A New Year

Today is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Last night we celebrated by having a dinner with friends. I baked challah (the recipe is in

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)

challah

 

and there was juice squeezed from grapes from my vines.

grapes

 

The Jewish New Year arrives when the seasons change. It does feel as if the year is over. The ferns in the front woodland are fading.

Ferns

 

There is a hint of yellow in the trees.

yellow in woods

 

A few bright maple leaves float to the ground.

maple leaf

 

Although most flowers have died off, goldenrod sustains nectar-needing insects. (Look closely, there are two.)

goldenrod

 

As much as I don’t want summer to fade away, September and October are so gloriously beautiful that I don’t see this season as a dying back, rather it’s a thoughtful pause and time for rejuvenation.

Scooter is not so philosophical. He sprawls out in the hot sun, in denial of the winter to come.

Scooter

Comments:

  1. Yes, lovely post. We are starting to see some leaves falling here but that could be more drought-related than seasonal. We just had a big heat wave last week and could still have more through October but, in general, it has been a very nice summer and the cats have been lazing around like Scooter. Sometimes the Liquid Amber trees don’t color up until December. Happy new year, Terry and Steve and animals at Little Pond Farm!

  2. Happy New Year! Best wishes for good health and prosperity for the New Year!

    We, too, are seeing signs of fall. Unfortunately, I don’t have your positive attitude ’cause it means I spend most of my days indoors because of circulatory issues. Gah! It is beautiful, though, and the air has a scent like no other time of year. I have more wild asters than goldenrod in my yard and the male bumbles have hatched and are out and about, eating and scent marking, ever hopeful for a female!

    • I’ve never even thought about to distinguish male from female bumblebees. Will go research that now! I tried to get into the garden today, but uncovered yet another wasp nest. Didn’t get stung, but did retreat. Makes me wish for a frost.

  3. Happy New Year to you all. I have baked the Challah and many other recipes from the book, they all come out wonderfully. It is a very easy book to use. Our season never got going, we seem to have been in Autumn for ages already!!
    Sorry off blog email playing up.
    How is Twiggy now ? Maggie seems to have sorted herself out, wondered if the molt could have caused problem, she rested for about 2 weeks but is now back laying, so hoping everything stays okay.
    Also Jess says could she please have update on Tonka, Thanks…:)

  4. Love your recipe for challah – it never fails me! Happy New Year to one and all at LPF.

  5. Thoughtful Pause…..what a wonderful way to describe this transition to Fall!! I am with Scooter…..just find a comfy place and relax. Happy New Year to the Golson Family.

  6. Have you noticed how much earlier the Ladies go to roost compared to the Gems..:)

  7. Happy New Year!
    Fall is a beautiful time of year here. We have lots of Goldenrod and Aster the yellows and purples mingle to make just the perfect dreamy colors at sunrise and sunset. “Thoughtful Pause”…I like that very much.

  8. Dogs have it all figured out…stay in the moment. Sometimes a perfect day is just having the sun warm your fur. The older I get, the more I relate to this philosophy. A perfect cup of tea, a chair that fits just right, a solidly burning fire in the fireplace, the knowledge that all the gardens are tucked in well for the winter, wafts from a simmering pot of homemade soup, the smell of a simple loaf of bread baking, a cold rainy afternoon whiled away at the garage potting bench getting seed sowing materials lined up and ready for Spring, watching birds at the feeder, walking with the dogs through crunching leaves, collecting perennial seeds to pot up for next year (why does it always feel like “free plants”, whooo hooo!), a good quality scented candle burning quietly while one reads a really good book, an evening spent planning the various crop rotations for the raised beds next Spring, the smell of coming snow in the air, then waking to drifts of the sparkling white stuff –so, so beautiful!– telling you to just stay put and enjoy your warm house, listening to snugly blanketed horses crunch their grain in their clean stalls while the wind howls outside. Every season has its charms and I’m just so grateful to live in a part of the country that has all four. Took my 50+ years to figure all that out, and Scooter knew it all along.