Falling for Fall

I need a support group.  To date, my fabulous new Panasonic Lumix and I have taken over 200 pictures in a week.  How could we not?  Fall is intoxicating, full of surprises peeping out between branches, shouting along streams, and overwhelming me with wonder overhead.

Fall actualizes Carrie Newcomer's song, "Holy as the Day is Spent" where she sings, 

I’m letting go of all I fear
Like autumn leaves of earth and air
For summer came and summer went
As holy as a day is spent

For me, holy is time spent recognizing and living in fall's beauty.  It's bittersweet now, definitely not the excitement I felt as a girl, when fall meant Halloween, or the anticipation of two months full of holidays when I lived in Nevada as an adult.

Now, my experience of fall includes appreciation of neighbor's landscaping:

cold nights, warm homes, and cooking "comfort food" for Bruce and me.

Speaking of comfort food, I wandered around the wonderful huge sporting goods store yesterday.  Their downstairs area, far away from rifles, camouflage clothing and snowboards, is completely given over to toys and fabulous kitchen items.  What fun it was to wander past scrapers and spatulas in lovely colors and sizes, past cookie cutters, timers, honey drippers, to be "bowled over" by bowls that have a pour spout, to giggle at the ceramic toucan's beak open wide for a scrubbie pad.

And then, I saw the sun:

This gorgeous sun is actually a tortilla warmer!  Put your tortillas of any size or composition inside the sun (the lining is food grade safe) and put it in the microwave for 45 seconds.   Presto!  Warm and soft tortillas that stay that way for an hour.  Naturally, we had to have carnitas last night, and the tortillas were amazing, especially because they weren't fried.   Note to family and friends:  do not be surprised if you receive one over the holidays--this is a keeper, and I tell you it's washable??

I'm going to try canning some of Dorcie's pears in a chutney this afternoon.  There's a big storm going to hit our corner of the Pacific Northwest over the next couple of days.  Leaves will fly through the air like comets, and glorious fall will transition to early winter's grays and browns.  I don't really mind my photo addiction because it helps extend my memory, where every leaf is an act of courage and beauty.