Right now.

Here we are. Right smack dab in the middle of a glorious fall. It just happened. Just. Somehow a few days of dreary cold rain--not the uplifting, humid rain..but the downer rain that freezes you to the bone--and snap, there we are. Color in the trees. Piles of buckeyes on the ground. The same with crazy brain fruit, the Osage orange-- nature's croquet balls--ready for a messy game. It is the beginning of Cider Week here in the Finger Lakes with the poor farmers trying to get their apples in and pressed combined with a monumental marketing push to promote cider, cider drinking and most importantly, cider buying. Kitty was down at the apple festival selling bottles of cider, vinegar, ginger beer and shrubs to her delight yesterday in the rain. Today is a quiet day of work and reflection.

I have a pot of recycled soup (a compilation of all the leftovers, bits and pieces, shards and shavings--all cooked down into a potage flavored with a dollop of swad (Coriander chutney) and a crumble of dried basil. I also made a version of the smashed cucumber salad ( see my entry under Blogs>Treats from the NYTimes) to use up the piles of cucumbers I have been hoarding along with the bit of greek yoghurt I had waiting just for this use (not). I am busy cooking as a form of cleaning out the fridge and prepping for the week...what with Rob being out of town and Kitty prepping to go to NYC to begin her time there. All very exciting.

I am doing a lot of research on First Nation People in Arizona and New Mexico. This is a world I have no handle on--it is all very wonderful and quite like nothing this northern, eastern girl is familiar with--from the locations to the concept of Pueblos, Kivas, artifacts, art, religion, nature and community. And the intersections where these things come together. it is an ancient, American landscape I need to embrace. Why go to other continents when we have an extraordinary one to discover...right here....and miles and miles away.  I think there might be a trip in the offing to see those things I keep circling back on. I will start talking about this...just a heads up that its coming from this need to see more. I think its a need versus a desire....We will see.