stuff i loved... in september

Well wasn't September just a speed of light thing this year? Maybe it's like that every time around, it being one of my favorite months of the year. It's a cliché to say September for me is the start of a new year, a new something, the month of renewal, but that's what it feels like so I'll be happy to be a cliché and just say it.

It'd also be just that to quote Fitzgerald and contemplate on how 'life begins all over again when it gets crisp in the fall' so I'll go no further with that; instead I'll just ramble on about all the things I loved this month, though perhaps not all because they were numerous.

Here goes.

Mornings. //  Misty mornings when you feel like you're walking in a dream, with everything around you slightly surreal and, well, foggy. Rainy mornings when the air is damp and fresh and it hurts to breathe. Frosty mornings that crunch beneath your feet and remind us of the cold season we're heading into. I don't know what it is about September mornings but every day I find myself excited to wake up and peek out the window to see what the weather is like. Maybe it's just that, the unpredictability of waking up to just about anything? Today it's damp and dark, and I'm just about to light a fire in the fireplace to keep cosy and warm.

Apple everything. // Our apple crop this year was bigger than ever, and the fruit were larger than you'd find in a shop. Our trees are still young, planted by Ossi's grandmother some time in the early 2000's, and the crops keep getting better every year now that we're carefully tending to them. When the fruit are ripe, you'll find me spending more time than usual in the kitchen, with apples in my hands. This year I made pie, crumble, jam and sauce out of our crop, and we also pressed some cider together with our neighbors. This is our second year of pressing cider so I'm anxious to see how it turns out -- this year we made a much bigger patch of it than last year.

Music. // While working in the kitchen, I often listen to podcasts on slow living or current affairs. This month I found myself swapping words for tunes, and listening to music rather than people talking. Music has a way of lifting your spirit and setting a mood, and I suspect it gives your mind much more space for free flow than listening to podcasts. In fact, I think not listening to others talk about their life choices, or the various areas of expertise people on talk shows possess, has freed up a lot of brain space to think for myself. It's good to give your brain some free thinking time sometimes. Also it's good to have a great playlist to listen to while cooking, so if like me you're still digging 1970s classic rock and 1990s grunge vibes, here's a playlist I created recently for some ear candy.

The Testaments. // I've been suffering from a book hangover for a week now after finishing this. Almost anything by Atwood will do that to you, but this was especially hangover-inducing. Wondering what book hangover even is? Well, it's the feeling you get after reading a particularly clever and captivating novel that nothing can ever be as good again and therefore you just sulkily mull over the book you've read, regretting you read it so soon, finding yourself unable to enjoy any other book until you find a way of letting go of what you've just read. I think I might actually literally let go of this book and give it to someone else to mull over. Maybe that'll help.

Sunday in the woods. // My most favorite day this month was a Sunday, the morning hours of which we spent hiking in the woods. I love pine trees! I love yellow leaves! I love having my family right there with me, without distractions! We all light up in the woods, go back to the roots of our being somehow. Become the best of ourselves, perhaps. It's like my love for my family and this earth we trample on multiplies infinitely in a forest, making me want to remember to cherish every moment of my being.

Hoping for some more of that in October, too & wishing you a beautiful start to it!