baron in september...

which is different from the baron in september.

the baron says...

...she is sorry for not having posted something proper in such a very long time. she feels badly about it, but has been otherwise preoccupied.

...thank you, if you have come here checking for posts.

...pregnancy is turning out to be harder than she imagined it could be. today she is at the start of her 14th week of pregnancy, and the morning sickness has yet to really, truly subside. she still spends each day planning meals, trying to imagine what will appeal to her fickle appetite later in the day. more often that she would like to admit, a feeling of panic (usually related to, 'good god, i haven't eaten in 2 hours. where is the food?!') rises up inside her; she spends a good amount of time taking measures to avoid that feeling.

...a bummer about this whole pregnancy process? the size 10 underwear she bought yesterday. and the 36c bra. and the up to 190 lbs tights. her vanity, with which she was always fairly well acquainted, is actually a much more powerful force than she ever realized. sigh.

...other bodily things about pregnancy are a bummer too. mostly gastrointestinal ones. she won't go into details, but would like to note that tucker and baron are not the only gas factories in the house anymore.

...thank god for the husband, he who does all the dishes and brings the baron food in bed. she is a lucky, lucky woman.

...yay! halloween is almost here! the baron will take off the day before halloween, and has a full day of fun planned! she will carve pumpkins (plucked from this farm), and bake (both pumpkin seeds and cookies), and drink cider to her heart's content. also, she will call the brother and wish him a happy birthday.

rakey rakey

last weekend, the baron was in the mood to rhapsodize a little over the trees in her yard. they were, after all, turing colors in a very beautiful and striking way: yellows, crimsons, burnt oranges, and even some brilliant inky pinks appeared on the trees. it's startling to see all that gorgeous, natural color!

but.

the baron's love for fall foliage ended abruptly saturday afternoon. reader, she realized that all those pretty, pretty leaves would, in fact, not be staying on the trees.

instead, they would, in short order, fall onto the lawn.

so.

the baron's new attitude is 'screw you trees! drop those leaves somewhere else.'

fall walk with fido

last weekend, last sunday, the baron and the husband participated in 'fall walk with fido'. the event was held at lake artemesia, a lovely scenic spot very near the baron's house. vendors - both for-and non-profit - set up tables in the center of the lake's walk, where goods were sold and free literature was available for anyone to take. the event was meant to bring people and their dogs out for a walk around the lake and to advertise the work of the baron's city committee. and, frankly, if some dog and his owner wanted to buy a gift basket or a canvas bag, or donate to the committee, that was just fine too.





the day was a modest success, though not as successful as it could have been: 'fall walk with fido' was originally scheduled for saturday, but saturday turned out to be a horrible weather kind of day. sunday, though much nicer on the clouds-in-the-sky front, saw fewer visitors, many of whom just happened on the event and decided to stay. it turns out commerce DOES bring people together.

below, the husband and tucker enjoy the weather and the walk.

the baron, for the most part, sat at the registration desk, announcing to all manner of visitors that an event was going on, and were they here for it? even when they looked her square in the eye and grumpily said 'no', she made her pitch anyway. the day was so nice, harlan was so comfortable... what was there to be grumpy about anyway?

below, harlan sits like a king on the baron's lap.

squirrel meets walnut

the baron and the husband have a large walnut tree in their yard. it's a lovely old tree, easily 40 feet high; it's currently playing host to one of the yard's two bat houses.

this tree, every fall, drops A LOT of walnuts, walnuts that litter the yard like the plastic cups on bourbon street after mardi gras. the walnuts are, at best, an annoyance, and at worst, something that might badly muck up the insides of the husband's lawn mower. the dogs are indifferent to them, except that one will occasionally get a shell piece stuck to the bottom of his or her paw, at which point s/he will gimp around the yard halfheartedly licking at the paw in question and giving the baron and the husband a look that quite plainly says, 'help'.

the squirrels LOVE the walnuts. they grub them around in their tiny little paws, using their teeth to peel away the outer shell. once they get the walnut open, they dig out all the meat, leaving a picked-clean empty shell. in the photo above, you can kind of see faint teeth marks on the outside of the shell. they're industrious, those squirrely bastards.

decorate the garden

right now is usually the baron's favorite time of year (when she's living in maryland, anyway), and this fall is no exception. the mornings are chilly, she's pulled out her tights for wearing with wool skirts, the trees are still mostly green but have begun changing colors just at their leaves' edges... it's a glorious and lovely time of year.

one of the things the baron particularly likes about it are the number of special days coming up. her father's birthday is this saturday, and will give her a nice excuse to think of him, maybe throw back a budweiser in his honor. her brother's birthday is at the end of the month, just before (literally, the day before!) halloween. then thanksgiving, which the baron loves for turkey-eating, then christmas, which the baron loves for the snow and the undivided time and attention she gets from her husband.

ahem.

before the baron gets too excited, pulling out the pine-bough wreath and whatnot, let's start with THIS month's celebrations. this outdoor votive holder, below, gets the party started.

welcome to the house

the baron and the husband, until very recently, had 3 wreaths that - depending on the season - they hung on the front door. winter, spring and summer are all well represented, with wreaths of pears, grape vines, pine boughs and the like.

fall was the lone holdout, the unrepresented season. last fall, the baron made a wreath herself, on a wire wreath frame and using autumnal foliage, but it didn't keep very well and was - frankly - kind of ugly. this year, she cheated and bought one from her local craft store, above. it's some kind of berry something or other, and twigs too, so it's very twiggy with berries. anyway, it's a nice way to enter their house... until, of course, you look past the wreath to the dusty dog lounging on the white love seat and her three brothers pawing to get out.

there's a chill in the air, if only

today is the first day of fall, reader, and the baron is happy about this turn of seasonal events. crisp, clear days are coming - the kinds of days that, from indoors, trick you into thinking no jacket is needed. also, fall is the best time for clothes, wool ones and tweed ones and corduroy ones, in browns and greens and yellows and oranges. the pet industry marketing people know this too, and fools like the baron just buy RIGHT INTO IT.

mid-70s saturday, the day the husband came home, was one of those good fall days, cool enough for a sweater, even in the sun. high-70s sunday, less so. sunday's higher temperature didn't stop the baron and the husband, though, from picking up this fall-appropriate item for harlan.



and the close-up.



and, the tag attached to the sweater, the tag that really SOLD them on the sweater for harlan...

saturday, 0608

reader, it is pre-dawn.
it is a beautiful and chilly morning; the moon is still big in the sky.
the baron is awake.
the baron is quilting.
the baron is trying to decide between a shampoo infomercial, a makeup informercial, a "this body stocking smooths your body under your clothes" infomercial, and this movie.
the dogs are asleep all around her, at her feet, on the rug, on the couch.
the husband is coming home today.
the baron thinks it's going to be a good saturday.

chrysanthemums

fall is coming, and this chrysanthemum's flowers have mostly fallen. the baron likes the way spring signals new growth and other hopeful things, but she LOVES fall, especially a maryland fall.