Oktoberflash

it's gone by too fast! i am glad halloween is almost here, and then darin's birthday, and mine, and thanksgiving, and then the holiday season, and then baby! but doesn't that just mean that my head will be spinning more and more through the next two months? i mean, today it dawned on me that there is really just one more turn of the astrological wheel, half of one season left, before we have a new newborn in this household. it will be my last winter solstice with one daughter. i will know capricornicus in a whole new way. i will meet january with mysterious new energies and capabilities and dreamlike days that only a brand new mother knows. 

so for now i am savoring time. october has got to be one of my favorite months. i could stand for a bit more rain but at least this year we had some cooler days and very cool nights. in fact the aspens went into full color early this year, and my tree out front that i mentioned before...completely bald now! the ground is covered in red leaves. the scarecrows wear mischievous smiles, the witches fly on broomsticks, and the skeletons laugh. the little graveyards hoist their spirits into the air in these next few days, and it is a nice time to honor them and that thin thin veil. 

in october, i relished this:

lucy is 15 months old this month. she loves to play outside more than anything in the world. she has a chalkboard table and can get up on her own chairs now to color. she still loves her swing, and she loves to find treasures and smell flowers and....

DIG! she loves to say it, and she loves to do it.


we went to a casserole potluck party at addie's. we had some really good macaroni and cheese and saw the biggest most mellow four month old i've ever met and the tiny ones got into great mischief.




i went with my parents up to tahoe to see the kokanee salmon run, something i had never heard about until my friend farmer ben told me at the market. lucy loves fish (she always does her little kissy smackeroo face to indicate "fish") so i am so glad we got to witness such a display of them, in their great abundant fiery red orange glory. it's a really big deal up there, we went on a thursday during the government shut down so the visitors center wasn't even open, and there were still throngs of people (by my book.) i would hate to see it on a weekend! usually each year there is a big salmon festival but they also put the kibosh on that because of the federal government this year, and there were bold lettered signs everywhere that said, "NO TRASH SERVICES" "NO RESTROOMS DUE TO GOVERNMENT SHUT DOWN." i don't even know what to say about all that, except it was pretty sad and seemed almost mean spirited to us pregnant ladies who really could have used an open door to one of the many restrooms or even portables along the way. local volunteers? fish enthusiasts? friendly neighbors to keep the place open? i guess it just doesn't work that way. 

nevertheless it was a wonderful day and there's a pretty little looping path called Rainbow Trail that takes you through the woods and wetland and along Taylor Creek. We saw two bald eagles circling in the sky! and guess who directed our attention upward to see them, with a gleeful shout? you got it. my little toot. the girl is a nature lover extraordinaire. 



the male kokanee develop a humpback and a long protruding jaw just in time for spawning season. SEXY!
but seriously, i had my camera on a weird setting that day so you can't really tell but their colors were so vibrant and beautiful! and the water was just wriggling with fish, they were leaping for bugs, and crowding and slipping past each other provocatively.




art's band played in placerville so we had a little sleepover with the fam.

and lucy got to show her cousin her new (old) sandbox!

he was way into it...she was more into kissing him.


another fun day with our cuzzie, last week my dad drove lucy and i over to grass valley to attend a fall festival at Clear Creek Elementary with addie and utah and all his cousins on his dad's side. they all know lucy as "toot" and passed her around like a prized pumpkin! she hung out with teenagers and tweens quite a bit that day, had her share of treats, got into other people's photos, climbed on hay bales, and generally ran around everywhere.





my pops is the sweetest pops. he is lucy's number one fan and he will do anything for us, and finds it utterly delightful to just be around his kids.




next up: lucy got her very own library card. here is her haul from her first real library trip. 
(note: finding nemo was an utter failure and pom poko is a bit beyond her although she loves to say the name. the care bears video, on the other hand = great success). 

then it rained and i got to wear bright colors with the most comfy maternity leggings from addie and jaunt about town feeling rapturously in love with this time of year. piles of yellow leaves swirling up from the streets, maples and oaks, cherry and plum, woodpeckers and squirrels, everything vibrant and alert and making ready.  and me too....

30 weeks along, that is 3/4 through this pregnancy. what???? for reals???


often i have to take lucy on a little country drive to get her to nap. she is such an active girl these days that the car seems to be the only place she will chill out, she will quietly study the pages of a favorite book until she nods off. it can be frustrating for me, having to drive for "no reason," or on days like yesterday, it can illuminating. i have learned which things you can and cannot do with a baby asleep in the car. one thing you can do is quickly stop by an amazing rural farm stand and purchase some delicious handgrown organic goodies on the honor system. Five Strings Farm, you are my new dreamland. the winesap apple i ate immediately as i drove tasted like pure crisp falltime heaven.





all edible pumpkins, all half price, so pretty and friendly and bumpy are they. 





my favorite word in spanish and one of my favorite roads in placerville:

what are you relishing this october? any fun fall traditions you'd like to share with me? i love starting new traditions. tomorrow i will cook a big old pot of vegetarian chili to have on-hand for trick-or-treater friends who pop by, and to share with joey and emily while we watch scary movies after lucy goes to bed :) 

happy halloween, and catch those blustery days as they rush on by!

