monday's mulling: clash of the seasons and other thoughts

Welp… it’s already happening. It’s the second week of September, and here comes Christmas!

I needed some wrapping paper for a shower gift, and this is what greeted me at the Hallmark store: a mingling of Christmas and Halloween. Red and green mixing with orange, black, and gold. Quite the color combination. And FYI, Christmas is only 103 days away.

The Halloween/Christmas combo was the first thing that caught my eye. Then I headed to the wrapping paper section in search of something suitable for a bridal shower. Wrapping paper and ribbon used to cover a good portion of the walls, but that’s no longer the case. I wasn’t impressed with the wedding paper selections, so I chose a fun, colorful design instead.

The ribbon selection was even more scarce, but I managed to find a combination that would work. This was a bridal shower and ribbons are needed for practice bouquet at the wedding rehearsal - and to keep up with the superstition of breaking ribbons while opening gifts to predict how many children will be in the couple’s future. (She broke three and one of them was my sabotaged ribbon 😁).

 

simple, yet profound

Twenty-five years ago, my friend Patricia Saxton created this digital illustration, NINE, in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

I love how her minimalist depiction of the World Trade Center Twin Towers transforms them  into the number 11 - a simple yet powerful visual connection to that day and all that it came to represent. At the base of the Towers, a blooming lotus flower offers a gentle, delicate contrast to the devastation: a symbol of peace, remembrance, resilience, and renewal.

Art has a unique way of helping us hold what words sometimes cannot. It gives shape to grief, creates space for reflection, and allows us to remember while also imagining hope. In moments of profound loss, creating and experiencing art can be a form of healing - a way to honor what was lost, process what we carry, and find beauty and meaning even in the aftermath of tragedy.

From darkness, something can still bloom.

 

busy bumblebees

I watched a bumblebee flit around the pot of petunias, searching for the last bits of pollen. It took a deep dive into one of the trumpet-shaped blooms, then wiggled its way back out and flew on to the next flower. It was a peaceful few minutes watching its flight from bloom to bloom.

 

The bee is an insect admired for its industriousness, its economy and its way of working for the common good.  ~ Charles Darwin

the friday feed: 9/11...25 years ago

“Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day?” It's one of those moments in time that I will not forget.

And how does this “Friday Feed” post have anything to do with food?

On September 11, 2001, I was a couple of weeks into my student teaching - the final requirement for completing my Master’s in Education. My teaching mentor and I had left the classroom for our lunch break and had just sat down in the teachers’ lunchroom when another teacher wheeled a television into the room and said, “You all have to watch this.”

We watched in disbelief as the news showed the two hijacked airplanes crash into the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center.

There we were, gathered around a television in the teachers’ lunchroom, witnessing a horrific attack on American soil. We talked with one another about whether we should tell our students what was happening or continue with the school day as if nothing had happened. We ultimately decided not to tell them immediately. The teachers agreed that we should maintain the daily routine and leave it to the parents to explain the attack to their children in words they felt were appropriate.

When we returned to the classroom, we followed our normal routine as best we could. Before long, parents began arriving at the school to take their children home. By the end of the day, only a few students remained in the classroom. At that point, we told them what had happened and explained that, when they got home, their parents would talk with them about it in their own way.

Looking back on that day, that teachers’ lunchroom became more than a place to eat. It became a place where we could pause, process the unimaginable, and lean on one another. Before we could help our students, we needed those few moments together to understand what was happening and decide how best to protect their sense of safety and normalcy.

And perhaps that is where the food connection comes in. Food is often about more than what is on the plate. A meal brings people together, creates a place for conversation, provides comfort, and gives us a moment to pause when life feels overwhelming.

On that September day, there wasn’t much eating happening in the teachers’ lunchroom. But there was something just as important: people gathered around a table, trying to make sense of a world that had suddenly changed.

Twenty-five years later, I still remember exactly where I was.

wednesday's words and wanderings and wonderings

It was a quiet week, a re-centering week. I was in charge of the pace of my days.

