Quiet Days

The weather is turning to the delightful coolness of a Maryland Autumn, and the blue skies have been a happy sight for most of the days this week. There are trees touched with brilliant colors and the portent of a pleasant new season fills me with anticipation for pots of soup, scented candles and homemade bread. I love to leave the windows open to air out the stuffiness of the humid summer, and the fresh breezes feel a bit chilly, so the fun of cuddling under a blanket to knit or read is also back from the other side of the world.

Evan and I are finding a new rhythm as we putter around in the quietness until Eric gets home. I can honestly say that my little white house with the red door feels quite spacious now with only 3 of us rattling around. There are whole areas that go largely unused for days, and that has just never happened before.

And so we go into the tucking-in time of year, the rest after all the activity of the summer. There's still a flurry of work to be done as I clean up the garden and try to move some plants before it gets too cold, and there's always the nesting to do-the cleaning out and sprucing up before the windows get closed and life moves inside. But then comes a kind of grey quiet that can only be winter. Before then, I hope to fill my lungs with every breath of fresh air and my eyes with every bit of blue I can.