where is fall?

 it's the middle of october, but yet our leaves are stubbornly green. the grass is growing and needs to be mowed, and the sun is out. the days have been beautiful (or rainy) but fall has been holding her breath in madison. just in the last few days are some maples really going for the change, and the sumac is starting to turn red. i worry a big wind will come and rob us of our pretty leaves, but for now i'm still hoping for a gorgeous autumn leaf change. it's gonna happen, right? it's the best!

while we've been awaiting the arrival of fall, we've been back to the grindstone pretty hard. work is heavy duty these days, and lots of extra challenges have been floating my way professionally, without much time to come up for air. the kids are working hard on school, and ramona is discovering the the difference in school work and rigor between elementary and middle school is real. she's been jumping into every afterschool club that comes her way, and is really enjoying being a 6th grader. james is doing fall rollerskiing with the nordic club, and he's the youngest on the team by far, and that means they pull him along to longer and harder workouts that he's accustomed to. needless to say, he's sleeping really well these days. (i mean, he's always been a good sleeper, so i guess that status quo). david is doing it all: after school care, play date management, dinner prep, and working his job from home and sometimes from the office. it's a lot. i spend a few minutes every day wondering when this tenuous balance will become unbalanced. maybe it won't. maybe it will. 

our early fall has looked a lot like this: 

planting a newly gifted magnolia tree and borrowing a very heavy duty auger to get the job done

pretending it is still summer

celebrating our 16th anniversary at the old reception site (now a covid testing location, which is a bummer on many levels)

and using the oven to make magical things.

someone special has finally come off the piano lessons waiting list and has joined the kids in their weekly lessons

wet suit (and, in ryan's case here, not in a wet suit) waterskiing

pumpking carving too early knowing they'll all be mold by halloween

apples and caramel and grandparents and goats all things agricultural tourism

taking sunset walks with this wonderful 9 year old, who has so much to tell me every day,

and squeezing in those sunset paddles