fall things

10.20.2014

the past couple of weekends have been a fall frenzy: apple orchards, pumpkin patches (or rather, heaping bins of pumpkins conveniently placed at the entrance of country stores), long walks in the woods, leaf piles, bonfires, and after the little one has gone to bed, scary movies. the changing season always makes me a little bit anxious: WE MUST DO ALL THE FALL THINGS!  but with andy in grad school and the shortened daylight, our weekends have been as fleeting as the fall itself - thank goodness october is a long month.  
a few weeks ago, andy and i started a list with all the words august knows. there are rules though because august repeats most anything you ask him to say, so a word only gets added if he uses it on his own, without prompt. also, since we are trying to raise him bilingually, both spanish and english words count and sometimes, the two languages converge in surprising ways. take the spanish word for fruit, for example. now before i go on, a quick lesson in elocution: the "f" sound is a challenging one for new talkers to make. so is the "r" sound. put the two letters together and it gets really tricky. SO instead of saying fruta, august pronounces it as [poo-tah]i will not translate the word, but let's just say that it's not appropriate for a spanish-speaking child's vocabulary. still, august knows what fruits are and he uses the word exclusively to refer to them, so on the list it goes!
speaking of words, the one august uses for pumpkins sounds a lot like "bath time". don't even ask.
THIS is one of my favorite places in the world: the c&o canal. i feel closest to my dad whenever i'm on the tow path and taking august there is like taking him to visit his grandfather. 
when we got home, i raked up a big pile of leaves to play in. august wasn't too sure about it initially and even after i fell backwards into the pile to show him it was safe, he still tensed up and gave a nervous laugh before requesting up! we tried a couple more times together until he got comfortable enough on his own. after that, you couldn't take him away from the leaves. he went well into the evening marching through it, kicking up leaves, and tossing them in the air. he smelled like rotting leaves, and i mean that in the best way possible.
a few more fall things you should check out if you haven't already:

+ arguably the best scary movie ever and it's just as good as the book
+ you can buy this version of my favorite fall treat, or you can just pop some popcorn and toss a handful of candy corn in it. either way, it's delicious
+ some other funny translations from bilingual kids
+ love this family costume idea, now i just need to get andy on board
+ apparently, i'm not alone in finding the nostalgia in the smell of rotting leaves

19 comments:

aburt47711 said...

Wonderful reflections and the pictures are awesome!!

Amy S. said...

What a gorgeous place! And nice that you feel so connected to your papa when you're there :-)
Also...that picture at the top? Love it!

Petra said...

I love the smell of rotten leaves too. and it was one of my favourite things to do as a child, to drag my feet through fallen leaves until I had a pile in front of me that was twice my size. ok, I'm exaggerating a little. but you get the picture :)

gillian claire said...

I am in love with that first photo - oh so lovely!! What wonderful fall photographs. :)

Ursula said...

I don't know if I've ever asked but do you take pictures for a profession? You're so talented. And what a precious son you have (I know I tell you that all the time but he is seriously handsome). That's so cool you're teaching him to be bilingual. I think it's great when kids grow up knowing more than one language and it's probably good for their growing brains, even if a few words become Spanglish :) And no you're not alone in loving the smell of rotting leaves....it's all part of the magic!

Christine Dinsmore said...

ha! oh, that made me laugh so much! hopefully he just doesn't yell fruta very loudly with women standing nearby at the market. these photos are so beautiful. and those apples look amazing! i hope you got a few to take home. xo

emily said...

your little family is so cute! i can't get over your son's hair! so adorable!

xoxo

e

emmyjake

Wild Hearts + Green Tea said...

Wonderful photos! Oh, I wish had all these fun things to do in autumn where I live! Sounds so much fun. :)

lucinda said...

thanks ann! xo

lucinda said...

right?! it's my new favorite photo of those two. ;)

lucinda said...

yes, that and wood smoke! such fall smells, i love how our senses can conjure up long forgotten, yet vivid memories.

lucinda said...

thank you, thank you!

lucinda said...

hahaha! yes, that would be embarassing! those were pink ladies and we took several pounds worth home... for pie, applesauce, and to pair with peanut butter - we're getting our fill!

lucinda said...

hi emily and thank you! his hair is getting long, keeps falling in his eyes. i was just thinking about giving it a cut (his first!) we'll see though because i just love how it curls at the ends.

lucinda said...

thank you, friend and welcome! hopefully you have other cool ways to enjoy the fall, but i'm glad you enjoyed seeing some of it here. love all the recipes (and beautiful photos) on your blog, by the way!

andrea said...

hee, awesome. and i looove that pic of augustin with the pumpkins, he looks so grown up luci! and i hear ya about the towpath.. i wanna bike there with my little family so badly. mua mua!

Erin said...

You absolute cuties. What gorgeous shots of your boys! I do love October, for many of the reasons you already pointed out, although we missed our annual pumpkin and apple picking extravaganza this year. I'm sad about it, but I get to live vicariously through yours!
I snort-laughed so hard at your son's fruit/Spanish curse word mix up. I took French all through school, but every kid learns the bad words of the other languages available eventually ;) He's just ahead of the curve and he doesn't even know it. xo

Fiona said...

ah what a sweet blog you have :) Will make sure I follow, thanks for stopping by mine!

Katie Flood said...

Again, great photos! The one of August with the pumpkins is killing me! You two have one cute kiddo!

 

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