Apple Picking

The red buckets were stacked neatly just outside the barn store, we climbed gingerly onto the flatbed hitched behind a tractor. My jacket was open as it was only drizzle that fell and I could just fit my bum on it so as to prevent any water from seeping in. Sammy stood for a few moments, surfing, until the driver turned around to tell him it wasn't allowed.
He dropped us off amidst rows of apples. We watched and listened as he pointed where to walk and what we'd find. Warning us against the macouns, telling us at least 3 times about the bulletin he'd received to let them sit another week. We walked through grass slick with water, avoiding the muddied tractor trail. I reached up and grabbed the rounded apples easily, placing them in our red buckets and biting in to them to ensure the flavor was right.
Sammy reached up to grab branches, yearning for the better apples that waited above normal picking arms. Matt took pictures until it was too wet to let the camera be out in the rain. We tried the Golden Delicious and they were divine. The farmer returned to pick us up, "How are they?"
"Delicious" We yelled down to him.
"Well, you just have to try 'em, right?"
This time with my jacket zipped up against the rain my bum got wet and muddy as I climbed back on to the flat bed.
I imagined what it was like on a crisp clear sunny day, how many bodies would be trying to fit on these flat beds and how many Mother's would be yelling, "Hold on tight!" Not only to their kids, but to their husbands who would be in charge of the red buckets they'd now filled.
The farmer easily drove us through other fruit trees we couldn't identify before parking back at the barn and wishing us farewell with another reminder of the late bloomer macouns.
We picked out pumpkins, Sammy a 25 pounder, me a small and dainty one and Matt a tall and oval one.
With those and our apples hauled on to the counter, Sammy wandered around the store picking up soda, donuts and fudge.
"He's like a kid in a candy store" I declared to the young woman at the register.
"Oh, I used to work in a candy store," she confided in me, "So I know what it can get like."
I smiled and laughed about the remark with Matt and Sam later in the car ride home.
We drove quickly over old tarred roads surrounded with trees just starting to turn. Their bright reds, oranges and yellows caught all our attention and the rain and our wet behinds didn't even matter anymore. We passed around a bottle of rhubarb soda all declaring our love of the crisp and sweet flavor they were able to bottle.
We made loud declarations of how delicious and warm the cider donuts were.
We listened as the pumpkins moved in the trunk of the car, and laughed about day, letting the rain fade away as the crisp fall air moved through the open sun roof.

Falling in to it

The Jewish New Year is right around the corner of this weekend and it feels like Fall outside. When did it go from Labor Day weekend to Fall? When did I go from planning a wedding to being a newlywed? I told someone the other day I left my job on the 15th of September because August 15th sounded too far away, but it was over a month ago that I left and all the newness came in to my life. Wow.
Soon it will be October and I still won't have a job. When Matt would mention October when we were in Hawaii I would panic a little bit inside and think how scary it was to think about October coming and me not being employed. Now it is almost here, and I'm okay. Things are happening, pieces are moving and we're going to be just fine.
Going to NH this weekend will make Fall feel even more present in my world. To see the colors on the trees and feel the cold air on my skin in the mornings and evenings, and probably throughout the day will feel good.
Seasons changing always rejuvinates me, even the first snow of the year. My sinuses don't like it, but I love stepping outside and thinking the air has changed, that the time has shifted in to a new season.
It helps to deal with change if you embrace the cycles that come with it and enjoy and relish in all they bring.
For me Fall brings out sweatshirts and sweaters and brown boots. I can drink tea at night to relax and be comfortable with the window open and a fleece blanket on me. Fall means oranges and reds and all the warm full of life colors that I enjoy. I'll want to have a glass of wine with dinner and embrace the ciders, pumpkins and warm drinks that everyone will be selling.
I'm looking forward to running in the park as the season changes and just as I embraced the arrival of the cherry blossoms and Spring I'll marvel at the leaves changing and the air crisping. I love crispy air, ooh and crispy apples.

Turn, Turn, Turn

Oh this blog. What can I say that is really that different from my last post, besides the obvious that I got married and went to Hawaii? Not much. There is a lot of change swirling around in my life right now, and it is hard for me from moment to moment to stay grounded in the happy changes that have occurred. I'm a married woman now, and it feels great. In some ways that is the smallest change in terms of adjustment because it feels so right, and brings me to exactly where I'm supposed to be.
On the plane to Hawaii I was uneasy, it wasn't because I was going to Hawaii and it wasn't because I was married, it was everything else that the wedding being over meant would come next.
After Hawaii I had to come back home and really start my job search, before Hawaii I was kind of job searching and getting lucky but mostly just finishing up details for the wedding and reveling in not having to go to work.
After Hawaii I have to figure out where to take the rest of my life, I have to start getting things in order for even bigger and better changes to come.
It is a lot, and although I'm good at change and going with the flow- the old adage is so true- it isn't easy.
Everyday is different, which is good, but everyday has moments of fear and is often filled with anxiety at what will come next. I can't think about the future too much, mostly because I work myself up thinking things like, "What if I don't have a job by then?"
But the good things are, I'm recognizing my needs. I know I have to get out of the apartment as much as I can and not let myself be tied to my desk, so I am. When I think back to the Spring I moved to NY and was looking for a job I see myself as miserable. This Spring I remember walking through the park and thinking- "why was I not here last Spring?" I was tied to my desk, and it wasn't good. I need to start moving more, the week has been a little messed up with still adjusting to the time zone difference and I'm not as energetic as I'd like to be- and damn if exercise isn't the best stress/anxiety buster that doesn't come in a bottle I don't know what is.
The best thing is, and Matt keeps reminding me of this, my personal life is great. We're married and it is thrilling and exciting and just how it should be.

With every season, right?