Summer’s hot days and humidity are finally gone and Autumn is finally arrived… and in retrospect, though I’m an avid fiddler… and play tunes every day, teach fiddle lessons & gig… I realized there wasn’t as much music this year – out on our front porch – as there usually was.  Somehow, I realize now, the projects, chores and work weighed in a bit more than expected…

Starting out last Spring, with bright eyes & great expectations with all we wanted to do… we somehow allowed the (although exciting & beneficial) projects to become just a bit more consuming – than we thought…  and they ended up taking more time… but thankfully now… these monster size projects – are finishing up!

But this summer was truly a season of tremendous growth & accomplishment… and it’s a rewarding realization, to look back at everything we did & planted, that has since flourished & prospered.  Though, even into October…  I’ve continued forward with the goals we set, and I put in quite a sizable addition to our existing herb bed, where I planted about 100 cloves of garlic – for a Winter crop… so things continue still, to grow.

The harvesting of the fragrant herbs, were a real joy to collect through out the summer… and I do love my handmade, antler basket that a dear friend made for me. It’s great for the harvesting…  though in winter, it works nicely for my yarns and such!

The veggie garden’s spent now, but hopefully – my medicinal herb garden will hold on a little while longer as the days get colder.  I hope to get one more good harvest from the plants that are still thriving in the chilly days – and I’ll get their greens snipped, bundled and hung onto the big, old drying rack – before the hard frost nips everything down to the ground.

But the realization just recently hit me…  as the wood stove was fired up again, and my old “beloveds” as I like to call them…  (a comfortable, well worn, old fiddle & my sweetest voiced mountain dulcimer)  have come creeping out from their remote perches…  where they’ve sat quietly… waiting most patiently for me – all summer long…

It’s with a joyful swelling of my heart… to hear Philip’s native flutes & whistles… following suit… gently joining into the chorus… and coming forward to bask tunefully in the warm and golden glow of the first, Autumn’s evening fires.   And like a treasured, unforgotten memory… I smiled as I felt their strings under my fingers again… and heard Phil’s comfortable and familiar melodies – lilting & melding perfectly – in-between my notes, even after such a long season apart.   I predict it will be a tuneful Winter… and I can’t wait!

tunefully,

Jennifer