Little Boys and Pumpkins!

First up - my little boy! Baby Theodore, or - as I call him quite often - Baby! Isn't he adorable? Notice his shiny, glossy coat. He almost looks like he's wearing a wet suit, he's so slick and shiny. When you pick him up, he's just wonderful. All soft and big and plush and yummy. I could hold him for hours, but being a baby, all he wants to do is play when we are outside. So, off he buzzes to catch up with mama and litter mates. There's lots to do, after all, on a balmy. late-summer evening.

Aren't the pumpkins getting gorgeous? They are the best fun to watch grow and then start turning orange. These are old-fashioned field pumpkins. In the past few years, we had been growing Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins, which IS a thing. However, they just weren't faring as well as they used to, so this year, I opted for the old-fashioned field pumpkin. So far, so good. My only concern is that I don't know how long they'll hold up outside as decorations. We get a ton of rain around here, so it'll be interesting to see if they weather our Autumn season. These pumpkins remind me of old-school pumpkin shapes, the kind you might see illustrated in children's storybooks dating back to the early 1900s right up until my childhood in the 1970s. I love the deep ridges on this type of pumpkin. 

I cannot believe that we are in the final, full week of August, and that the month of September creeps up on us next week. The babies go in for their spays/neuter on Thursday of this week, so I will be home with them, helping them recuperate. They'll sleep a lot the next day, so I will take that time to start de-summering the house and do several areas of deep-cleaning, while checking on them regularly. 

There's a spirituality to my routine of seasonal changes around the house. There's not a lot of overkill, but what I do is focused - my kitchen hutch for starters. It's always decorated seasonally and is a focal point. I do a bit on the kitchen buffet, as well, but honestly, for the most part, other than a few seasonal odds and ends elsewhere, that's about it. What I DO always have, however, are seasonal fairy lights on my hutch. Winter and summer mean strands of white lights, while Autumn means candy corn lights (it's a thing, they're strands of light that have an orange stripe and a yellow stripe on each light and a lovely glow when plugged in!). Christmas is ALWAYS colored lights. ALWAYS. Then, once Christmas passes, I switch to my white lights. Spring is a little different - I keep the winter white lights, but for Valentine's Day, I add some red lights and a few hearts. I generally leave those up until April, when I switch to Easter decorations. My other autumnal decoration is a constant box of tissues, thanks to fall allergies. These days, I feel like I may need to wear a shirt for the upcoming season that says "Fall allergies, NOT covid - stop judging!" Sigh.  

We go to 86 today. That's a tad warm for me (not to the point where I'm terribly crabby, but we are getting close to my crabby-meter levels). All I can say is that Saturday brings the cool-down, so I'm not sad about that. Funny, when I was little, the summer heat just didn't seem like a big deal. Do little kids not feel it? It has such a huge impact on my health as an adult, I cannot imagine that it did not affect me when I was little. But I honestly don't remember it ever bothering me! 

It's been ages since I've had a Peggy Ann Bakery treat. Would love an apple fritter today, but no time to get over that way. Instead, with this heat, I think I may have to go for the Pal's big tea with a tomato biscuit. Nothing more summery than that, especially if you add Dukes Mayo, salt and pepper. Can't think of a nicer way to honor a summer day!