It's Starting To Feel Like Fall

If you are a friend, then you've surely noticed that the kids and I had some fun turning our little blog space more fallish.  If it's your first time visiting: welcome, it's starting to feel like fall around here! Lets just say that we don't live in Maple Tree covered streets.  Those beautiful fall colors can sometimes be obsolete around here; and, oh, do I love those warm colors!  There is one very lovely set of Maple trees at the bottom of our hill on the corner of the street.  We make a left turn unto this street and those gorgeous trees always greet us with those signs of changing seasons.  Guess what, the leaves are turning red!

After visiting my husband's grandmother on Sunday afternoon we decided to take a  mile walk around a nearby park.  It was a simple walk and very much a maintained landscape, but the signs were there.  The kids brought home some collectibles to make sure they would be drawn and recorded in their nature journals.  They picked up some fallen acorns, a fig, and some twigs.

Well, the bug was there and the next day right after dinner the kids decided they needed a real nature hike.  We drove to our nearby Alma Mater and hiked up to the cross on a hill.  It was a nice short hike and the kids were more than eager to point out new things:  flocks of birds (including a set of ducks), a hawk that sat on top of a ridge (we were so close and the obvious was pointed out: "where's your camera mom!"..."in the car without a memory card"), some wild Brown-eyed Susan's, cooler temperatures on the way down and we got to see the sun beginning  to set much earlier than usual.

Yes, it's true the season is changing and we are excited to witness each of the new signs.  By the way, those collectibles (the kids are eager to stuff in my bag),  get to be placed on a nature table sitting on the left as soon as you walk in our front doors.  So if anyone who has ever been to my house has wondered why I keep a basket full of dry stuff...well it's what the kids collect on our walks and they just sit there for the season...until the next new things replace them.  (The pinecones have survived the purge all year.)

Oh my, we can't forget that it also means some of our favorite fall books come out.   This year we put out Pumpkin Moonshine by Tasha Tudor, Oak Tree by Gordon Morrison, The Tree in the Wood by Christopher Manson, Brambley Hedge Treasuries by Jill Barklem, Christopher's Harvest  Time by Elsa Beskow, and also by her Woody, Hazel and Little Pip.  For a little science this year I added Soon After September by Glenn Blough after reading Jen's recommendation ; )

One last sign that is just a mommy sign but I notice this right away.  Who wouldn't, they're just so yummy...The coffee shops are now selling their pumpkin scones and breads!!