Falling into fall

I am writing this as I sit on the couch in our living room and look out over the small lake and hill outside the window. The willow trees are dancing with yellow leaves and the Canada geese are stopping by on their way south. The kids are getting into their school routines, apples are on sale at the store, and it feels like it really and truly is fall.

I just can't believe how busy this fall feels. I don't know if that comes from comparing it to our v-e-r-y relaxed life last January to May in France, or if it just is busier than usual. I think probably a mix of both. There was something really nice about having so few commitments in France. Yes, we had to get the kids to school and John had his research and I had my editing... but there wasn't much else we had to do on most days. So that left a lot of time for walking, cooking, writing, playing, reading, and being. These last weeks, with me editing and teaching my class, with John having his usual full teaching load plus new responsibilities as department chair, with the kids having school plus different activities... we haven't had much time to just breathe, it seems.

Kate and Liv lay out their school clothes before bed

To top it off, a few days after I spent a morning volunteering in the girls' classroom, I seemed to have picked up the back-to-school bug that was obvious on the noses of most of the kids I was working with. Then I passed it to Jack, and his flared up into his terrible asthma-cough. Thankfully, he is big enough now that he weathers it all pretty well (and so much better than when he was a toddler and preschooler)... but he still sounded horrible (and I worried) for much of the week! Aside from a morning cough, he seems to be back in good form, and I still have a bit of a cough lingering throughout the day, but otherwise am feeling mostly better too. Still... not quite the way to leap into the new school year.

And in between the busy-ness, we are trying to maintain some of the best of France. We have been visiting with friends as much as possible, even when the house isn't tidy. We have cracked open a bottle of red Burgundy from the Naudin domaine (or as we tease Jack, the family domaine of his petite-amie, Camille) and shared it with the first friends we made in Lethbridge back in 2003, Patrick and Andrea, as well as John's parents when they were here this week. We toasted the joys of travel and the joys of coming home, and I swear I could almost smell Villers and Magny as I sipped it, almost hear the birds chirping and the swish of grape leaves in the wind.

I have baked more gateaux au chocolat than I can count (and discovered I can make a gluten-free version for friends with gluten intolerance, since it uses so little flour... replacing with a gluten-free baking mix doesn't change the flavor or texture much at all), and have turned out tartes and quiches with confidence. I buy locally as much as possible, hitting up the farmer's market most weekends, discovering (of all things) amid my local eggs and chickens and tomatoes a small family cheese-making business. It can't touch my cheese-lady in Beaune, but they have made some really wonderful chevres and fetas.

It is good to be home. But is it strange to feel that part of us is at home in France, too?

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Some photos of the last few weeks -- first day of ballet, doing homework, a picture of an orchid with the new house being built next to us in view out the window, Kate and Liv dressing up to go to a party... the usual!

Katie

Liv, wearing a scarf and feeling very French

Liv in the middle with two five year old friends in ballet

Kate

Liv

Liv

Kate on right, walking into ballet class