Autumn Story

nurture

Oct 10

The ground, moist from recent rain, took our footprints easily, tracking where we came and where we went. Nellie and I, outside for a run on an autumn morning where the colors seemed more vivid than they’d been just the day before, outside for stronger bodies and clearer minds.

Going out was familiar. Familiar uphills, familiar downhills, familiar bends in the road. Coming back, we decided to detour. Through the pasture. Then, again, detour to the creekside. We were hidden down there, surrounded by hills and trees. Everywhere wet, bent over flaxen grass, everywhere the bark of trunks and branches soaked through, everywhere that golden confetti fallen. Nellie zipped around, nose to the ground, frantic-excited with which scent to follow first. I walked slowly, saw the moss covered rocks, the mini foaming waterfall, the quiet pool.

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Autumn, there’s so much to love, isn’t there? I’ve taken to lighting a candle in the window every pre-dawn morning. Our early-rising boy (he’s come to accept that that’s his way) has taken to dragging his down comforter downstairs right about then, tucking in on the couch for some cozy-slow on his weekday mornings.

I’ve also taken to toasting slices of artisan bread, adding a little butter and a little jam (thankful for the bakery who bakes such lovely things), eating it with my tea, there at the table where the glass vase holds branches of late season chokecherries and their colored leaves.

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This, too, is when I find the tucked-away gloves, scarves, and woolen hats. I spread out the sweaters, the underlayers, the socks. I decide what should stay and if anything should go. I package up the boots to send out for repair. I take stock of it all, recognize what’s working, what’s fitting, what’s not. I think of slow fashion, and choices, and needs.

And home. Where we live, where we search, where we find, where we fight, where we love. Taking care of what takes care of us. Helping a house live fully so we can then fully live. In between caring for design clients and their homes, I’ve been taking care of ours - paint, pillows, and prints. Little things that make an impact; big things that do, too. All for keeping in stride with growth and with us. For living better; for living well.

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There, now. Loves, what’s your autumn story?