Comments

Teeny said…
Ohhhhhhhhhh, Placerville does Autumn properly; those beautiful browns and oranges and yellows and reds. Love the photos of you sisters - so happy- and the little kissing cousins. Big sloppy eaty kisses from Lucy - hehehe - i remember those from my own babies. Can't believe Toots is 15 months old! Actually that is one of my favourite ages, btwn 15-18mths, they are really little friends with us by then. It is Halloween here tonight, but it is so rainy and windy I don't know that we will make it out. boo! And thanks for linking my little tribute post. Mwah! (That was a kiss) x
AdieSpringB said…
Heather this is so awesome! I love it. Where is that farm fruit stand? Somewhere up Carson?
Ahhh the cable knit maternity leggings that I LIVED IN! Finally you get to wear sweaters and leggings!
You look beautiful, I can NOT BELIEVE you are 30 weeks pregnant already. Holy Moly life flies by. I can't wait to visit again, I love that these kids have had at least 3 visits together in October. I want it to be a weekly thing, for sure, growing up as the best of friends.

Love you bun, Happy Devil's Night and then Happy Hallow's!
the farm is up pleasant valley road past gold oak school ade. it is SO CUTE! you have to go there with me. huge bunches of organic washed and cut kale and collard greens for $1.50!!! it's in this cozy little shack with a scale and lights and a place to leave your money, fifteen different kinds of peppers, end of season tomatoes, cucumbers (SO sweet and crisp) and the best apples i've probably ever tasted. i have heard about this place for a while now and finally did the little drive out there which was SO worth it :) love you honey.
anne said…
those pictures from your drive are beautiful! i'm so glad to have all the holidays coming up to make time (and this pregnancy) fly by. you inspire me with your love of being pregnant... maybe some of it will rub off on me :)
Milla said…
Aw bump! Fish run! Lucy the fish-lovin lil gal! I love it! I love the whole thing. I love how you make the most of something like having to drive around to quiet your babe. It looks like you all are making the most of your fall times!

I got to say though, from someone with a little experience with parks and public works, that having volunteers help keep parts of the government running is a terrible thing and should never be the solution, though it's actually fairly commonly suggested and even implemented when these kinds of cuts happen.

It's replacing folk who are laid off and not getting paid and who, when they are working provide important services, with utter laymen and undermines folks being able to have these jobs, something that has been happening with retired camp hosts replacing paid employees. It's important for the public to see what their tax dollars pay for so that we can be more motivated to direct those dollars to things that actually benefit the people like parks and conservation and nature experience. Sorry, rant over. It just makes me mad that parks and public spaces are always the first "non-essential" things to go, or have extra fees heaped upon them in a time of crises.

Thanks for sharing the salmon run, need to pee and all ;) I'd love to witness that sometime myself.

Love.

Milla, so true! I feel like parks and public spaces should be the LAST to go, and maybe the employees who were temporarily laid off were mad and wanted the public to see what it is really like when these places can't function as they should. I feel like those employees are probably among the very most important people that are paid by the federal government and in my mind it is an absolute travesty that these places got shut down even for a short time. I think the Tahoe forest service was pissed about the shut down (with great reason!) and probably wanted the public to "feel" that too, by the nature of the signs and the bold lettering and such, but it is sad for the public too, who just want to experience these places, which in a way i got to do anyway but how cool would it have been to see the underground stream exhibit and talk to a ranger about the fish and their habits?! I just have a hard time understanding why the federal government shut down in the first place, what caused it, what it proved...and am curious who benefitted if anyone! anyway, always love to get your perspective and i never thought about the volunteer aspect threatening those vital jobs, just thought perhaps as a last-ditch act of desperation! (temporary of course! if anything i hope this shut down might have helped prove how very important, even financially, our parks really are!)
Amy Beatty said…
love those kissing diggin cousins! that top pic of lucy all head to toe in pumpkin pie layers is the cutest. That girl has got the cutest little bod to style!! Love fall xoxo
Geny said…
So happy Lucy is using her chalkboard table and chairs, it warms my heart to know that my boys precious things went to such a sweet little girl. I love Five String Farm, it is so great, right up the road from us...I go there after dropping the kids off sometimes (they go to Gold Oak). So excited for you to welcome the new baby in a couple months. Megan (Eric's wife) just had a baby girl two weeks ago, Hazel Grace. My boys are so excited to have a new baby cousin to adore!
This may be my favorite blog you've ever done honey! But how could I pick, they are all wonderful. Life is so sweet, Sugar Pie Pumpkin sweet!! Love you my little Pumpkin eater!! You make Fall my favorite again :)
Tera said…
" it will be my last winter solstice with one daughter. i will know capricornicus in a whole new way. i will meet january with mysterious new energies and capabilities and dreamlike days that only a brand new mother knows. "
I thought this was so beautiful, I read it over a few times. You look so RADIANTLY beautiful!!! Very lovely post, puts Placerville on the map for me.
Tera said…
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