I especially love not having to set the alarm clock and drag my unwilling carcass of a self out of bed. I love lazy mornings with no where to be.....I love waking up with the sun shining in my eyes through my window and I love laying in bed with my eyes half-open just watching the dust motes dance along the sunbeams. I love not having to jump out of my warm, cozy bed....but being able to schooch over to my man and snuggle up with him all sweet and sleepy.....and our puppy usually joins the mix....rooting around until she earns a snuggle too. Lots of sweet and loving conversations during our snuggle time....and usually some giggles too.
I love padding to the kitchen in my pajamas and sock-feet to grind the coffee......not just the single cup I make on work-mornings.....but a decadent whole pot! I love the smell of the fragrant, rich coffee brewing...it fills my entire house with such a wonderful aroma! I love making breakfast on Saturday mornings....no cold bowls of cereal for us when we're home and nesting!! I usually make biscuits, bacon or sausage....gravy, sometimes pancakes...sometimes hashbrowns. This morning, I made vanilla chai scones.......and OOOH! the way they smelled when they were baking knocked my socks off!!! I love being able to cook for my husband! Few things make me happier than seeing him enjoy something I've made for him.
I love sitting on the couch and leisurely sipping my coffee in my pajamas....usually with a soft, fuzzy throw or quilt thrown over my lap. We will watch some mindless TV....cartoons are my favorite....but sometimes we watch educational shows too.....Steve's especially fond of the History Channel. This morning, we followed along with the rise and fall of the Roman Empire while I savored my steaming mug of coffee (and Steve had his steaming mug of Irish Breakfast Tea). Sophie snuggled beside me.... and during the commercials, I was able to check my email and browse recipes on pinterest on my iPad.
This morning, we decided to go for a motorcycle ride......the temp was 34 degrees when we woke up at 7:30am...and there was a cool mist clinging low to the ground. I'm not sure if we had our first frost....I didn't see any on the grass.....but it was a cool, crisp morning. By the time we enjoyed our breakfast and coffee in our pajamas, it had warmed up to 60 sunny degrees and the sunlight was that beautiful golden color that it turns only in the Autumn of the year. The sky was a clear, deep turquoise blue and the trees are just beginning to show the first blush of autumn orange and yellow....but they are still mostly green. We suited and booted up and rode along through the countryside, seeing the world filtered through that golden sunlight.
I know I've said it a thousand times before....but I honestly LOVE living in this part of the country. There are so many, many places I haven't yet seen....but of all the places I have seen...this is definitely one of my all time favorites. I love riding along the backroads, seeing farms stitched together with fence posts and I love seeing the cattle and horses romping and playing in the fields. I love seeing the big bales of hay and smelling the slightly sweet, grassy smell of dried straw. I love it when the air on my face is cool and refreshing and even when my hands got cold, I was able to put them between me and Steve and they were warm and toasty in no time. I love riding on the motorcycle with him because I get to hold onto him the entire time. It's a lot more intimate than riding in a car.
I love watching the leaves dance on the breeze.....there aren't many leaves falling yet....just a few. Give it a few weeks and there will be piles and piles of beautiful, crunch leaves everywhere....but for now, there are only a few early bloomers to give us a hint of things to come. We drove by a stream and the sunlight was twinkling on the surface of the water......the sunshine was dappled on the mossy green banks, sheltered by the tall trees, standing sentry along the water's edge where their deep roots can be nourished. Mossy rocks break the flow and contribute to the musical sound of running water.
My eye searches out the old barns in this area.....the more weathered, greyed and leaning, the more charming to me! I love seeing hay stacked in the lofts, seeing animals wandering in and out and seeing trusty old tractors sitting, ready for plowing, planting and harvesting. I don't know what it is about barns, but they stir a sense of comfort and safety in my heart. I think of warmness, safety and hay....and inevitably, manger-scenes. Maybe that's one of the reasons I'm so drawn to them....our Savior was actually born in a barn! Ha! Never made that connection before! But it makes me smile!
There are also lots of silos around here...usually near the barns. Of course, I've never seen inside one, but I like to imagine them filled to the top with fresh, golden grains.....ready to feed the horses and cows and ready to be ground into flour and meal and cooked into cornbread that is carried into the dining rooms to round out big country dinners!
I also love to see big, old stately trees.....and I like to imagine how long they've been standing there...what all they've seen over the years....what birds have nested in their branches, what deer and livestock have sought shade underneath......maybe a little rowdy boy climbed up in his cowboy boots to scout out the pretend badguys! Maybe a little girl swinging from a rope swing on a low-hanging branch with her dolly on her lap and her little patent leather shoes and white shocks gleaming as she pumped her little legs to swing higher. I see all of this in my mind as we drive by.......
One of the sillier things I enjoy seeing is a field full of goats. Goats crack me up!! They are so comical and they tend to be very into frolicking. (Anything that frolics steals my heart!) They kick up their heels and run on a whim! They look like unlikely beatnik poets with their pointy goatee beards and the baby goats (kids, I suppose they are called) are just so stinking cute!! Every time I see a group of goats, it makes me smile.
I love seeing deer when we are out and about too. I didn't see any today when we rode, because it was near noon and the deer are much more likely to be active nearer to dawn and dusk. Every time I see deer in a field.....it reminds me of God's provision. I know it sounds insane, but it's like a sweet little whisper from God, reminding me, "See, I take care of the deer in the field....they have everything they need ...how much more do I care for my children that I made in my own image?" It's like a little secret thing between me and God.....and every time I see them, it makes me feel blessed and I whisper back a little prayer of thanksgiving for my daily provision and abundant blessings.
Today, we saw lots of fields of dry corn stalks.....a lovely autumn sight! And today I saw a field full of pumpkins on the vine! Big, happy, fat, orange pumpkins!! I wonder if the owners of that farm sit out in their pumpkin patch on Halloween, waiting for Linus's Great Pumpkin!? We passed house after house all decked out with haybales, scarecrows, pumpkins, gourds, rakes, bright orange/red/yellow wreaths and pot after pot of mums. Houses with stacks and stacks of firewood, getting ready for the winter months. Some of the houses had fires going today with puffs of fragrant, grey smoke merrily wafting from the chimneys and it made the air thick with that spicy, smoky scent of burning wood that's so enticing this time of year.
It was such a lovely day. We came home and had a picnic of honey-ham with smoked mozzarella sandwiches in the living room and then I took a lazy nap on the couch! We have plans this evening to go out with some friends to a jazz festival and silent auction. I'm excited, as we don't tend to go out socially very much! I always enjoy going out though! I have on make-up and a dress, even!
I guess what I love about the weekends is the lack of obligation.....the lack of schedules and rules and timelines. I love being lazy, I love going for rides and walks and just being with my loved ones and having the time to snuggle, really talk and listen and to plan and dream. I love the chance to rest and not have to solve any problems or make any decisions....there is a lack of responsibility on the weekends that's so appealing!! Thank goodness for days of rest!!! :)