This is Bear. He is one of the three farm dogs. Last week had a few cooler days so Bear got to hang out with us as we worked and the customers got a few pets in with this sweet boy.

We’re lucky to live close to the Holiday at Home parade route, so Monday morning we walked to the festivities. After the parade, we wandered through the classic car show, and wow...there were some beauties! 

The owner of this pink car clearly has a sense of humor. A car seat cover informed its viewers, “NO...It’s NOT a Mary Kay car.”

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Mary Kay, it’s a major American beauty brand that sells skincare and cosmetics through independent beauty consultants using a multi-level marketing model. One of the big incentives for top independent sales directors is the opportunity to earn the use of a pink Cadillac through high sales and team building.

Now THIS is what you call an 8-cylinder engine!

Here we are mid-post so time to talk about another dog...

After walking from home and then around the park festivities, we were hungry. One of the food trucks was advertising authentic Chicago-style hot dogs. A Chicago dog in Dayton, Ohio...hmmm. I had to check it out.

An authentic Chicago dog is an all-beef frankfurter served on a steamed poppy seed bun and “dragged through the garden” with yellow mustard, bright green relish, chopped onions, tomato wedges, a dill pickle spear, sport peppers, and celery salt.

Other than the steamed poppy seed bun, this dog was authentic. And it sure hit the spot!

Back to the farm...this sunflower is taking its last bow for the season. It's been  beautiful in all of its stages.

And last...I started this post with a dog photo and will end it with another one. This pup is living its best life!

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September 10: Having some technical difficulties...can't load photos. Hope to be back up and running by Friday 🤞🤞🤞🤞

what do you see?

When we take walks around  big cities, we usually have loose itineraries of where to go and what to see. Todd is more the "where to go" guy, and I’m the "what to see" girl. And my what to see includes so much more than what’s on the list, like this photo.

What did I see?

As we crossed one of the drawbridges over the Chicago River, the first thing I noticed were the rivets. They caught my eye, and then my gaze followed their line toward the skyscrapers. I snapped the photo. Todd asked what I had taken a picture of, and I told him, “the city view.”

But it was much more than the city view.

I saw the gritty urban texture: the round rivets, the peeling paint, and the reddish-brown rust spreading across the metal. The bridge's earthy tones complemented the surface that looked tactile, rough, and weathered.

Then there were the skyscrapers: rectangular blocks divided into grids by the tiny rectangular windows. The buildings' colors were softer: beige, cream, and tan.

And then came the pops of color. Above everything was a clear blue sky. Near the street level, tiny dots of red from brake lights and stop lights brightened the sea of neutral tones.

And all those contrasts created the picture: The heavy, weathered metal of the bridge against the stone and concrete of the buildings. The rough, industrial textures against the smooth geometry of the skyscrapers. The earthy tones and neutrals interrupted by blue sky and tiny flashes of red.

Todd saw the big city.

I saw the details that made the city interesting.

monday's mulling: signs of fall

Today is September 7. The first week of September is complete, and it is also Labor Day.

Labor Day, created in the late 19th century to honor working men and women, has taken on another role over the years. It has become the unofficial farewell to summer. At the farm, apples now appear alongside peaches (but right now the peaches are in the cooler because the bees just love to get some fresh peach nectar). Acorn and butternut squashes sit beside the bell peppers. The sunflowers and zinnias are seeing fewer butterflies and bees as the days grow shorter and the season begins its quiet transition.

Here in Kettering, there is another sure sign that summer is winding down: Friday night football, changing leaves, and the hustle and bustle of preparing for the Holiday at Home Parade. Holiday at Home is a weekend celebration featuring an auto show, arts and craft show, entertainment, food, and other activities at Lincoln Park Commons. It is an event with something for all ages, and for many in the community, it is a familiar tradition that marks the changing of the season.

The large American flag at one of the city's major intersections signals that the weekend's festivities are near. It is a fitting sight for Labor Day weekend, a reminder of community, tradition, and the people who make this place their home.

But for now, let's enjoy that in-between time, when summer still lingers while fall waits just around the corner.