My Favorite Patch

Last night I looked out the window and became a little depressed. This is what I saw. Streetlights through dense fog. You know the kind of fog that you would imagine Humphrey Bogart walking in... with that hat. But it was the kind of scene I picture in December. Something pretty at Christmas time. Last night I just wished it away. I woke up this morning to the same fog. Thinking my plans for the day were completely ruined......

But the day progressed and every single inch of snow melted away. And we spent the afternoon here. And I'll be really honest....this place rivals Christmas in my world.

I don't really know when or why I fell so madly for fall. But as the years have progressed I have developed a passion for this time of year. This time of calm before the storm. This time to celebrate. To eat. To snuggle down. To walk on crisp leaves. To sip hot cider. To breath cool air before having to warm up inside. To live in glorious color.

This is the time of year where it's just us. It's our time. Our traditions. Not the ones I grew up with. The ones I made up instead. There is no pressure to get 50 people fed (as much as I love to do that, which I do!!) It's just calm.

This was the best I got out of him today. Try as I might. Somedays... even he, whom the camera loves, he doesn't love it. (Asked me if it started on fire if I could still take pictures with it on the way home.... that's his little way of telling me he didn't want any more pictures for the day!)

The pumpkin patch I visit is the Bartels place. There is no admission. You can go out and cut every single pumpkin yourself. I always go during the week when it's much less crowded and we have most of the place to our selves. There are animals. There is a corn maze. There is beauty!!! Turn at the pumpkin sign on the frontage road from wellington, past the soccer fields. There is only one sign, and no advertising else where that I can see.