Weekending

It’s sweater weather!

This was the weekend that it finally and truly became fall.  Friday night, the weather service issued a severe weather warning. The sky darkened, the wind picked up, and it poured, carrying in with it the colder air.  Sweater weather has arrived!

I spent a good bit of the weekend in the barn at my dyepots filling orders. Dyeing, wearing a jacket is far preferable to sweating exposed arms in front of the steaming pots. This in between season is short.  There aren’t many weeks left until the barn’s water tanks will need to be emptied for the winter and I will have to pack up the outdoor studio and move indoors. 

 

While waiting for colors to set,  I trekked back  and forth to the studio, Checking my inventory, pulling out yarns and playing with colors for another sweater in a pattern that I haven’t chosen yet.  While I thought about my choices, the  hostas at the barn and house were cut down for the winter.

This time of year food preparation gets factored into warming up the house. Saturday, I made soup with butternut squash, kale and black beans., comfort food to warm us up inside. Sunday was cooler, Chris made pizza and afterwards, while the oven was hot; I threw in a small apple pie from the freezer.  We debated the advantages of lighting the wood stove.  The oven had kept it warm all evening. Would the house be warm in the morning . All of this is crazy fall talk, a settling in to the season. We compromised. Chris set the stove up to light when we got up in the morning.

Today, it’s a raw rainy 41 degrees.  The predicted high for the day, a balmy 42. We hit that at 5:30am. I’m sitting outside on the porch, writing and watching the cats watch whatever it is that moves.  Even with my wool coat over a wool sweater, I feel the chill.  The smell of wood smoke curls down to where I sit and reminds me there is a warm house waiting on the other side of the door next to me.

Sweater weather, indeed.

Weekending

It was all about preparing for winter. There’s no turning back.   Anything that freezes must be removed from the barn and put into the basement crawl space.  Outdoor furniture is loaded into the wagon and carted to the shed in the hosta field.  Electric fences are removed and rolled up and away from snow plow damage.  The netting is removed from sheds. Metal framing moved to the woods.  Canoe and kayaks are stowed onshore along with the big wooden raft.  The wood box is filled and filled again.  So many things to remember.  My full rain barrels and dye station are emptied for the season. The tractors got their chains.  The 6 ft snowblower was installed.  I cut greens and filled the window boxes.  Small balsams strung with white lights were planted in large pots on the deck. It was cold and raw and November gray.  

Saturday, the spinning guild held a zoom meeting.  A mostly regular meeting with many members present.  So wonderful to SEE this group after all these COVID months.  SO many finished projects and new ideas were shared.  

Sunday, I friend shared this on FB.  You might relate.