Snow, Pinecones, Knitting and Other Good Stuff

Our days lately have been a delightful mix of busy-ness and quiet times.  In theory this time of year is our "quiet time" - the time of year when the pace of our life slows down naturally due to the change of season and...I'm forced to admit, in large part, due to the shorter days - one just can't work as much outside when it gets dark so early.  For me this is a good thing,  I'm the sort of person who needs external forces to slow me down (I'm working at learning this on my own). I feel pretty much "done" at the garden for this year,  certainly there is more I'd like to do but I am content with what I managed to get done before the snow.

The garden is mostly all tucked in - some under fall rye, some with garlic planted and mulched, some with a blanket of chopped leaves and some, very sad indeed, with no covering due to lack of rain to sprout the rye seeds and very hungry birds (who ate up all the unsprouted seeds).  Still, I'm pleased with how it looks and I've still got lots more bags of leaves to compost with manure that can be added in the springtime
(or next week if the weather cooperates!).  I'm looking forward to seeing loads of worms under this leaf covering come spring and really realizing how much of my love of gardening comes from the joy of building soil.

 

So with gardening come to a close that leaves me with a lot more time for relaxation, rest, rejuvenation...OR...

knitting!

And decorating for winter.  And baking!  Musn't forget baking.

(E finally got to make us some caramel apples - he has been wanting to do this for ages)

Actually I love all these things and find them very relaxing.  Over the years we've managed to whittle down our holiday preparations to the things that are most important to us and it makes this time of year much more enjoyable for us.

(E's first mini snowman of the year last week)

On our afternoon walk earlier this week we started collecting pinecones and greenery for our decorations - it wasn't quite the same as the last two years (where we lived in the woods) but I think we'll easily manage to find enough greenery in our neighbourhood to decorate our home.

Usually at this time of year I do a big clean up before decorating, this year I've been going a bit further than usual.  For several months (ahem) I've been working on the virtue of orderliness (you can read more about these virtues in Pace of Grace  or try doing some virtues picks on the right sidebar of this website - I love these cards and find them extremely inspiring ).  Orderliness does not come naturally to me and so what I had thought would be a 3 month virtues pick is still with me.  ;-)  At any rate, it means that my usual pre-holiday season clear out has taken on a deeper meaning.

I've been continuing my work on decluttering but also focusing on putting what's left (as well as my habits and our routines) in order.  And since I like to always include some fun in any project I take on, I'm making sure that decluttering remains interesting and leaves me with a feeling of being productive.  Hence...

trying to use up as much of my thrifted yarn stash as possible in each gift I make. ;-)

I also have plans to us up the rest of my felted sweater bits to make another one of these patchwork quilts.  This one gets used constantly and with four of us and a cat there is always someone wishing we had another.  And so this month is passing quickly as we work towards being Orderly before our busy time next spring.