitely the picking of the seasonal pumpkins! This patch was full of orange bounty: fat, squat little pumpkins with perfect ridges, tall ones great for carving, enormous ones no one wanted to get stuck carrying around, and even itty-bitty tiny ones that little kids could easily hold in one hand. Fiona set about making a pile of all the ones she thought fit to choose from. I was standing guard over the haul. Uncle John hauled the heavy bags of apples behind her, helping her pick out nice specimens. After much running about and searching, she came back to make her choice. They were all so cute, it was hard to leave any! She opted for a taller one that would be good for carving. I chose a nice small one, and John chose a larger one.

















Then came checkout. Oh, checkout? No biggie, right? WRONG. Oh, so wrong. So so so so very wrong. It was like a people-making machine barfed everyone out into this tiny little shack. Lines for about 6 different checkouts, including a line for the cafe (yes, this teensy-tiny place actually has a cafe), and a butt-ton of produce-hauling wheelbarrows. I can't believe it, but I actually remained calm, except for admonishing one lady for cutting into line. As we left, I searched up and down for a lone Biffy that I might grab a quick pee in before the long drive back to the city, but none around, I didn't care. I was NOT GOING BACK IN. I held it all the way to Barne's and Noble which was the next stop on our Fun Day with Fi.

Having a lunch of stuffed pretzels and bevvies, we hit the kids section. Right away, Fiona stumbled upon a new release of a series of books she's been obsessed with. She grabbed one, wanting to "make a stack with the other things I want so I can decide which to buy". She loves making her little piles of things :) It came down to House of Hades book, an American Girl scrapbook set, a My Little Ponies game with figurines and a Tinkerbell game with figurines. This was much more of an important decision than the apples and pumpkins, so it took, understandably, quite a bit longer. She fretted over which to buy for so long, she plopped down on a stool, laid them all out and asked me for a pen and paper so she could make a pros and cons list. That kid is the awesomest kid :) We left with the Tinkerbell game and figures and the House of Hades book. Who can choose just one?

Such a fun day with our little niece!!

William O'Brien State Park

We finally made it for a stay in William O'Brien State Park! A much needed getaway for both of us, we had the most relaxing, romantic and rejuvenating time! Only one night away, but loads of hiking, sight-seeing and photos, as well as food over the campfire, including S'mores, fire-gazing and of course, star-gazing were on order for our short getaway.

We got to the park around 4:30, unpacked the car and headed straight out on a nice 2-mile hike. The sun was already on its way down, and we wanted to make sure to get back before dark, lest we get stuck out on unfamiliar trails and be thus boned. The walk was absolute peace. The wind whistling through the trees, the sun on our faces, the birds wrapping up their activities for the day, and the frogs croaking with free abandon, we walked with our walking sticks (or as I call them, Hobbit Sticks) in one hand, and interlaced our other hands, talking quietly of the scenery. We trekked the Wetlands Trail, seeing loads of cattails all around us and big sky above, not a cloud to be seen among the watery blue. I collected some cattail fluff from the ground, as it makes (supposedly) excellent wicking for homemade oil candles. There were still people out among the trails, but few and far between. Such bliss to walk among the natural world without sight nor sound of noisy trucks or fighting drunks!

Brilliant Yellow Fungi


Great berries from something I haven't been able to identify


We got back to our campsite and started up our sacred fire. We had some personal business that we've been meaning to take care of for several years now, and it is finally done. Using specially prepared firestarters that I made with papery, fall-themed muffin liners filled with special herbs, flower petals and beeswax, we filled the fire pit with fire wood, the memories to be released into the ether, the firestarters and set it ablaze. As with any magical fire that I've ever known, it held true that some things are harder to burn. It took a long time to get the fire going, despite loads of kindling, and it took both of our efforts to coax it along. We both said words to the fire, to the pain within, saying goodbye to it and to recognize the lessons learned, but the need to renew ourselves and let go of old ghosts. We held hands and watched the fire with both relief and regret.

After honoring the distant past, we focused on the here and now. We put our lovely, fat little brats on the grill and let the renewing smoke imbue our dinner with the promise of transformation. John toasted the buns and we ate our brats with some popcorn, grapes and then broke out the fixin's for S'mores. We watched the sky turn slowly dark, then alight with twinkling stars, planets and satellites high above. We marveled at the Milky Way, something we never see in the city's light-polluted sky :)

Our Sacred Purge Fire


Sacred Fire Starters


One For Me, One For My Homie, Thor
I said a silent toast to Thor, sending an offering through my worldly body to his Otherwordly one, and interestingly, a few moments later, the pewter Mjolnir charm that I wear started to vibrate excitedly against my collarbone! I started in alarm, then shared with John what happened. The world is a mysterious place, the Otherworld even more so!


My new Mjolnir, Thor's implement


From The Ashes We Are Transformed


The Darkness Dawns Above


Us, More Deeply In Love Every Day


We played a quick game of Backgammon that we purchased this year at Renaissance Festival, then realized we were so tired it was time for bed. I frequently have trouble sleeping when we are away from home, so I had to play a number of games of iPhone Solitaire before I was sleepy enough to fall into the abyss. I awoke numerous times to pee in the night (in the bucket, thank you very much, as I am not crazy enough to venture into the darkness and face some unknown, growling wild thing, such was the case at Afton State Park!) and even woke once after what I consider a Very Important Dream, this time, the Dark Mother coming to me and blowing my freaking mind. I journaled the dream as best I could, being that it drifted fast from my psyche and it was probably 2:30 or so, then tried to return to it, but went instead into seemingly plain sleep and mundane dreams.

Our cool Backgammon game


After a wonderful, sleepy snuggle wake-up, we decided coffee was in order. John started another fire, this one firing with no problems at all. He had the sausages cooking by the time I got out there. As they fried up, there was cacophony of blue jays out in the lane! I caught one with a nut in its beak!


Large amounts of coffee were had, and our cute little brekkies of sausages and eggs in pool of browned butter was just what the morning called for!












After breakfast, we set out for a long, luxurious day of slow walking, a nice picnic lunch, with loads of photos to journal our stay.