Fall is upon us

[dorchadas]

There's a chill in the air and we've had to bring out the heavier coats. Right now it's 23°C and sunny outside but a couple nights ago it got down to 1°! This next week will be warmer but it's probably the last gasp of summer.

Last weekend we went out to visit my parents for dinner, since wanderluster_kp was going to be in town and then gone for months, probably until April or June. It was basically like Thanksgiving, with a turkey and mashed potatoes and pie for dessert. We learned that Laila is truly my daughter, because just like me she hates mashed potatoes. When some of her other food fell into the mashed potatoes, she whined and tried to pick it out instead of just grabbing handfuls like she does with other foods. I hated (and still hate) mashed potatoes too and my parents told me they had never heard of a baby who didn't like them. Well, now there's two. Maybe it's genetic.

The other thing we did was take a trip to the Morton Arboretum, since the year is waning and there's not going to be many good weekends left that aren't too cold and have good leaves. It looks like we went just before the peak fall colors but the weather was lovely and I got a lot of nice photos, especially of the Human + Nature exhibit that sashagee really wanted to see after missing the trolls. My favorite picture was taken by someone else for us, at the piece entitled "Basilica":

But I took quite a few more photos:



First, the other Human + Nature art pieces:

Gingko.

This one was right near the entrance, with tables around it and people waiting to take photos nearby. I wouldn't have noticed it without sashagee going over to take a photo. This was probably my least favorite piece since it really wasn't placed in nature.

Sentient.

This is about the diversity of human features, but I admit that all I could think when I looked at it was "Biblically accurate statuary." אל תירא (al tirah, "Fear not!")

Umi.

This was one of my favorite sculptures we found. Umi is apparently from the Arabic أمي, meaning "mother."

Heartwood.

The whorls and rings in between the halves were really lovely up close.

Mycelia.

This was my favorite statue, partially because of the surroundings. The other statues were mostly in open areas, or at least clearings, but this one was right in the middle of the forest. So much so that we had a hard time finding it--to save sashagee some walking we drove near to it and then my parents waited in the car with Laila while we tried to find it. We went too far originally, however, over a river running out from a small lake, and then had to double back to a small unmarked path into the forest in order to find the statue. We never did find a sign, since apparently the arboretum staff never thought of anyone coming from the other way, but this was the part of the arboretum with the best fall colors.

Speaking of fall colors:

Most of the trees on the east side, where we started, still had their green leaves and hadn't really started changing, but this was one of the most brightly-colored trees we found.

I'm spoiled by the もみじ (momiji, "Japanese maple"), which has a brilliant red color so emblematic of Japanese fall that the kanji for momiji, 紅葉--literally "red leaves"--nowadays is mostly pronounced kōyō and simply means "fall colors." The Japanese word for leaf-viewing is 紅葉狩り (momijigari, "Hunting for Japanese maples"). It's just not the same here.

Even the ivy was getting in on the action at bit.

I wish that iPhoto Live photos translated to posting on the internet. The leaves moving in the wind is very soothing.

And finally:

B-A-B-Y
Sitting in a tree
P-L-A-Y-I-N-G

Though honestly, she was mostly just feeling the bark. It's very different from the bricks that she usually loves to feel.


Definitely know I'm getting older when I look forward to family trips to go leaf-viewing!

Monday evening was the beginning of שמחת תורה (Simchat Torah, "Celebration of the Torah"), the day when we finish the very last part of דברים (Devarim, "Words", Eng: Deuteronomy), and roll right through into the first part of בראשית (Bereshit, "In the beginning," Eng: Genesis), in an endless circle as we've done for thousands of years. Before that, though, is the singing and dancing. Some people hold Torah scrolls and rest of us dance in rings around them, and we did that this year too with the addition of a baby! I was a little worried that Laila would be scared or irritable, what with several hundred people packed into a room and a klezmer band playing while we danced, but she loved it. She was smiling and looking around and very happy for the first five הקפות(hakafot, "encirclements") and then she got very tired, so we left and took the bus and the L back home and put a sleepy baby to bed.

Laila did get to meet another Laila there, who was a month younger than her! Our Laila really wanted to give her a hug but other Laila was much more bothered by all the noise and people and didn't want to be touched. We definitely don't have a shy baby.

This was also the last weekend of the farmer's market. I got some more apples, pickles, eggs, and vegetables, ran into aaronhparker and one of his friends, got more Sfera arancini for dinner and dealt with a mixup, and then went home.

Tonight, my parents are coming over to babysit and sashagee and I are going to see Wardruna! I went with her to see KPop, so she's coming with me to see folk metal. Hopefully she likes it. Tomorrow, meowtima is back in town for the first time after moving to Pittsburgh for work, so a few people are going to Indian food together. Then Sunday we'll be resting, because we'll probably need it.

Comments

[weedpizza]

Really lovely photos! I love leaves, especially when they turn color in the Fall!



And thanks for the mini Japanese lesson! Very interesting! I've actually been thinking about trying to learn.

[dorchadas]

Thank you!

It's a fun language. The writing system is horrible but it does allow for a bunch of good jokes.

[gwendraith]

Super photos! Little Laila is very cute and growing up quickly, looking like a toddler and not a baby.

[dorchadas]

She's walking by herself! Sometimes--I think by now it's a self-confidence thing, or maybe she just wants us to keep carrying her. When we take her to the park and she sees all the other kids running around, she tries to practice walking much more.