Savoring all we could in October

I told Jason that I really wanted to prioritize catching up on October here before we get any farther into November. The month ahead looms large with a substantial splash (or tidal wave) of uncertainty with plenty of anxiety coming along for the ride. Still wondering what it looks like to be mentally, emotionally, spiritually, relationally, logistically, etc... prepared for the unknown. Randomly this week the song lyric, "It's the end of the world as we know it..." (by R.E.M., as it turns out) has gone through my mind. I could not have said who wrote the song or any of the other lyrics. So I just looked it up and had to chuckle that was comes right after that line is "and I feel fine." So not so relevant after all! 

But here are some snapshots of the things that have sustained, energized, excited, fed, motivated, supported, and encouraged us over the last few weeks. 

For the last number of years we have enjoyed a fall weekend get away to WV with 3 generations of friends (the Myers-Benner-Godshall-Showalter crew). It was a loss to let that go, but we did enjoy an afternoon/evening outdoor physically distanced gathering that included some reminiscing of favorite memories from those trips. I'm grateful for friendships with deep roots in these times where it is more difficult to connect in the ways that are often most meaningful to us. And I've been amazed at our kids' ability to adapt to varied ways of being together. 

After only connecting with our small group via zoom since the pandemic started, we decided to give an outdoor physically distanced picnic gathering a go. I found myself just looking around at the blankets of families and soaking it up. I hadn't realized how I had missed just being in the same physical space. And the youngest member of our small group captivated my attention - being just on the verge of walking, she was exploring the yard with the cute curiosity of a budding toddler. I realized, too, how much I miss snuggling babies and playing with little people (as much as I try to cuddle Terah like my baby sometimes, it's become increasingly difficult to fool myself)! 

Our days have continued to mostly involve me in front of a screen and Jason out on the land - we won't go into how that translates into the our states of emotional and mental health! Following a late summer commitment to a friend, I followed through on a second "no work email" week here at the end of October. The rest of this scrapbook page will share a few of the highlights of the week. I'll start with some fall garden/harvest highlights.

Have you ever seen a ginger that is as cute as this? When I need to smile I just take a look at this photo. It tickles me every time!

We didn't just grow funny looking ginger, we grew more of it this year. And so we felt we had enough to experiment with so we tried candied ginger. It worked (if you want to use a fair amount of sugar to sweeten up your ginger and make it into a snack). Taking that and dark chocolate covering it didn't hurt it at all!

We thought it was going to be a year with no figs but one day my eye caught a few fruits ripening. It was a day the girls were not here and so Jason and I enjoyed a few and then since found one more so Tala could try one. But that's the extent of this year's harvest.

I'll try to not just focus on what isn't thriving here, as it often my tendency. We enjoyed a first this year when our bitter lemon (otherwise known as trifoliate orange or flying dragon fruit or hardy citrus) actually produced a crop. One of the perks of me being off work and our schedule being a bit freer is that Jason did some online research and found a recipe for making marmalade with it. Interestingly enough, it tastes very much like grapefruit! I can't say I love it, but it was a fun and worthwhile experiment and it's really fun to know that every few years we might get a citrus crop!

After missing out on most of the fall cover cropping, I was not about to miss planting garlic with the family! And the timing worked to do it during the time I was off. With Jason having prepped the soil and me and the younger gals getting cloves ready for planting the day before, it was by far the fastest garlic planting in Tangly Woods' history! Now we watch and wait and dream of garlic scape pesto.

Our diet is turning oranger by the day, with less green things coming in the door and a lot of "first use" squash and sweet potatoes that need to be used quickly. That said, I just noticed that Kali's collards are surging and we still have gorgeous parsley and the nettles look fabulous and there is some lettuce ready for picking - again being in front of a screen most days means it goes awhile sometimes between my spins around the land. Terah's birthday cutting board is now hung conveniently at her height on the kitchen wall and she is excited about being grown up enough to help with a big sharp knife. And, she is not working so hard as to be too hot for clothes. This child makes her Grandpa Myers cold often just by looking at her, as she is often found with very few clothes even when the rest of us are bundled up!

Now to the major highlight of this work vacation week - Jason and I cashed in a birthday coupon from my parents to spend 2 nights at a WV state park ALL BY OURSELVES! The girls stayed home and enjoyed the time with grandparents and Tala (our animals were cared for, our house was cleaned, and some of our kids tried to say that they had more fun than us but they didn't). Our time at Watoga State Park was all and more than we could have wished for. Before we left, I was already worried about how fast it would go. And then once there the time felt expansive and the connecting deep and meaningful.

I realized that I probably underestimate how much time in each day goes to the fact that our family includes 5 humans with needs! When that gets simplified down to 2 and we are just feeding ourselves, brushing our own teeth, I'm only getting my own self clothed and ready to get out the door, hiking at our pace without kids getting tired or hot or bored or... then all of a sudden it seems a day is quite long! We went on a number of long hikes, we played games, we read (a lot!), Jason played through most of his songs, and the first night I was in bed by 7:30 p.m. and didn't get out of bed until 8:30 the next morning! 

The fall woods was the perfect place for me to be with my thoughts and emotions. Watching the leaves fall from the trees, and dance theirway to the ground, was the backdrop for my reflections on letting go, on death and loss, and on what it means to "be enough." I was so grateful for the time in nature and with my best friend and partner. It was sweet to be reminded again how very much we love being together!! 

The only excitement from the entire time (for public consumption anyway), was our attempts at a cozy fire in the fireplace in our cabin on our second/last night there. We had all the components for a romantic evening in our little one room cabin, until Jason got the fire rolling and we realize that the fire place was horribly designed. We had all the lights off in the cabin except a lamp and I was reading our Collapsing Consciously meditation for the day. I realized partway through that I was having a hard time breathing deeply between sentences. While the subject matter is sometimes enough to make me catch my breath, it seemed more related to the fire. Turning on the main light, we discovered the cabin was full of smoke and soon after the smoke alarm started going off. It was wired in but with an internal battery so removing it from the wall still didn't stop the piercing sound that was going out the opened windows to the surrounding cabins. So we stuffed it under a pillow and proceeded to open wide all the windows and then took ourselves out to the porch to read while looking in from time to time to check the fire. We had had such a delightful time up to that point that this minor glitch was hardly noticed.

We checked out Wednesday morning but took a few hours for a final hike (6 mile round trip) to a look out tower, a few more leaf showers savored, a few more wintergreen berries consumed and then we were actually eager and ready to re-enter the fray.

Or at least, I thought I was! I don't think we were home an hour before I went to Jason and I told him I was already pining for our cabin in the woods! And I believe I've said it a few times since then.