To Everything, There is a Season…

I have always been more of a cooler weather person than a heat of summer person. I have good friends living in Arizona and listening to them, the possibility of becoming a “snow-birder” in winter is very enticing. Honestly, though, I think I’d miss the Pacific Northwest weather. We get a touch of all the seasons. Lots of color in fall and spring, a bit of snow in winter, and abundant sunshine in the summer. I like those changes. In fact, maybe for me, it’s more about the change than the season. I don’t ever want to stagnate, so I need occasional change in my life to make me feel like I’m moving forward.

Fall: Color in a local park

Spring: Getting ready to plant.

Embracing Summer

As I type this, it’s overcast. Rain is coming in later. And it rained yesterday. I went for a walk in it and loved it. Granted, I no longer splash in puddles. I walk around them these days. But it’s rejuvenating to smell the rain and hear it fall.

And winter? I love hibernating. Honestly, I could sit at the ocean and storm watch, never getting a thing done, and be completely happy with my life. Hmmm. So much for not stagnating? Lol.

Enjoying the snow (last year)

Washington’s coast in winter

What season is your favorite? Whichever one is, I hope you get to embrace them all, because nature rocks!

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Once bitten…

I love spring. It’s my favourite season. The bulbs and flowers are springing into abundant life, the light evenings are stretching out, the air has the hint of warmer days to come (a bit hit and miss at the moment here in the UK where it’s currently more like January!), and the promise of long summer months stretch before us.

As much as I love spring, it has its downside. Insects! Biting ones! Especially the sneaky little blighters encountered on walks that find their way through leggings, jeans, two pairs of socks, sturdy walking boots, and manage to bite me relentlessly despite any attempt to thwart them. Walks with Vivvy are glorious right now: primroses, daffodils, tulips, bluebells – the woods are abundant with life. And I have the bites to prove that. I’ve tried every repellent I can think of: creams, lotions, vitamin tablets, but nothing seems to deter the little devils. They love me!

The itching drives me crazy, and the only thing that seems to help is the old and trusted calamine lotion. I think I keep the makers in business single-handedly this time of year 🙂 The problem with that is Vivvy loves the taste and keeps trying to lick my pink-covered legs!

Me and calamine lotion go back a long way. Born and raised by the sea, I spent long sun-filled days on the beach as a teenager in the company of my older cousin. She used to mix up this concoction of olive oil and vinegar and we’d lavish it on our skins in the hope of developing a lovely suntan. I vividly remember one time when we vastly overdid it and ended up at my grandmother’s house slathered in calamine lotion and our grandfather’s old workshirts which was all we could tolerate against our sunburnt skin. Happy days!

October! My Favorite!

Jillian here. October is my favorite month of the year. I’ve always loved it. When we lived in Virginia when I was in elementary school, we’d always drive up Skyline Drive in October to get pumpkins and fresh, cold apple cider—there was nothing like that fresh taste and Florida has nothing to compare with it. Not many leaves change color here—a few trees do- like maples— but most are evergreens like pine. I love the look of bare trees in the twilight of mornings or dusk as well as in the fog. Some trees here have leaves one day and are naked the next.

Why I love October: Orange is my favorite color, the smell of smoke in the air always brings back memories of fall leaf burning, pumpkins, Halloween is fun, and the new baking shows with the fall themes are delightful to watch (not so delightful for my cravings for chocolate though) 😀And it cools off a bit here—most years, it’s low 80s at beginning of the month and 70s by end of month.

Lat year, for NaNoWriMo, I wrote a story that was inspired by my great grandmother’s name and her tombstone. Weirdly, her tombstone has her names in the wrong order which is kind of wild—I can only imagine they didn’t have the money to fix it when it was made incorrectly. I’ve always loved her first name. Her name (in the correct order) was Sophronia Neal Akers Richardson. The story I wrote is a ghost story/mystery. I turned in the edits this week, so I hope to have it out soon. It will be published under my other name as my mysteries are under that name to keep them separate from the romance-driven tales.

Happy October to all. Get out and enjoy some reds, oranges, fall scents and even some ghosties!

Gnarly pumpkin I bought —so wicked looking

It’s That Time Again! By Valerie J. Patterson

It happens every year.  There’s simply no escaping it.  You can’t run from it, hide from it, or even overlook it.  Every September–like clockwork–it happens.

What is it?  That time of year when summer ends and fall begins.

Don’t get me wrong.  I enjoy all of the seasons.  Each one brings about a creative resurgence that I absolutely love!  Winter, with its stark beauty, beckons me outdoors and into the crisp evening air to wonder at all the exquisiteness of a fresh falling snow.  Spring, with its rebirth of everything green and colorful, pulls me into the lushness of showers that result in bursts of vibrant flowers and carpets of green.  Summer, with its endless azure skies, romances me with ocean sprays and huge golden moons lighting up paths in the sand.  Autumn, with its brilliant grandeur, lures me into carefree times of yesterday when I played in the leaves, enjoyed hayrides, and carved pumpkins.

But there is something else that fall does–it comes with shorter days and less rays from the sun.  This is without a doubt the one thing about fall I dislike.  It’s dark when I rise and the darkness comes calling just a short time after I leave the office.  Sigh.  I love the cooler temperatures, but bemoan the fact there is less daylight to enjoy them.

There’s nothing I can do about it.  It happens every single year.  And I so very much look forward to those days when the daylight creeps into longer hours.  Ah yes, that too happens every single year!

Until next time, may a lilting fall breeze lift your hair, caress your face, and gently blow through your mind to inspire you.

Yep. I Know. I’m Late.

I can’t even pretend to be late for a very important date like Alice’s white rabbit. And anyway, where exactly was he going? If he was afraid of disappointing those crazy folks at the tea party, they probably couldn’t even tell what time it was anyway. God forbid if he was trying to make the Queen of Hearts happy since she was all about “off with their heads” and that jazz. How’d she even get to be the Queen of Hearts anyway? Someone as unloveable as she was sure didn’t deserve such a title, did she?

Anyway, I could analyze Alice in Wonderland all day but who wants to do that, right? Is everyone ready for fall? I am. It’s been a long summer of death and sickness all around and it’s time for some fun and what we all love here in the south- Food on a stick season. In this area, we have a ton of fall celebrations including the seafood festival, arts festivals, the fair and Halloween carnivals. At each of these events, you can get all kinds of goodies served on a stick. We have kebobs, teriyaki beef and chicken, corn on the cob, Shrimp on a stick, candied apples, caramel apples, and even candy floss (cotton candy).

What’s your favorite fair or festival food?

Happy March

I love March. It’s the month that both of my children were born and it’s also one of the best months weather-wise that we have in Florida. It’s cool in the morning and evenings and the sun is usually shining with the lovely blue sky peeking through the puffy stark-white clouds. A true piece of paradise.

I’m looking foward to a semi-quiet month -oh, wait- maybe not since the schools’ and colleges’ spring breaks are all coming up soon and that means traffic, traffic, traffic. Those folks love to hit our beaches and who can blame them? There goes my peaceful month but since it happens every year it’s almost like azaleas blooming. It’s going to happen whether we want it to or not. I’ll adapt and handle it.

On a totally unrelated topic- or maybe not since I’m going to tie it together- My sister hates a lot of the new slang words such as “Kewl” for cool, “you rock”, “little man” for a baby, “po-po” for police and “woot” for good news. There’s a long list but I’m sure you get my drift.

For the month of March I hope you all can “chillax” which is slang for chill out and relax at the same time. That’s my goal for the month. One inhabitant of my house knows how to chillax like a professional. Check him out: