Autumn in the Air

For the past few weeks, a sense of autumn has most definitely been in the air. Many little changes have crept up on me, and it has made me remember why this is one of my most favorite times of the year.

After a run outside last week, I stopped in a small grassy patch near my house to stretch. While stretching under a tree, I noticed a leaf fall from the branch above my head. As I looked at the ground around me, I realized that there were lots of leaves that had already fallen - leaves full of rich red, yellow and orange color. I couldn't help myself, and I scooped up a whole armful to take back home and make waxed leaves with. The waxed leaves didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, but it was a great fall activity nonetheless!

While out for a walk with co-workers recently, we all noticed the change of the air itself. Instead of the hot, heavy, sticky air of summer months, we felt the cool, crisp feeling of fall on our faces. The air is lighter and calmer, truly reminding us that the earth is preparing for winter hibernation, which will come much too soon as always.

The birds are gearing up for the long trip south. While stopping to wait for a gaggle of geese to cross the street this morning, I realized that soon enough geese will be flying high in their V formation, and other birds of the north will be stopping in these parts for a rest during their flight.

While leaving work last night, I had cursed myself for not wearing a jacket. The temperature had dropped a bit during the day, and the cool night air was closing in at the early hour of 5:00pm. I love the first few weeks of fall when light autumn jackets are required, and you feel cozy somehow, tightening them up around your neck while on a walk or out running errands.

The sun retires earlier each night. I always find myself curled up in bed with a book earlier in fall than I would be in summer. During summer months, I feel bad if I'm inside reading instead of outside enjoying the hot summer sun. But during the crisp fall months it is perfectly acceptable, encouraged even, to enjoy a good read while lazing around, maybe with the window cracked just a bit to let in a faint blow of the night air.

Halloween decorations are filling the stores. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I just love it. Children are making the tough decision on whether to be a pirate or a vampire or a princess for the traditional trick-or-treating fun. Pumpkins sit watch on porches, and ghosts hang from the trees.

Just sitting here writing this makes me want to get outside for a walk and enjoy the beauty of an autumn day. In the coming weeks, I'm looking forward to great fall activities like visiting the apple orchard, carving pumpkins, finding my way through a corn maze, and maybe catching a fright or two at a haunted house.

While I love fall and it is my favorite season of the year, I do have one complaint about it: it's just too darn short.

I'm bringing chicken back...

Some of you may know that I removed chicken from my diet completely a while back. I honestly can't even tell you what happened to make me decide to do it. But, all of a sudden, I found myself revolted by the thought of eating chicken. When I tried to put a piece of it in my mouth, I would remember what it was, and I just couldn't do it. It was very odd, because I continued to eat most kinds of pork and all kinds of beef, never having a problem that I'm actually eating a pig and a cow. But with chicken, it was different. I just couldn't do it.

So, for an entire year, I had no chicken of any kind, not even in a salad or casserole. It made life difficult because chicken is a wonderful source of protein, and there are about a million and two recipes that include chicken. For someone who tends to get little to no protein in her diet (me), and for someone who has little to no creativity in the kitchen (uh....me again), chicken is kind of a failsafe. I tried really hard to experiment with different fishes and new recipes for pork and beef; I also tried eating soy protein "chicken" and "burger" patties. But really, I missed the taste of chicken. I really like chicken salad and chicken enchiladas and roast chicken.

Last week I decided that I was being just a bit ridiculous on the chicken matter. If I like the taste of it, and I actually know a lot of ways to prepare it, why couldn't I get past my disgust for what it actually was? And I was getting really sick of fish and chik'n patties.

And so, I decided to add chicken back into my diet. Not all chicken - I don't think that I'll ever be able to eat a chicken leg again - but some chicken. And, I don't think that I can eat it anywhere but at my own home, where I can prepare it myself and know where the chicken has come from.

Last night, Mark helped me prepare my first meal of chicken in over a year. I made baked chicken enchiladas. It was my mom's recipe, but I added a bit of my own flare to the dish.







We sat down for dinner, and I ceremoniously took a bite of the chicken enchilada. To my delight, it was amazingly delicious! I was surprised that they turned out as well as they did, actually. I quickly gobbled down the rest of my plateful, feeling very full and content afterward.

So, as Justin Timberlake is currently doing to sexy, I'm bringing chicken back. I'm excited about all of the recipes that await me. Here's hoping I can continue to conquer stomach over mind in the chicken arena.

War

No, this is not my rant on the bloody brutality of battle.

It's my rant - and ode - to kid's games!

One of my (and Mark's!) favorite things to do is play games. We've got a closet full of them, and on any random Saturday or Sunday afternoon, you can find the two of us in our PJs, on the floor of our living room, sprawled out with a game of some sort. From Monopoly to Yahtzee! to Sequence to Skip Bo, we're gamers people!

This past weekend was no exception. Despite the beautiful weather tempting us to come outside, we couldn't pull ourselves away from the games for too long. Oh we got out and enjoyed the sunshine for a bit as well, but all the while our War cards were calling our names and reaching out to us. We couldn't fight it. Throughout the weekend, we played at least 5 games of War, with a few games of Sequence thrown in there for good measure. Here's a couple of snap shots of our kid-like behavior.


OOOOOOO...a war with Aces - is there anything so exciting!





Why do we love games so much, you might ask? Because nothing takes you back to the innocence of youth quite like playing a game. It's a time when you don't have to worry about bills and money; you don't have to feel racked with guilt for not returning your sister's phone call; you don't have to think about the horrors going on in the world. You can just sit down on the floor cross-legged, in your PJs, and enjoy the simplicity of playing a game with someone you enjoy. You can empty your mind of reality for a bit, and enter the gaming world. It's fantastic.

I encourage you to enjoy a family or friends game night of your own sometime quite soon!