A faster speed in less than 24 hours...

Oh the possibilities! We are getting satellite internet in less than 24 hours!! Imagine posts more often than every 10 days because that's all I have patience for, pictures (!), and now that blogger has video unloading, who knows what I might subject you to - (boring) videos of my kids doing oh-so-cute (yet still boring because they are not your kids and you don't necessarily think they are the cutest, smartest, wittiest, most creative being ever to live, unless you are their grandparents of course) everyday things like eating breakfast or sleeping. But I know you will humor me and tell me how wonderful they are anyway. Thank you!

August or Autumn

Last Thursday as the kids and I drove to playgroup, I noticed a tree whose leaves were turning yellow and orange. I thought to myself, "That's odd, that tree must have some disease to cause its leaves to turn colors already" because it is, after all, only August. Then on the way home from playgroup I saw another tree, a different kind of tree in a completely different place, with its leaves beginning to change colors! I began to worry because, after all, it is only August, people, August! Maybe a fluke? I thought. Not so much luck. Over the last week, I have noticed over 2 dozen trees whose leaves are changing! Granted, it has been colder than usual, mid to upper 50's during the day, lower 40's at night. This is crazy! I should be sweating and wearing sundresses and eating peaches. Not wearing 3 shirts, socks and shoes, and making fires in the fireplace because it is so cold at night. (I almost hate to make this joke because taking care of the environment is so important to me but...) I thought we were supposed to be having global warming, not cooling! Good things we already ordered our wood for the woodstove. Looks like we may need more than we thought!

Harvest season

I am loving this season of harvest. Living most of my life in the suburbs, I never really lived my eating life in tune with the seasons. Whatever I wanted to eat was always available in the grocery store. Over the last 7 years, I have realized the importance (and health!) of trying to live in the rhythm with, not in opposition to, nature's cycles of seasons, day and night, etc. This became especially clear to me on a 6 week backpacking course Matt and I participated in in college. You sleep when its dark and wake when its light. You eat because you are hungry and rest because your body demands it. It seems like such a simple concept but in our modern life filled with conveniences and 24-hour drive thrus it can be a profound worldview.

Anyway, this year God's rhythms are calling me to harvest. Living in a rural area where they are many farms is giving lots of opportunities and reminders to harvest now and store away for later. I love the idea of taking fruit and vegetables when they are locally in season, fresh, at the peak of ripening and freezing or canning them to enjoy in the winter. There is nothing better than eating fresh tasting sweet (and I mean summer sweet not freeze-section sweet) corn. Especially on the mountain where we have the potential to get snowed in several times in the winter.

Today I froze 3 dozen ears of corn. Not nearly enough, need about 5 dozen more. And 7 quarts of summer squash, I will probably do about 7 more. All locally grown and oh so tasty. Matt's parents (the canning and freezing gurus in my life), the kids and I will pick blueberries on Thursday to freeze as well. We do have 4 blueberry bushes in our backyard but since they need some pruning, fertilizing, and TLC, they are only producing enough for our snacking pleasure. But I am LOVING having blueberries right in our back yard. I am dedicated (Matt's says obsessed but I think that is a bit extreme :-) to picking them every day to win the battle over the birds and the bears. (We actually did have a mama bear and 3 cubs in our yard a few weeks ago! It was amazing. I will post some pics some time!)

Anyway, I praise God for this season of harvest that will provide and sustain us in a slower (and colder!) time.

Little known (to me anyway:-) New Hampshire fact

Did you know that New Hampshire has 13 (or is it 14, Jaclyn?) miles of coastline? I, for one, was unaware of this fact until I moved to MA. One of my dear friends from college is a New Hampshire resident in the beach town of Portsmouth which is how I came upon this information.

Well, the kids and I went to visit her this week and had a most wonderful vacation! We played in the park, picked blueberries, hugged, went for walks, took a slightly disastrous boat ride (I, not the kids, got sea sick :-), went to the beach, giggled, had small talk, played "restaurant" with the kids at every meal (my new trick to get Abigail to eat!), drank a beer in a bar without the kids!!, shared deep thoughts, and spent more time together than we had in years. It was lovely to be in such caring, uplifting, fun company. I have been deeply missing friends that know me well and this trip was a refreshing drink for this dry soul.

I was going to post some great pictures from our trip but after 3 failed attempts, I don't think that my "hi speed" (their sense of humor is so twisted) dial-up is not going to cooperate. Ah, maybe someday we will get real internet...