Falling into place

          I truly love this time of year.  Every fall and every spring I get a new burst of energy and bustle around cleaning and reorganizing in preparation for either a hibernation time (winter) or a crazy busy season (summer).  I thrive on these productive times and try to embrace them while they last.  This month, I've been putting up shelves and unpacking the last of my boxes from my move three years ago.  I don't know about you, but my boxes often sit for a while until I figure out what to do with my memorabilia.  The necessary things get unpacked pretty quickly, then I run out of steam.
          September is also a time to harvest and dry my herbs and dried flowers, make apple sauce and cider from the abundance of apples on this land and start processing the tomatoes.  I don't do as much canning as I did in the past, mostly because I no longer have a best friend to do it with, but also because it is so much work.  Years ago, I was raising children (endlessly) and was able to juggle the canning with my child-rearing.  Now, I have no children in my house and have been busying myself with music.  Given the choice, at this point in my life, I choose the music over the homemaking.  Though, I do still enjoy both.  
          Meanwhile, I've been on a writing spree.  This summer I went to a week-long songwriting camp.  It was an amazing time.  I went from there to the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival for another 5 days.  A few month ago, I started a songwriter's group that has been meeting about once every 6 weeks.  all of this is keeping me inspired, and I've found that the more I write, the more inspired I am to write.  For over a year now, I've been hosting a monthly jam that varies in the numbers of people who attend and the types of music we play.  That has also been inspiring, and I'll take inspiration wherever I can find it.  If we take the time to notice, it's all around us.  Sometimes an overheard phrase will become the fodder for a song, and sometimes I have to actively go looking.  Either way, thankfully, the songs keep on coming.  I've already got enough for another CD, but first I'll get to work on the long awaited children's CD.
          I loved my summer, but it will be interesting to see what the winter brings in terms of weather this year.  I never know what to expect anymore but try to be prepared for whatever comes our way.  Everything is changing, and we'd better be ready to ride it all out.  Living off the grid, I love knowing that whatever storms come, I will always have power, water and heat.  It's such a relief to live self-sufficiently.  As long as there is a sun in the sky and wood all around us, we'll be okay here in our little oasis. And, as long as I can breathe, I will keep immersing myself in my music and writing and will try to keep you posted.