Happy Fall (or Autumnal Equinox)

Happy Fall! Like Mother Nature knows or something, the air turned this week and suddenly, it feels like fall.

I mentioned awhile back how in love I am with the Fox’s preschool. I can’t help myself, there’s something magical about the place.

On Thursday morning, the Fox and I stopped at the grocery store to pick up apple cider. See, his class was having an Autumnal Equinox celebration, and they needed something to drink.

“We celebratin’, Mom.”

“You are? What are you celebrating?”

“De earf. It spins and spins. And then, we get a treat!”

“It spins and spins?”

“Yes! And we get muffins!”

You can’t really argue with that, can you?

Today, he attended the celebration. I was home with MaM, so I didn’t get to see the decorations, but he tells me they were fancy. When I asked him what he did today to celebrate fall, he told me he celebrated the equinox, and he made a bird feeder.

“How did you make a bird feeder?”

“I take de icing and put it on my pinecone. De birds like de icing!”

“Did you roll it in birdseed?”

“Yes. They like birdseeds too.”

So welcome, autumn! The fox and his friends are ready for you. *

 

And for those of you who need a refresher on what, exactly the autumnal equinox is, I defer to Wikipedia:

An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth‘s axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth’s equator. The term equinox can also be used in a broader sense, meaning the date when such a passage happens. The name “equinox” is derived from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night), because around the equinox, the night and day have approximately equal length.

At an equinox, the Sun is at one of two opposite points on the celestial sphere where the celestial equator (i.e. declination 0) and ecliptic intersect. These points of intersection are called equinoctial points: classically, the vernal point and the autumnal point. By extension, the term equinoxmay denote an equinoctial point.

An equinox happens each year at two specific moments in time (rather than two whole days), when there is a location (the subsolar point) on the Earth’s equator, where the center of the Sun can be observed to be vertically overhead, occurring around March 20/21 and September 22/23 each year.

Although the word equinox is often understood to mean “equal [day and] night,” this is not strictly true. For most locations on earth, there are two distinct identifiable days per year when the length of day and night are closest to being equal; those days are referred to as the “equiluxes” to distinguish them from the equinoxes. Equinoxes are points in time, but equiluxes are days. By convention, equiluxes are the days where sunrise and sunset are closest to being exactly 12 hours apart.[2][3]

Life in 600 words or less

You’d think one of the snowiest Indiana winters on record would lend itself to blogging, but not so much. Mostly I’ve spent this winter chasing after the boy, who is growing every single day. He’s talking a mile a minute, obsessed with cars and it’s really hard to be in a bad mood when he’s around. I don’t think I’ve documented his life here as well as I have MaM’s, which is sad for me, but probably in ten years he’ll thank me for it.

Here’s the thing — I have been blogging a lot, just not here. I’m posting almost daily over at Persephone. It’s a lot of fun to be part of blog that churns out 15+ posts per day– a little insane, but very fun. What’s more fun is that I’m working virtually with two friends from college (Selena and Sara B.). Today’s kind of a big day over there because one of our writer’s had a post picked up and cross posted by MSNBC. How cool is that? The general audience at Persephone, I’m learning, is about 10 years younger and 90 degrees more liberal than me, but I’m loving it anyway. People probably envision me as a little old grandma posting my posts via passenger pigeon, but they’re very polite about it. Here’s a post I wrote about my minivan, and the conversation continues into the comments.

I’ve also been writing articles about once a month for Savvy Source in addition to my weekly city guide duties. It’s been great fun, and I won’t lie– I love and respect that fact that Savvy Source pays in actual money for the work that I do. It’s novel, and it’s appreciated.

The other things that’s been taking up time (in a good way) is my actual part-time job — I’ve been with BoxCrush now for several months and I’m loving it. It gives me ways to geek out that don’t come up in my every day life, and I get to be around grownups (who, as a bonus, are friends) and I am learning a ton.

So, I’m working Monday and Thursday, getting Savvy stuff done on Tuesday, getting posts up at Grown in My Heart monthly, and spending some time doing Persephone tasks daily.

And this week? Tomorrow? I’m going to the statehouse to take part in a round table discussion with Lt. Governor Skillman. I’m excited to see the panel of bloggers assembled, and I’m excited to talk about the issues with Lt. Governor Skillman. The topics of education and healthcare seem to be high on everyone’s list. Let me know if there’s a topic you’d like for me to bring up, if you’re reading this in the next 24 hr or so!

So that the boy doesn’t feel slighted, I’ll leave you with a conversation we had today:

“You take me down and Daddy picks me up.”

“”I take you down?”

“To my rainbow day.” (that’s what he calls the two days per week he goes to daycare)

“I drop you off at rainbow?”

“Yes. And daddy picks me up. And MaM.”

“That’s right, Daddy and MaM pick you up.”

“And you. And Daddy. And MaM. And me. That’s my family.”

“That is your family.”

“I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too buddy, I love you too.”

MaM and the boy at the IMA in January. Don'y you love his hand in his pocket?

This Was the Year…..

That at some point, both children warmed up to the guy in red.

That I got over my fear of making sugar cookies.

That we trekked out on a snowy day to cut down our own Christmas tree.

That we made most of our Christmas ornaments (many with applesauce & cinnamon).

That both kids really like playing the snow, wherever we were.

That MaM was geeked to help with stamping the Christmas cards and wrapping gifts. She also got into hiding gifts for her dad and brother. “They’re in my dresser drawer, Mommy, because they won’t look there.”

This was the year…

That MaM explained Christmas to Junior through song, quoting “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” almost daily as Christmas approached.

That Junior became obsessed with The Grinch, and “his green hands!”

That we watched The Wizard of Oz together during a cold snowy night during the week before Christmas.

That I showed MaM what my Little People Dollhouse looked like when I was a girl, via gingerbread (part of this year’s display at Conner Prairie).

That we played in Jolly Days, and Celebration Crossing.

That MaM discovered Cole Porter during her “Mom and Dad” day during the week before Christmas.

That MaM got dressed up as an angel for the 4:30 Children’s Mass.

That the four of us took a second to take a family photo (we don’t do that often enough….perhaps a goal for 2011 in the making…).

Ah, it’s been a good long run, this Christmas Season.

Merry Christmas (a few days late) and Happy New Year,  Friends!