Here it is, fall already.

I wish I felt happier about that turn of events.

I love the fall, but this year it has felt like it came upon me suddenly, and both my children have birthdays coming up, which means they’re getting older, which means I feel all nostalgic and weepy, because I want them to stay little & adorable. And yet, I still hate it when they wake up too early in the morning and fuss at me. And of course I want them to grow up, healthy & strong. So there you go — the everlasting internal conflict of motherhood.

Plus, I am also now forced to admit that it has been months since I last posted on the dear old blog here. An entire season has gone by! How did this happen?

Let’s just pretend it didn’t, and it’s still summer, and there’s no first grader’s homework sitting on the table, and no alarm set for 6:30 in the morning so that I can make sandwiches and smoothie juice before the true chaos of school day mornings sets in.

This summer, there was playing pantsless in the driveway.

A trip to the Yuba River.

Where someone made art out of stones on the bottom of the riverbed.

There were airplanes. Lots and lots of airplanes.

One memorable trip in First class, which I had never flown before and might not again, but it sure was nice.

Beauty.

Family.

Baby Bowie, in a category of his own.

Penguins & shaggy hair.

Delight.

The fine art of getting wet.

Emry rocking his neoprene shark onesie “power suit.”

Ordinary moments in cities far from home.

Which somehow seem more extraordinary.