A Word for Wednesday

 "But here, I can help myself. Here, I am looked after.

And maybe that is why it feels more like home than anywhere else has ever felt.

Maybe home isn't a place.

It's a feeling.

Of being looked after and understood.

Of being loved."

~from Dear Emmie Blue by Lia Louis~

A Word for Wednesday

 "Because I know, deep down, I am made of strong stuff.

Rebuilt with it, at least, the way we all are, 

over the years, with age and experience, 

skin thickening, heart softening, patched up double in the places prone to breakage. 

A sum of all the things that have hurt us, scared us, sheltered and delighted us."

~from Dear Emmie Blue by Lia Louis~

A Word for Wednesday

 "'I don't think a girl ever gets over losing her mom.

I'm an adult and it's completely normal and expected for my mom to be dead,

but I still feel orphaned sometimes.' 

She smiles at me. 'But that's just inescapable, right? 

When you lose someone and it still hurts, that's when you know the love was real.'"

~from P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han~

Pumpkin Carving 2021

Y'all. We've been carving pumpkins together for a decade. Ten years of keeping this fun tradition; a milestone that bears a little reflection. 10 years, 5 different homes, 2 states. Going to pumpkin patches, fall festivals, or just grocery stores to find the perfect pumpkins. Picking out fun patterns each year and adding two cuddly dogs to the mix. In looking back over the last ten years, we've decided our favorite pumpkins were in 2017 (the eek! and Hawaiian monster face) with Cody's second favorite being the globe he carved in 2015 and my second favorite being the "boo" ghost I carved in 2016. 

This was our first year in North Carolina, carving pumpkins in the little green house we've been living in down the street from my parents. (SPOILER: We bought a house! Next year we'll be carving pumpkins in our new home sweet home.) This year we decided to go with a black Halloween cat theme for our pumpkins and they turned out super cute.

Here we are with our blank slates. We got our pumpkins at Sam's Club this year, and they were the perfect size for carving.

Cody made us a roaring fire (because we live in North Carolina now and it's cold, y'all), and we had a mini-marathon of Psych Halloween episodes while we carved (Scary Sherry: Bianca's Toast S1E15, Tuesday the 17th S3E15, In Plain Fright S5E11, This Episode Sucks S6E3, for any interested parties).

Cody even carved the top of his pumpkin into a cat head (bottom right).

The glowing finished products. Mine is the cat walking along the fence and Cody's is the black cat under a crescent moon. We were down to the wire this year, carving them at 10:00 on Halloween night but it was the perfect cozy way to spend our first Halloween in the mountains. 

October 31, 2021

Happy Fall, Y'all!