Fall, cooler, all that.

It’s been wonderful and cool the past several days, those  open-window-blanket-on-the-bed sort of Fall days that make slogging through the heat and humidity all worth while. People are walking around with smiles and saying things like “THIS is why I live in The South” and they are exactly right.

Himself loved the Fall. He got frisky. And that’s all I’ve got to say about that.

I love it,too. Summer is heavy and close and too hot too move. I don’t feel like doing anything except sitting under a fan and drinking iced tea. Fall comes around and suddenly the garden is getting cleaned up and planted, ideas start flowing for all sorts of things and I keep thinking “Oh! I want to run that past Himself and see what he th….crap.” We both love(d) the Fall.  I even like the football game traffic and noise, the smell of cordite in the air on the weekends…yep. Lots of dove hunting going on right now, and this area is full of fields. #4 is off with his Scoutmaster this weekend, dove hunting. I am busy looking up recipes, as I only know one way to fix them. This is all assuming, of course, that he brings home enough to make it worthwhile. Which he will, even if it’s just one.

I have been thinking about the Holidays a little bit, kind of tenatively feeling around the edges to see if the wound is tender, sort of. Last time I was over There, mom was making noises about Thanksgiving and I had to say STOP…I AM NOT READY TO THINK ABOUT THAT! But, I have been a little bit. I won’t mind it so much if i can do the cooking and make Non-traditional foods. We discussed, and decided fried chicken, and all the Good Southern Sides would work. Collards, mashed potatoes and gravy, maybe creamed corn, possibly slaw, definitely pecan pie. No turkey. No dressing. No cranberries and NO pumpkin.Himself would approve. He loved a non traditional feast once in a while.

As for Christmas….well…the temptation is to drive to Miami and disappear onto a beach until March. There is so much with Christmas. Every ornament we ever bought for whatever event commemoration. That’s how we did it. no generic things from a box. Each one was chosen carefully so when we were old, we could think about the past and tell our grandchildren about the trip to New York, or the Palo Dura Canyon, or our first Christmas with it’s Charlie Brown tree and the 75%-off ornaments from Big Lots we bought Christmas Eve. I don’t know if I can do that this year. I am pretty sure I can’t. Things might change but people with more experience tell me the first one is really hard. How do I put out those 30 mugs, the ones he bought me one at a time over the years, that all look like Santa Claus heads, without my heart breaking each time I see them?

Maybe I am thinking too far ahead. Probably. Right now I want to get through the cooler weather without  sitting in the yard and staring at his empty shop, pretending he was in there listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd and throwing oak sawdust all over the place.

I think I’m going to go look up a recipe for bacon wrapped dove breasts.