coyotes, writing & turning on my oven

 It seems like just over night the warm air is gone and the autumn leaves are not only turning colors they're already falling too. In the summer I bike. I ride every morning a ten mile ride and stop at the water. I sit and write for a while then return home. In the Fall I walk more.

As soon as Sophia gets picked up by the bus for school (and it's not a day I'm dashing off to teaching)  I walk around my neighborhood. My neighbors stop and ask me to walk throughout the Autumn months too. There's no humidity and the structured schedule allows for afternoon walks more often.

The other morning I was on a walk and a coyote crossed my path. He didn't bother me. Which I was glad he had better things to do than lunge at me. Yet there was something about his presence on my path that reminded me how the seasons are in a process of deep transformation.

And the cooler weather gets me in my kitchen more. I'll get up early in the morning and bake until noon-dreamy island and celebration cookies and seven layer squares. I'll store them in my freezer (the way the animals are preparing for the colder weather too) for my kids school lunches.

I realized recently with all of us back at work and a new school year that I haven't had much time for catch ups with friends lately. So I'm planning to host a get together next weekend. I'm going to bake tarts: a bacon and Gouda and my favorite a cheddar and pimento cheese. Autumn's a good time to get together with friends.

Autumn, Apples and Baking Pies!

 ~"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf's a flower." Albert Camus

Autumn on Cape Cod is wonderful. The air is crisp in the morning. The cooler weather invites a coziness that I've missed throughout the summer. Outdoors long walks with a sweater, morning frost and the falling then raking of leaves offer a soothing texture to my neighborhood. Indoors the smell of apple cider and the peeling of apples for baking sweet treats offers comfort.

At my house our favorite go-to Autumn recipes once the apple trees invite us to pick their bounty include Steele Family Apple Crisp, Apple Pie and Cranberry-Apple Pie.

Every Autumn I look forward to taking the short drive North over the Bourne bridge to Acushnet to go apple picking with my kids. The hay ride over the pumpkin patch and the filling of our baskets with apples is something I always treasure. When we arrive home we often watch football, throw some Chili in the Crock-Pot and bake an Apple Crisp.

Each year some things will change. Yet some things remain constant like a simple afternoon to share good food in the crisp Autumn air.