Saturday, October 05, 2013

Autumn!

I am personally beyond excited that it is finally autumn time. October has got to be my favorite month of the year. The gusty winds, crispy leaves shooshing round, the mighty plant kingdom dying its brilliant death. Clouds encroach upon hot blue skies bringing relief from summer's oppression, mornings are chilly and invigorating, nights show off incredible moons. Apples are in season, we look forward to mulling meads and baking squash and pumpkins, long-simmering meats and fires in the hearth. To kick off September, we drove out to Chanhassen for a lovely walk around the Arboretum to celebrate the coming of the dark half of the year.

































Mum's Birthday! My wonderful mom, whom I am so lucky to consider one of my closest friends, turned 72 this September. We have never been formal people, and birthdays with Mum have always been about good, simple food, casual and relaxed atmosphere with fun and games, and of course, a cake with candles and the Happy Birthday song! Fiona had fun lighting the candle and delivering the cake to her beloved Gammy. Here's some snapshots of the food, cake and Gammy with Fi!



















At work, I've come to care a great deal for a family of 7-8 wild turkeys and a little white squirrel that live in the area. Every morning, I look for them. I almost always greet the squirrel in the wee hours, but the turkeys wander through at different times. Sometimes I see them strolling through the Knoll as we get to work, other times I'll spot them at break time. I almost always see them at lunch. I once startled them as I came out the back door, and suddenly one of the little ones made a flapping fuss! Another time, I came out and a bunch of them had flown down out of one of the gorgeous ancient oak trees that reside out back. Incredible flapping wings coming down, scaring students who were plugged into their iPhones! So cute :)














Wild turkeys have occupied not only the East and West Banks, but also the St. Paul campus! As my mom and I left the St. Paul Rec Center, we spotted another family of seven nibbling their way through someone's yard and jumped onto their car! (Side note: I wanted to buy this house when it went up for sale, it was incredibly priced and very unique on the inside)












Our Summer in Pictures!

I had intended to keep up with the travel blog by posting our regular summer activities, but here I am, now autumn, looking back at a butt-ton of photos that I've not uploaded yet and memories un-journaled! Oh well. I'll try to go back in time and detail a small amount of our summer in photos!

A lovely picnic at the Stonearch Festival of the Arts :)




A lovely downtown view from our seats at the Twins game


A wicked looking potion Fiona made during our "Potion's Class" after school:)


A monarch caterpillar on a milkweed


Schmoopie with Vesta :)


My birfday prezzies, pretty fleurs on a romantic stroll, and fancy dinner grill-side at Tilia's!








Awesome Ramones mug from m'girl, Micki!


Baby turkeys with Mama giving John the hairy eyeball at Wilson Library!


Turtle!


Independence Day Fireworks at the Twins game




Romantic day at Como Park, and we find the frog!






Pictures from the garden




















My bounty after an exciting day of harvesting in Minnetonka with Cynthia & Mary! Linden leaves and flowers, the delicate Elder flowers, and nettles for home medicinal use






Little Vesta with the adorable crocheted frog from Mum!!




Me & Mum's tea-time hidey hole! Location: CLASSIFIED!


Big Walter Fuzz-Butt!






Brit's Pub nosh during The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged), a new annual tradition!




Those two nutters sharing a seat!




Schmoopie surprised me with a bouquet of flowers!


Cat pileup on Papa!


Summer baseball Schmoopiness!






A gorgeous day for vintage bands and baseball!










At the Irish Festival for Fiona's dance performance! She's in the pink shorts with the dreaded Irish hair-wig thingy, then in her Eye Of Sauron velvet performance dress, second from right in a sadly blurry photo from a zillion seats away!






Warbler nestlings in our maple tree!


Jenny's Birthday!


Super-squee for Adam Ant!!!












Here we are trying a beer flight at the State Fair!


Fi's 10th Birthday Party!








I think her favorite present was the Hermoine's Wand from Gammy. Look at the series shots of ultimate squee!












Fiona & Alice