pre-fall musings

One friend says she worries about me when I'm not blogging because that must mean I'm unhappy, or overwhelmed, or something. Lest anyone else has been concerned the past week or so, I'm not unhappy. Overwhelmed? Maybe a little. The work for which I get paid has picked up significantly, as has the work for which I don't get paid - mending fences (literally), whacking weeds, building chicken enclosures, picking tomatoes and lavender, painting the arena fence...and that's just the outdoor chore list. These days the inside of my house routinely looks like a hurricane has blown through. And, of course, craft show/soaping season is rapidly approaching, which means that soon I'll be elbow-deep in suds daily.

But I'm looking forward to fall's official start next week. This is, hands down, my very mostest favoritest time of the year. I don't know what it is. Something about the change of light - the way the sun hangs lower in the sky. Early mornings you can taste woodsmoke in the air, and the leaves. Oh, the leaves in northern Arizona are like nothing you've seen outside Vermont (which I understand is a fall-lover's paradise). Hopefully, we'll be heading up the peaks sometime in the coming weeks for a picnic in the aspens. The whispering of those newly-golden leaves set against the trees' white bark is something to behold, I tell ya.

Here's another sign of fall, spotted behind the house the other day:

I think this tarantula might still be a baby. But they do come out this time of year, all those males traveling sometimes in herds (for lack of a better word) toward the elusive scent exuded by a female. Or maybe I'm imaging that. I'm pretty sure that's how it goes, though. I wrote about in in-depth for my very first novel (which rests comfortably in the back of my closet).

Speaking of which, that's another thing I like about fall. Once that first freeze hits I'll be more inclined to anchor myself to my desk and get to work on my newest projects, which have been percolating inside my head the past few months as I've been outside in physical-harvesting-working mode. Brings things back into balance for a writer, fall does. Now I'm off to check in with some blogs I haven't read for way too long, like Heidi's and Ken's.

I'll leave you with this, which is just gritty, over-produced and Bob Marley-ish enough for me to go, Hmm. I like it.

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