Welcome Fall with Michaelmas!

 

  

Sun dappling through leaves beginning to thin.

Honey-scent of fresh, ripe apples.

Thin mist sitting low in valleys.

Early morning chill on your cheeks and bare toes.

Speckling of leaves with shades of rusty orange and ruby.

Some of the reasons fall is my favorite season of the year.

Autumn arrived according to science on the autumnal equinox - Sept 22nd.  It arrives traditionally this Tuesday, September 29th, on the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels, also known as Michaelmas.  Being a lover of "traditions" (the older the better), I do so love this feast day, especially!

Michaelmas has wonderful old traditions in many European countries.  Englad has a very rich history of traditions for the Feast of Saint Michael.  The link between the Celtic cultures of France and England is particularly fascinating.  Did you know both have churches of St Michael...both on mounts?  The famous Mont St. Michel in Normandy, France and the less well-known Saint Michael's Mount in Cornwall, England. 

As much as I'd like to be perfectly traditional and keep my celebration and decorating for the actual feast day, that isn't realistic for my family. (Perfection is the enemy of the good, remember?) Instead, I've found moving some of these celebrations to the nearest weekend allows us to enjoy them in a more relaxed manner. 

The beginning of our fall happened this weekend with decorations on the front porch and a feast of Pumpkin Chili and a batch of Blackberry-Orange Sangria.  Both these recipes were so good - and quite easy!  The pumpkin in the chili added a depth of flavor, without being "pumpkin-y".  I did omit the brown sugar in that recipe.  And the Blackberry-Orange Sangria could be cut in half (it makes nearly a GALLON) unless you are expecting a real crowd.  And, I think the next time I make it, I'll add some cinnamon sticks....maybe even some cloves.  

I plan to print out a pretty coloring page like this one or a simpler one like this for younger kids to enjoy on Michaelmas. 

Visit my Pinterest board with other ideas for Michaelmas.
  

Blessings of the season to you!

Thanksgiving 2014

Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope you had a lovely day with family and/or friends...and for those of you who got snow, I hope you enjoyed it!!  My kids were a little jealous.

We had no company, nor did we travel for the first time in a LONG time.  It was a quiet and relaxed Thanksgiving.  Not how I'd want to spend every Thanksgiving, but it was nice this year.  

We laid out a craft paper banner for everyone to write or draw what
they were thankful for...this was so easy and enjoyable, that I think
it will be a new tradition!

Here is our table.  We have inherited quite a bit of china and
silver, but this is our wedding china.  I love using it!  

Mid-feast - (right to left) Artemisia, Kalliope and Erik.

(left to right: Faramir and Athos)

Our cat, Zeke, is a notorious
counter-surfer.  We had to put him
while we ate for fear he'd get into
turkey on the counter.  He sat on the
windowsill and pouted.

Faramir and Athos enjoyed a
checkers throwdown.

And at the end of the evening - the
turkey carcas, an onion, some
celery and the leftover parsley
all went into the crock pot with
water and a little vinegar (and salt
and pepper).  Bone Broth!!

Our summer in photos...

 As promised... some photos starting with a late April wedding...

My "baby" brother and his new wife!  Married in a lovely, quick outdoor ceremony at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront (our hometown).  

And then one of us turned a year older...

Athos turned SIXTEEN!  We had a low-key campfire party with smores, watermelon, sodas and LOTS of glow in the dark sticks.

Athos and his favorite girl.  We embarrassed him by having a little family celebration before the party with cake and an out-of-tune rendition of "Happy Birthday".

Then in mid-June our dear friends from Arkansas came to visit...we'll just call them the Arkan-sass 5.  They aren't originally from Arkansas, just ended up there recently.  The kids are more like cousins, in fact the adults all go by "Aunt" and "Uncle"....and really we are a lot like family, only no baggage.  LOL!  Erik and I met Arkan-sass Uncle through college friends...and then we all spent lots of time together in our early married days in the Wash., DC area.  We try to see them once a year or so.   

Artemisia at the Shakespeare on The Green  show (The Tempest - Athos was working crew for this show).

The two youngest from our families.  Quite a few years apart (he's 10, she's 3), but they sure do enjoy each other's company!

And then, FINALLY, it was time for the beach!  We rented a house on Topsail Island, NC. 

Our walkway to the beach.  

Lots of silliness and giggles on the porch under a beautiful beach sunset.

Arkan-sass Auntie with her eldest and youngest.

Arkan-sass Auntie and I goofing around in the kitchen.  

Most of the gang goofing around while our tie-dye shirts dried.  Yes, we tie dyed!  It was a blast!

And we feasted!  This must have been fajita (beef and shrimp) night.  Oh, my the BEST fajita dry rub ever!  Arkan-sass Auntie and Uncle put cinnamon in theirs along with the typical hispanic spices.

And more feasting!  Among these two families, the dads love to cook, too!  That makes the moms quite happy.

Awww...aren't they cute? 

Athos and Arkan-sass eldest.  These two are barely a year apart and good friends.

Artemisia showing us her surfing moves.

Kalliope and Arkan-sass middle enjoyed a lot of playtime this year.

We've shared early marriage, early parenthood, and now we share teen woes and wonders.  We are both so glad our husbands met!

A proud daddy and his best girl.  These two are thick as thieves.  

Faramir looking a little lobstery.  He's almost as pink as the sunset behind him.

There was a LOT of testosterone this year.  

The younger kids collected these beautiful grey-blue, ocean-washed stones.  I've got buckets full looking for a good craft project.

 One of us got to celebrate his beginning the journey to adulthood with a men-only beach evening culminating in a very impressive sword gift.

The last day we took some photos of our crazy group...

The girls being "pirate-y"

The boys being "Captain Morgan-y"

The whole Pirate Crew

And the original pirates

The older boys designed the iron-on that we put on everyone's tie-dye shirts.  ('92 is when all the adults started  hanging out.)

 It was so sad to see them go!  We had a wonderful two weeks, which felt longer in a REALLY GOOD way.

Before we knew it, we were celebrating Independence Day.  We kept it low-key this year.  The boys and I made a run to South Carolina for some fireworks and put on our own mini-show in the cul-de-sac with our next-door neighbors.

Artemisia was brave with the sparklers!

Not bad for back-yard fireworks, huh?

Kalliope and her "twin" next door - they are just weeks apart in age and awfully cute together.

Christmas Eve Eve Silliness

The tree is finally decorated!  We love to wait until very late.  In fact we always wait to decorate until our Christmas company has arrived - usually Christmas Eve or Christmas Eve Eve.  

The Tree all decorated, and photographed with a fun trick.  You like?

Farmor teaches Kalliope about the snow globe.

Artemesia is a meticulous ornament hanger.

Kalliope really was fascinated by the snow globe.

Erik helped Kalliope, who loved hanging ornaments this year.  Of course they were all placed on the same limb, so we had to move them around just a wee bit.

For a bit I sat like a queen and handed out ornaments.  Sadly, this didn't last for long.

I love this crazy photo of Artemisia!

I'm not sure why they were decorating Faramir, but he made a good tree.  See me losing steam in the background?

See?

Our tree.  Simple . . . and we love it.

Artemisia is very good at delaying bedtime with silliness.  And her daddy falls for it!

Blessed Christmas Eve!