Monday Morning This and That

Summer ends, and Autumn comes, and he who would have it otherwise would have high tide always and a full moon every night; and thus he would never know the rhythms that are at the heart of life. 

Hal Borland

Happy first full day of Autumn.  The day is cool and crisp with promises of blue skies and a gentle breeze.

I decided to stay in yesterday.  Didn't go to church.  I've not been feeling up to par.  I always get this way at the time of the year, that feeling that a cold is coming on, yet it never seems to come.  I know it is fall allergies, but this year, I have also felt especially chilled.  I am not dealing with the weather changes as well as I usually do.  I am guessing that in a way it is good news because it means my thyroid medication is working, and my Graves Disease has been stabilized.  When your thyroid is hyper, everything else is hyper as well, and I had a rough time dealing with the heat in summer, but adjusted well in the fall. Couldn't understand why everyone else was complaining about being chilled.  Now I do. 

Ran all my errands on Saturday.  I live in elastic waist pants.  Can't stand anything tight on my waist.  Elastic may be tight, but it does expand when one sits.  I'm not talking about those skinny stretchy pants that seem to exaggerate every curve and bulge.  I wouldn't dare go out in them.  No, these are a more conservative stretchy pant, and I have been searching for them for several years now. I keep mending mine and hoping to find them, but, no luck, until Saturday.  I FOUND THEM. Bought them in every color and plan on going back to buy more.  Never know when I will find them again.

Afterwards I headed to the fruit stand, and it sure is looking and smelling a lot like fall. Apples everywhere.

Although you can still find a few melons and a special kind of plum...

Some nice tomatoes and grapes.  Those little green grapes are so yummy I could sit and eat a pound in one sitting.

A few of the fresh vegetables.  You can actually find anything you want here.  It is a tremendous store.

It's funny how old habits die hard.  Last night as I was watching the final show of 'Dexter' I suddenly found myself saying, 'I don't want to go'. Before I retired, that was my regular Sunday night saying.  It had become so ingrained that sometimes I found myself just blurting it out.  In a comment yesterday Debra from She Who Seeks reminded me that this Mabon I was  reaping my own harvest after a lifetime of toil...and it was a lifetime.  My first job was working in a small diner in our neighborhood.  I was 15 years old.  I retired when I was 66.  That's a lot of years. And, yes, it is definitely a time to reap. 

Speaking of Mabon, we had a quiet Mabon, just hubby and I.  I made  some low sodium chicken parmesan and baked ziti, some real pig out food.   Not really a harvest meal, but, poor hubby had all of his top teeth removed on Friday, and I've been cooking soft foods since then.  It's quite a shame that it had to happen.  Hubby always had such beautiful teeth, but with age, he had contracted gum disease, and his old dentist had played it down. When he went to a new dentist, we found out it was too late, and the teeth had to come out. It's really a shame when you trust someone because they are SUPPOSED to be a professional, and they let you down. 

Wishing you all a fantastic first full day of Autumn.

Magnificent Autumn! He comes not like a pilgrim, clad in russet weeds. He comes not like a hermit, clad in gray. But he comes like a warrior, with the stain of blood upon his brazen mail. His crimson scarf is rent.... The wind.... wafts to us the odor of forest leaves, that hang wilted on the dripping branches, or drop into the stream. Their gorgeous tints are gone, as if the autumnal rains had washed them out. Orange, yellow, and scarlet, all are changed to one melancholy russet hue.... There is a melancholy and continual roar in the tops of the tall pines.... It is the funeral anthem of the dying year. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow