Fall's Trotting Closer

So the fair is over and Autumn is on his way. It's still in the eighties around here, and that's warm, but it is a totally different kind of heat compared to June or July. It's almost September, which even the most skeptical of us have to admit is fall's first breath, and it shows. In June eighty degrees is an angry heat. It's intense. But yesterday after a trail ride with Merlin, even though I was driping sweat and in full sun, it felt a little careworn, that sun. I did drive down the the river to jump in afterward and cool off, but the water was *just* cold enough to be a harbinger of what's ahead and as I sat in a cool pool along the riverbank, reading a book, a yellow leaf floated right onto my thigh. I picked it up and inspected it like a message, which indeed it was. Fall is on the way.

The farm is getting ready at her own pace for winter. I have wood to chop and stack, hay to order, and snow tires to purchase but there's still a few months left before the last gasp of the Days of Grace and I feel like I'm in honest shape for it. I have sheep for sale and such to reduce the herd size and hay needs. I recently got paid a small installment of a book advance and was able to use all of it it to catch up on the mortgage and that allowed a sigh of relief I just can't emphasize enough. Things are tight, but on the mend. That is good news for certain.

Fiddle Camp is Saturday and I have two days to prepare for it! Folks are coming from Canada, the Midwest, and all over the northeast. I have sixteen fiddles in my dining room to tune up! Tomorrow is all about those fiddle, mowing the lawn, and getting the farm ready for company. I'm excited to get people started with their first fiddle, as that is always a hoot. To see somone show up with no idea how to even hold the thing, to open that case for the first time in solid awe of the beast, and then by Sunday afternoon be performing a song and dedicated to practice. Fiddle Camp is a grand event and will probably start to happen here every Labor Day weekend (or close to it) as long as folks are interested. A smaller version will happen this March, so if you are interested in that and learning with a border collie in your lap by the woodstove - email me to reserve a spot!