Alive

     No, not the book/movie wherein the soccer players eat their dead teammates while stranded in the Andes (that's Alive, right?). I'M talking about me. I'm alive. I haven't taken fingertips to keypad for over a month on this here blog, and I'm blaming that mostly on my fun bout of bronchitis-while-pregnant, but here I am now, alive and kicking typing. And not only am I alive, but for the first time this fall (my favorite season...I may have mentioned that once or twice...), the land around me feels alive and beautiful, even as it prepares to enter the sleeping death of winter. For nearly two months our valley has suffered heat, drought, and the choking, stagnating smoke of the Sawtooth Wilderness fire, keeping us all (well, the smart ones at least) inside and longing for cool breezes and rain and the damp earth smell of autumns past. A death that is in so many ways alive. And finally it has has arrived!

   
     We celebrated that earth life cycle this weekend in a way our family has come to love: our third annual outing at the PEAS Farm Fall Festival, where we engaged in fresh cider sipping, pumpkin picking, pig observing, chicken squawking, playground romping and tractor hay riding under a stormy sky.

 Last year at Fall Fest! Look how much my munchkins have changed! 

 Why, yes rugged tractor man who looks like a skinny James Franco, I would like to know more about kale and rye grass and garlic.

I  also indulged in plenty of sweater and cute boots spotting

(look at that adorable yellow hand-knit! I need to learn to knit this winter...) but it is hard to take a person's picture without them knowing it, so, alas, I captured only this one.

     The next day our weekly Sunday drive took us to Garnet Ghost Town, in the Blackfoot River Corridor, where the silence and the chill and the turning of the Tamarack Pines whispered softly of autumn and beautiful decay. And while the baby in my womb kicked and rolled, the kiddos in the back seat giggled and sang, and my husband's warm hand softly tickled the back of my neck, I felt wonderfully, undeniably, alive.

I hope you feel that this fall. 

xo

In-Between Thoughts

In-between designer interviews,  in-between moments of writer and artist and homeschooler, and all throughout them too, my true identity is Mamma. So in-between planning a science lesson and sketching a sewing project, in-between making granola bars and sending emails, I needed to take a Mamma moment here today, with one little one curled up on each side of me, looking at pictures and talking about what we have loved about this fall.

There. That's better.

xo

p.s. I have to give my amazing husband Brian credit for the Halloween costumes this year. He cut, stitched and hot glued our little Hedwig the Owl and Jedi  Knight all on his own while I was in Houston. Not bad, Dad. Not bad.

A Blustery Day

Yesterday was the first truly blustery day we've had this fall. As Laurelei and Riley and I were sitting down to breakfast, we suddenly all got very quiet...our ears perked up (as much as non-canine ears can) and two seconds later we were all running to the open window with a joyous shout of Rain!

The sparse, heavy raindrops fell from a pewter sky while swirling winds blew the top leaves off the trees and those on the lower branches considered turning early just to get down to safer ground. In other words, it was the perfect day to stay inside, don sweaters, and put up Halloween decorations (after, of course, a warm lunch of Chicken Soup with Rice).

Now, for the most part, my decorating tastes run along the lines of vintage eclectic... I also love things that are handmade and homemade and have a story. But when it comes to Halloween, 

I like me a little glitter.

A little glitzy glam.

A little over-the-top color...

and a little dollar-store-level kitsch. 

It is a glitzy- glam holiday after all.

  

The kiddos and I had so much fun sipping hot cocoa and hanging skeletons, making an October calendar and marking the days for the full moon, the Fall Festival we are going to, and, of course, All Hallow's E'en. The whole day felt to me like a kick-off  to my favorite time of year: October, November, December...three months of holidays, all with their own decorations and foods and traditions, culminating with Christmas, my favorite holiday of all.

Yup. I'm rarely sad to see a blustery day. And yesterday was a good one. Hope it was for you too, blustery or not.

xo

Grimm With a Chance of Giveaway

A few weeks ago my big sis texted me to ask if I wanted to create a piece for another group show at Cella Gallery, the art gallery just down the street from where she and her husband live in North Hollywood. I hemmed and hawed a little...I've just got so much on my plate at the mo' (including finding random opportunities to slip British slang into my everyday dialogue)...but when she told me what the show was, I knew I wanted in: artwork inspired by, and actually created on the surface of copies of Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales.

