October is my favorite month of the year. Here in the Deep South, the days can still be so warm, the nights can be so cool in comparison( and much to my consternation in trying to determine what my horses need to deal with the weather), and the leaves are starting to turn to the beautiful golds and yellows and even brown. I have that poem by Robert Frost in my head in October:

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

But October is surely that golden period where all things are suspended in autumnal glory. I start thinking about flannel sheets, elderberry syrup, what to make for Christmas, pumpkin bread and pumpkin muffins, lanterns and lights. It’s the best!

These are the festivals that are our anchors this month:

October 4th- Blessing of the Animals and the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi

October 31 – Halloween is my least-favorite holiday of the entire year (Ba! Humbug! LOL), but I love All Saints Day and All Souls Day and those are very important feast days in the liturgical year, so I am looking forward to those days and preparing for those days at the end of this month. 

The little things that make ordinary October days magic:

Playing in the leaves

Apple picking

Pumpkin farm visits

Making pumpkin muffins and breads

Longer nights with deeper and later sleep

Warming foods

Fuzzy flannel sheets

Warm teas

Lantern making for Martinmas

Finding ideas to make for holiday gifts

Things going on – Homeschooling fifth grade! We are a bit behind (of course) and finishing Ancient Civilizations and working through some Geometry. We will be ready to start North American Geography in two weeks or so, so that will be a fun approach. The stories of Ancient Civilizations have been a hit so far, and math through Jamie York’s Math Academy, while perhaps not ideal with online lectures, has also been a hit and a needed help for this working mama to help hold things together this year while I am scrambling to get the last classes in my clinical doctorate completed. We still do the math practice I set up daily and the math practice assigned by the math academy, but meeting in a small group two days a week over zoom has become a highlight for my son to connect with other boys his age being Waldorf homeschooled. We are finally getting some fraction work and long division solidified, and still working on writing and spelling (frustration). 4H has also been a hit for fifth grade this year so far, in a year where nothing is really meeting in person and things haven’t been too fun for a little 11 year old. Our homeschool enrichment days are still meeting twice a week, so that has been helpful (it’s all outside). Our high schooler is in a hybrid high school for outside classes. Our college student is still at college, and getting Covid tested weekly at her university. Other than that, work is busy for me despite Covid-19. I work two days a week in a clinic and see some private patients on the other days and that has been something helpful for our family right now.

In the dwindling days of sunlight, I am also holding on fast to time with friends we can see outside for a walk. I am a bit worried about the social isolation that will go with the inability to meet outside as much due to the weather this winter, and the impending flu season that will hit on top of Covid. We shall see what the future holds. I am thinking of working in some skiing days in a neighboring state, as that could be something different and fun for this year.

What are you up to this glorious October?
Blessings and love,

Carrie