Good morning, friends, how are you?
I’m sitting here this morning with some (iced) coffee, and the dining room windows fogged up with humidity. It is July in Oklahoma! I’ll be honest with you— July in Oklahoma is not my favorite time of the year. It is, in fact, my favorite time of the year to escape to New England if I can! If that’s not possible, then I head out to the studio and start on painting my dreams of Autumn, as well as Christmas art.
To me, autumn almost feels like a ‘new year.’ It probably has to do with it being when a new school year begins (there’s always giddy excitement about that, isn’t there? Even long after your school days are done?) and my birthday is at the end of September. Autumn, even as it signals the time of harvest and the end of a growing season, always feels like a bit of a fresh start to me.
I joke that I was a few weeks late to be born (my mother is not amused) because being an autumn baby matched my aesthetic more than being a summer baby. It’s very true of me as an adult today, at least!
I love when the weather finally turns cool after months of insufferable heat and humidity (it will be solidly October by the time this happens here in Oklahoma.) I love the sound of crows in the tree tops, the brilliance of autumn foliage. I love that primal feeling of wanting to be inside, creating, cooking savory dishes that seem ‘too much’ in the summer months, boots and sweaters and all things knitted. I feel more like myself in the autumn.
Do you feel more of an urge to create when autumn comes? Perhaps its all those centuries in our ancestry spent gathered around hearths, finishing the day’s work, perhaps with some knitting that was easy enough to do in the half darkness. The precursor to my ‘knitting while we watch tv” habit. You always feel like you at least got something productive done while resting. Surely I’m not the only one who can’t just sit and be still. Always doing something.
Even though summer is hard for me, I am thankful to live somewhere that there are seasons. I appreciate those wonderful times so much more. I will get through these muggy, hot, mosquito filled days and autumn will be waiting for me at the end! That’s a pretty exciting proposition.
What do you love best about fall? What do you look forward to doing then that you’re just not in the mood for right now that it’s summer? Do you have a hobby that comes more to mind– be it knitting, stitching, weaving, writing or being outdoors?
You’ll also have to let me know if you have any suggestions for an autumn painting. I’m just not able to do commissions these days, but I am always open to suggestions for future pieces!
I hope you are well and if you are one who enjoys summer– please do enjoy! If you are like me and are dreaming of autumn, well, I am right there with you. Each day we get a little closer!
Thank you for coming by to visit me, and I hope you return again soon! Here’s to creating and the season we love–
Take Joy!
H
Sleightholm Folk Art 
I love autumn too! I love when the nights draw in early and candles are lit, lamps are glowing…everything seems cozier. I love decorating for autumn, Halloween, and Thanksgiving too. And sweaters! My favorite thing to wear. It really is my happy time of year. I love your New Englandy, ghostie, Halloween paintings! I was just thinking about pulling out the patterns for the Autumn stitching from your Frost on the Pumpkin booklet and stitching up some gifts!
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I love all these things too!! (You know this!) I always feel more ‘myself’ in autumn. The sweats and boots, the candle light and coziness….Im always so overjoyed when it returns!
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Joining you and other readers about loving Fall!! It has always been my favorite time of year for many reasons including the ones you mentioned. In addition to those reasons, I am an incurable lover of Apples, apple picking, cooking with apples, now journaling every new variety of apple I eat, and reading about how the many new varieties are being created as well as the American story of the close relationship early settlers had with apples. I especially love the story of the man known as Johnny Appleseed. Until science and medicine learned about how to keep drinking water safe, apple orchards offered a way to make a safe distilled drink that could be used as a replacement for water. Even young children drank apple cider at every meal. Every settler had apple trees in their yards specifically for eating , drying and making cider. While Florida is way too hot to grow apples, I can sometimes get up to north Georgia or N. Carolina to go apple picking.
We do have a few species of deciduous trees here in North Central Florida, and we have to wait until Thanksgiving and December for them to change colors. It is a long wait, but there can be beautiful Oak and southern Maple species who put on a glorious display of color most years. Sadly, by the time this happens , everyone is all decked out for Christmas around here and yards are full of snowmen, which is odd because we don’t get snow down here.
As for first steps towards Fall for me, I am planning to thaw out the last of my frozen Pumpkin puree and make up the Pumpkin Banana bread from the Frost on the Pumpkin booklet! Patricia, I might have to follow your idea of making a few more of the stitching projects from the booklet for fun and then find homes for them when the situation arrives. Several people I know would love the candle cover and I am thinking of making a few pin cushions with fall elements used from the stitch patterns too.
I hope other readers will post their favorite fall traditions and activities. It seems to be a universal passion for many of us! Anyone else love Apples??
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Winnie, you are the Queen of the Apples! I cant think of apples– or crows– without thinking of you! Audrey has already said she wants to go apple picking again this year. There’s an orchard here in OK that is mainly peaches, but they do have an apple orchard. I love the connection of early America and apples! Definitely need to explore this in paint…
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Here in Upstate New York summer is a time for visitors and research treks for me, gardening and (ugh) canning. I’m not a huge fan of the heat, but up here the evenings are cool most of the time. Like you I like autumn the best and really don’t mind the winter. It’s the long dreary early spring I like least. My creativity goes up after Labor Day, but the summers are so full of family and are so short I love every minute.
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I love upstate New York! We’ve stayed with friends in Albany and its always a shock to me that you can sleep with the windows open for a cool breeze at night! That long and dreary spring is a hard one, I think every place has their part of the year where the weather is a slog. Here in Oklahoma, it’s definitely July!
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I understand why you’d be dreaming of October!
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Yes! I love it when the cool temperatures come and things start to feel cozy!
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This is a beautiful. The art and writing. I, too, love autumn. Here in Wisconsin, it is a fortifying loveliness before winter.
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Thank you so much! Yes, I am sure you have an absolutely gorgeous autumn up in Wisconsin! Autumn is such a great time to get settled in for a winter of creating.
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Your artwork is beautiful! I love autumn as well.
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thank you so much!
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