Halloween snuck-up on me like a ghoul in a haunted mansion, catching me in a post-vacation stupor. The 31st is extra special around here, because not only is it one of my all time favorite holidays, it is also SB’s birthday.

This year I would have liked to have done something more in the flavor of the holiday, but we were out of sync with the world. We didn’t have costumes, we didn’t have any party invitations, we didn’t have any firm plans. We improvised with dinner (sushi) and a movie (Zombieland). It was a great, full day, but not as joyous and celebratory as I would have liked.

It was a reminder to me that we are still strangers in our own city and that things are not as they were before we moved. I’ve already started thinking about next year, about starting on costumes and even hosting a party. I don’t want to let another Halloween jump out from a dark corner.

Brrrr… suddenly it is cold. My winter clothes are still packed away. Just last week I was wearing sandals and now I’m desperate for wool socks. My home office thermometer is reading 64 degrees inside and it is a gray, blustery day out my windows. No sign of the mouse since last week. Maybe it was just passing through….

I’m looking forward to fall and winter this year. There is something pleasant about bundling-up, about wrapping yourself in warm clothes and marching out into the cold. Maybe it’s time to knit myself a new scarf.

Fall is also the time for apples and pears, which means apple crisp, pear crisp, apple cider and hot, spicy drinks. The flavors of fall are cinnamon and ginger, bubbly and hot.

Now that I’ve driven away the few followers of this blog by posting only five (5!) times in all of 2009, I’m back. Sorry for the extended silence.

At the beginning of August our house in Atlanta finally sold. Yay! There’s no longer a constant, house size weight bearing down on me everyday. I can once more think about other things and really start living the life I have here in Madison. We lost a bit of money in the whole deal, which will take a while to recover from, but at least there is a true end in sight and it is now within our control.

So what now?

To start with, I bought a new camera. It arrived yesterday and I’m just starting to explore all the cool things I can do with it. Over the next while I plan to post more photos and blog more about normal life.

After we returned from Atlanta, Madison summer arrived in full with sailing, gardening, bicycling, farmer’s markets and summer dresses. Summer in Madison is the Madison I most missed and now here I am once more.

This year we joined a CSA run by two brothers, who started a potato farm when they were kids. http://www.driftlessorganics.com/ They offer an every other week share, which is just right for the two of us. Our second box comes tomorrow and we just finished eating the first box. Seems to be just the right volume for us. In our first box we got:

• spinach
• arugula
• lettuce
• green onions
• green garlic
• broccoli
• purple potatoes
• kohlrabi

We supplemented the share with sugar snaps, cucumber, asparagus and strawberries. All from the market. I made a couple cold salads, one being a kohlrabi, arugula and broccoli slaw and one being a cucumber and sugar snap asian salad. Yum!

Speaking of food at the market, we’ve also been enjoying incredible cheddar from Hook’s http://www.hookscheese.com/. Strangely, we first discovered Hook’s cheddar in Decatur, GA at Sun in My Belly. We loved it, but didn’t realize it was even a Wisconsin cheese. Then we saw their stand at the Farmer’s Market, adding fuel to our list of great Wisconsin things. Try the five year cheddar if you have a chance.

Lola and I have been loving the changing seasons here in Wisconsin. Going to the same dog park every week for a year, has really shown the huge diversity of seasons we have, all of them with their own beauty. It is amazing to stand in the same spot, up to your knees in snow and six months later be up to your knees in flowers. You might just have to take some time to roll around in joy.

I wrote this post on May 29…but for some reason never published it…

Home buyers stay home if it rains in Atlanta. In fact they seem to stay home if there’s even a chance of rain, a hint of rain or seemingly a cloud in the sky. It has been a rainy, cloudy 2009 in fair Atlanta. Mix that with “our current economic situation” and it means the house shopping has been slow, painfully slow.

Being up here in Wisconsin, and wanting so much for our house to sell, I’d started to second guess our decisions. Maybe we were stupid to have bought the house we did, maybe it isn’t as nice as I thought it was, maybe we were totally out of our minds while we lived there….maybe, maybe, maybe…..

After visiting, and staying in our house, I can say, once more with confidence, that our house is fantastic. It is super cute, a great size and layout and in beautiful shape. It is just the house we want, if only we could take it with us. As a neighbor said to us, “You just need to keep the faith.”

I returned from Atlanta with my faith renewed and a restored fortitude to face the fickle home buyers of this summer. It was tremendous fun to see all our friends and family, to stay in our lovely house and to road trip in our new car.