Each artist chose a specific tale to use as their theme and went to work in his or her own style. I chose "The Goose Girl"...

...admittedly less out of devotion to the brief tale woven by Grimm 1 and Grimm 2 than to the much more expansive tale with Grimm roots as told by Shannon Hale, YA author extraordinaire ( I hope that's not cheating).

 The show opens October 8th so I need to get my finished tome mailed off tomorrow, but I wanted to share first. If any of you happen to be in the LA area, oh blogland beauties, I'm sure the show would be well worth attending, as any event at the Cella always is.

Aaand speaking of Grimm Brothers and their curiously grotesque charm, Halloween is fast approaching. Can you believe tomorrow is October 1st? It's almost time to start pulling the box of All Hallow's Eve decorations out of the garage. But first, I think we will have a little giveaway- a handmade Halloween decoration for you:

One lucky reader is going to win this hand-stenciled burlap flag bunting made by me (out of recycled materials, by the way- that burlap used to be sandbags).

Here's how to enter:

1. Follow me on twitter (@amberjunek) and send out this tweet to your tweeps:

Giveaway! Cute Halloween banner on @amberjunek's blog- http://amberjunestudios.blogspot.com!

2. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, come back here and leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite thing is about fall. Be sure to include the link to your twitter account so I can see your tweet. 

That's it!

I will keep the comments open until Sunday evening at about 9pm (MST). Then I'll go through your comments, choose my favorite, and announce the winner here on Monday morning.

See you soon!

xo
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COMMENTS NOW CLOSED
THANKS!

Forget-Me-Not

Whew! I am still catching my breath from this last weekend, which saw me and my bestie doing our first ever vintage market/ junk show together- the first of any kind of exhibiting of my crafty goods I have ever done at all. I will have photos and a full report (I learned so much) soon, but first, I wanted to share with you, oh bloglanders, a really beautiful day my kiddos and I spent together last week; our one last summer hurrah.

I am never particularly enthusiastic about summer's arrival. Fall is my season of choice by far. But there is something magically enticing about that in-between time of year...when the days call for a steaming cup of tea and a sweater in the mornings, but strawberries and bare feet by afternoon.

We had let the smoke from the forest fires keep us indoors for several days, and I just couldn't take it anymore. We needed to get out and I kept thinking of this little spot by Lolo Creek, where the water is slow and clear and the trees on the banks are thick, blocking out the sounds and sights of the rest of the world.
There was a little smoke in the air, but we pretended it was a campfire smell and forged ahead.

The signs of autumn filled the forest: fat grey squirrels noisily warning us away from their winter stores, dried wildflower seed pods still  on their stems, and leaves, half-turned, half- green landing in the water and floating away. But the day was also much warmer than we had expected it to be, and the water was not to be resisted. When rolling up pant legs and hiking up skirts proved to be insufficient, the kids simply took off the bottom half of their clothes and splashed in the water and squished in the mud in their shirts and undies to their hearts' content. And my heart's content.

I never cease to be amazed by my children's natural inclination to explore the world around them and learn from what they observe. The lessons I plan for these outings are almost always set aside and replaced by their own discoveries. And nature never fails to provide. On this day, it was caterpillars that captured our curiosity. We saw several kinds, but mostly, the creek banks were swarming with these little guys:

The Banded Wooly Bear

Which we discovered, to our amazement, can swim! Really, this is not a photo of a caterpillar drowning. We watched this little guy willfully work his way down the muddy bank and into the water, then propel himself out into the current with side-to-side motions, turning his body into a letter C in first one direction, then the other, again and again. The discovery has since sent us on a caterpillar information hunt and we're planning our own caterpillar house, so we can watch the metamorphosis at home. 

The mornings this week have turned beyond cup-of-tea and sweater cold, and I find that I am increasingly glad that we took that day last week to bid summer farewell. Even though I never regret the coming of fall, the memories of summertime call out to me...

xo

Come on Autumn...

Finding comfort today in the coming of fall...in both images and words.

748

Autumn—overlooked my Knitting—
Dyes—said He—have I—
Could disparage a Flamingo—
Show Me them—said I—

Cochineal—I chose—for deeming
It resemble Thee—
And the little Border—Dusker—
For resembling Me— 

-emily dickinson

xo