This Should Be The Start of the Year

Dear Friends,

This time of year always reminds me of my first several years in the City.  The sight of the afternoon sun glowing on the red brick buildings against the deep blue sky always brings me back to those days.  The students brought a busy-ness to the city, and you couldn't help but feel industrious and the urge to get organized.  

Summertime is fun and easy, but there's nothing a like a chilly fall morning for cuddling in bed, a bright, cool day for dressing up in the latest fashions instead of shorts and t-shirts or for running through piles of rustling leaves, or a dreary Sunday afternoon for trying out new recipes.  

Now that I'm back to working five days a week instead of four, I have to cram all this industriousness into two days.  With C taking care of the day-to-day household, though, I'm having fun working on projects.  I went through the baby stuff in the basement.  The toddler clothes are going to baby cousin X.  The infant clothes are going to H's friend who is soon to have a boy.  I kept ONE box of infant clothes (how could I bear to give away the first fifty-seven outfits I bought for T1, or the one I bought for T2?)(please note that I take more pictures of T2, so they will feel equally neglected when they're older :)).  The bigger things, like playpens and highchairs are on Craigslist -- clean out the basement and make some pocket money!

I am in the middle of rearranging the garden, too.  This always sounds easier when Oma says it.  Just plant it there and if it doesn't do well, you can move it.  After 8 hours of manual labor a few weeks ago, I lost steam, so the yard is a patchwork of grass, dirt areas, and odd flower beds.  

One Saturday morning I washed all the upstairs windows, inside and out, and last Sunday I made banana bread and tried my hand at a regular yeast bread.

All of these projects will likely end up half done, lost in the frenzy of  Thanksgiving and Christmas, and seem like chores that I'm forced to finish up next Spring, but for now I'm enjoying the planning and the energy of Fall.

Love,

Christina