Autumn

It seems that it's time to acknowledge autumn already.  The days have been warm (finally... for those of you who don't live in coastal Northern California... it's been a VERY cool and foggy summer)... but the nights have the autumn coolness.  The leaves aren't so much turning colors, as just falling off the trees because the calendar says it's time.  Nevertheless, autumn seems to be coming.  I'm finally getting a small crop of tomatoes...

And I'm trying to preserve some of the summer abundance... drying herbs (I've got plenty of dill if anyone wants some), making spaghetti sauce, canning some applesauce...

 And we're seeing the gourds and pumpkins we planted starting to promise they'll be ready for Halloween.

We've also begun to work on our Halloween costumes.  Phoebe and Mike are going to dress up together as Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf... and Nora and I are going to be Piglet and Kanga.  After spending several years making elaborate costumes by hand and spending twice what you could buy one for... I've opted for relative ease this year.  I bought Phoebe and Mike's, but since they only make Piglet costumes for toddlers, I'm having to make Nora's on my own.  We bought fabric last week... now I just need to get down there and sew.  The part that makes me procrastinate is that I also have to create my own pattern.  Kanga can't be that hard... I just need to go buy myself a brown running outfit and pin a pouch on the front so I can carry a stuffed Roo.

So, that's how I know it's autumn.  I'm not feeling it in my bones... but that's just the way it is.  I got behind sometime last year, and I'm struggling to catch up... or fall far enough behind that I'm with ya'll again.  I suppose the latter is most likely... just like I'm still trying to catch up with that picture-taking schedule... *sigh*

Oh... and I've taken on another school project for Phoebe's class.  I'm going to teach the Life Lab curriculum in her class, which is an environmental/biological/natural history awareness module.  It's fun, kinda goes back to my educational roots, and means I get to spend a little more time in the classroom.  I'm working in Nora's class too... mainly supporting the teacher trying to get all the kids up to speed.  It looks challenging... sigh.  I also realized I never followed up on telling you about the No-Fault Classroom stuff I did in Phoebe's first grade class last year.  Sometime I'll update you on that.