September has arrived

The air is heavy this morning, humidity high. I am sick of summer, anxious now for cool crisp mornings and evenings spent playing board games by the copper glow shining out of the woodstove door.
While doing Chores this morning I kept watching the sky wondering if rain is headed our way. I hope so. Leaves falling off the trees, brown and dull, not bright and vibrant. A few flowers in bloom, catching my eye. A contrast to the shades of a summer that has lasted long enough.

Morning sun in golden rays catching colors and transforming them into something brilliant.

Even the goats look as though they have been painted with the purest gold, natures highlights.

I am struck by the beauty of what surrounds me. I am thankful for this life, this simple life.

Sometimes as I lay in bed at night, in the few moments before sleep comes, I wonder what I would do if I won millions of dollars, and I think and think, trying to figure out what I would change. No, I would not move, this is home and no mansion could ever be so fine to me. I might buy a new car, a hybrid or a smart car to zip around in. I would put cedar siding on the house and build a really nice barn and workshop for Emery. But those are things we could do now if we really wanted them that bad. In these moments of dreaming, I always come to the same conclusion, I would have to just give that money away, because I really have all that I want right now. I might build on another room, but we could do that too.

When I was 16 years old and reading Mother Earth News, I dreamed of a life with a man that was gentle, had a beard, was a "PBS" sort of man. I wanted to live on a tiny farm, grow my own food, have goats to milk and cheese to make. Chickens on nests. Shelves with lots of jars of fruits and vegetables I canned myself. Children that danced through life happy and healthy. Earth Shoes on my feet and funky hand spun wool hat on my head. I wanted a wood stove and a butter churn, a feather bed and lots of quilts. I wrote about all this in the journals I kept and now, I have just about all those things. I am blessed to be living my dream.