If you haven’t noticed, and the photos of bright foliage on Instagram or celebrations over pumpkin spice lattes haven’t tipped you off, it’s fall. This is my favorite season, and I’m thrilled to share it with Peeper.
For a week or so, Edie refused to nap unless I took her on a walk in the carrier. The habit pushed me outside twice a day and, luckily, the weather cooperated.
As she, Finn and I walked the neighborhood and nearby trails, I marveled at how perfect October in Oregon is: the crunching of fallen leaves, the sound of the wind clacking together brittle branches, the smell of burning wood, the warm sun and cool shadows, the orange cast to the light.
Eric and I took Edie to the pumpkin patch, too. My family and I went every year when I was growing up. My mom would stop the minivan next to the field and we’d scatter. Sometimes we would pick apples, too, and the fruit tasted even better when I was standing in the dappled sunlight of the orchard. Other times we would just sample the pie and cider at the check-out stand and fawn over the puppies that always seemed to be for sale.
At Edith’s first pumpkin patch visit, there were no rolly poly Golden Retrievers, but we did take a tractor hay ride to the field. Hundreds of pumpkins sprawled across the ground, and the blue sky contrasted all the orange beautifully.
We picked out our pumpkins, including a little one for Edie. We carved them a few nights ago.
Edie was beginning to fuss by the time we neared completion of the jack-o-lanterns. It was bath night anyway, so we decided to risk an all-out meltdown for the sake of a photo opp. Eric lifted her up and plunked her into the biggest pumpkin.
Instead of ramping up her cries, she calmed instantly. Edie smiled for our baby-in-pumpkin photos. Perhaps she liked the mooshy feeling of pumpkin guts between her toes.
That is what fall is all about: Indulging the senses. Whether it’s stomping through leaves, sipping spiced tea or wiggling your toes in stringy pumpkin slime, autumn’s opportunities to immerse yourself in the season shouldn’t be missed.
