-October is perhaps my favorite month (trying to decide what other month I really love…maybe April?) though it is always a melancholy time of year for me. Even the slant of the light has a tinge of sadness to it. The beauty of fall is so fleeting and I guess that’s why I always feel a mixture of sorrow and happiness. I think there are many of us who feel this way, right? I’m sure I talk about it every year like a broken record.
-I’m still having a hard time squeezing in much knitting since we started homeschooling again, but I feel like I’m reading a lot lately! I’ve been waiting for fall to start reading The Yearling to Silas and Job and we are well into it now. I think all three of us look forward to it every night and they beg for extra chapters. I alternate between calling The Yearling and My Antonia my favorite books. But right now, it’s The Yearling. My dad read it aloud to me when I was a child and I think I’ve read it to most of my children. I warned the boys that it’s sad, but there’s so much beauty in the story that it’s worth bearing the sadness. I’m reading a new book to Mabel as well called Back to the Bright Before and she loves it. Beatrix reads to Mabel so much that sometimes we feel like we are running out of books so it’s great to find a new one! I also read a book last week that I randomly picked up at the used book store called All Passion Spent. It’s just under 200 pages which is a good length for me these days. It will go down as one of my favorite reads this year. It’s really fun to pick up a book I’ve never heard of and end up liking it so much!
-I posted some of the photos of Mabel in her red scarf on Instagram and someone asked where I bought her dress. It’s an older one that I bought years ago for either Larkspur or Beatrix on Thredup. If you aren’t familiar with Thredup, it’s a used clothing site and I’ve ordered from them for years. I buy anything from toddler clothes to prom dresses there. Some things are over priced in my opinion, but you can definitely find good deals. I think if you shop through my link you will receive 45% off your first order plus free shipping and I will get a $40 credit! Sounds kind of too good to be true, but that’s what the card that came with our most recent order says! If you click the link, there should be a coupon code for new customers for 45% off in the top banner when the pages opens up.
-Thank you for all of the shop orders! I shipped everything out super fast, so hopefully you have received your orders by now. There are still a handful of scarves left in the shop. I will have some more soap ready soon and will post my second round of scarves in about a month.
-I’m planning my October giveaway too. I’ve been looking for an excuse to pick some roadside tickseed sunflowers and dye a skein of yarn, and I decided I would dye one to give away! I really miss dyeing yarn and wish I had time for it. So there will be a skein of marmalade colored yarn to go with the next book–and yes it matches the cover! 🙂
-I am terrible in that I rarely print photographs and have almost none in frames or on the wall. I came across an old photo of Keats, Beatrix, Silas, and Job recently that I must have printed almost ten years ago. I happened to have a frame to put it in so now it’s in my bedroom. Here’s a link to the blog post that has photos from that time when I was newly postpartum with Job. Those photos are so sweet. Some of my favorites. I need to print and frame more. It’s just so much work! Also, in that photo the flowers pictured are blush caryopteris that a friend gave me last year. I highly recommend them! They do reseed like crazy, but I don’t mind. They have a long vase life and I love that they bloom in the late summer and early fall.
-I’ve been gradually cutting more and more off of Ambrose’s hair and now he looks like a little boy, though of course we still call him the baby, because he is.
-Oh–and my mice! Aren’t they the cutest? Today was tank cleaning day. I clean their tank every Monday and they are really fun to watch when we put them back in. They get super excited exploring their new set up because I change it a little every time. One of the things that we enjoy about the mice is that they have wakeful periods during the day unlike the hamsters that only come out at night.
-Okay, off to bed and my latest random used book, A Summons to Memphis. I’m alternating between it and a bit of Lady Susan (book club read) each night.
I feel the same way about October. It is bittersweet. Thank you for your consistently beautiful photos and lovely writing, Ginny. Yours is one of the three blogs I check each day to see if there’s an update and I get very excited when there is one. This may be my first comment. I just want you to know that even though I’m a silent reader, I’m a reader who loves your blog.
How can one not be melancholic in fall?
(I just looked up the difference between fall and autumn, since I’m from Germany, but didn’t really get it. Maybe it’s just that autumn makes for a nicer name than fall? ;))
Just recently I began to read to my older kids. Must admit that I found it not too enjoyable too read the same picture books over and over again. But reading and discovering an interesting story for 9/10 year olds together is awesome. I especially enjoy older books with it’s old fashioned, much more rich language than we use today. Even my just-turned-three-year-old listens happily for a long time even though there are no pictures.
So to get to my point: I really love and recommend “The secret passage” by Nina Bawden. It’s from 1963 and I hope there are used copies available in the US. Got ours from a public bookcase.
We’ve had so called “dancing mice” when I was a child. They used to live in an old, empty wooden TV frame with glass front.
It was funny but smelled awful in our kitchen.
My brothers would let them ride in their model railway.
Oh, I love my new scarf. Thank you so much.
As always, I greatly enjoy spending this time with your family and am so glad you share them with us.
I just finished reading The Yearling to my kids…I hadn’t read it in years and I loved revisiting it with them. We visited the area where the story takes place last year, and the kids loved being able to picture the scrub, the springs, etc.
Lovely photos as always. I know what you mean about fall. There is so much beauty but for so short a time. I love the gentle fall of brightly colored leaves. They prepare you for the falling snowflakes to come. Maybe that’s part of the sadness, knowing the long winter is near. Marmalade colored yarn? Where and how do I enter? It would be gorgeous with my navy coat and tam.
The children are growing in gallops. Preserve those memories with framed photo….I am guilty too of not doing it enough. Your life reminds me a bit of Tasha Tudor with it’ gentle flow and rhythm.
I always love to come here and taste a bit of your family life. Thanks for the book tips!
Autumn is such a refreshing season,after the heat of the Summer. I love to decorate for Fall.
Marion
Fall is my favorite season. I love the crisp,cool air. The leaves are so beautiful in their new colors.
Joan
Mabel looks so lovely in her scarf. She is a beauty.
Marilyn
Please tell us more about the type of mice and the odor you’ve alluded to – is there a way to have mice but avoid the smell? One of my daughters is very allergic to dogs and cats but I would be willing to try a rodent to make her happy (hamsters and fish, in my experience, are not friendly or rewarding pets.)
If you’re interested in another book everyone should like, may I recommend Jim the Boy by Tony Early. It’s a series of chapters/stories that are beautifully written about a farm boy in the early 1900s and his wonderful family.
I really enjoy your posts.
I keep looking to see photos of the wedding. Did I somehow miss that post?
I always look forward to reading your posts. Boy are the kids growing up so fast!
Me too 🙂
Same here!
I’m sure your family is well aware, but every time I see a photo of Ambrose I am struck anew at how much he resembles his Daddy! What a beautiful little boy. And he will grow into a very handsome man!
Lovely photos and inspiring thoughts as always. I’m curious, where did you get your fancy mice? They are so darling and my little boy has been asking for a mouse or a puppy. Thinking maybe we should start small 🙂
Mice make wonderful first pets. My children had several and they were so much fun. We got them from a local pet store. A word of warning however. They typically do not have a long lifespan—only a few years. But this is a good life lesson for children as well. Little losses help them learn to face the bigger ones that inevitably come into their lives.