September Coffee Talk

If we were having coffee today, I'd ask you if you could believe today is the last day of September already? I can't! This month has flown by in a flurry of canning and gardening, that's for sure. The end of summer is always so bittersweet for me. I mourn the lazy, hot days of summer but I'm secretly excited to see canning season come to an end. It's so exhausting, and while I love cracking open a jar of our homemade salsa in January, I won't miss the late nights hovering over simmering pans and boiling canners.

If we were having coffee today, I'd tell you how I absolutely adore this time of year. The air is so crisp and clean, and I will use any bit of coolness in the air as an excuse to wear my brown riding boots and layer on a cozy cardigan. Even if I end up sweating an hour later.

If we were having coffee today, I'd tell you how I am overcome by the desire to feather our little nest in preparation for winter. Yesterday I had all the windows open and cleaned the house from top to bottom. And then I made a huge batch of Ina's Stuffed Cabbage, followed by a pear tart with homemade caramel sauce. It was exhausting, but it felt so good to sit down at the end of the day and know that we could start the week with yummy food in the fridge, clean clothes in our closets, and a nice clean house. It felt very Laura Ingalls Wilder-ish and wifey. I kind of loved it.

Speaking of homemade caramel sauce, I might have gained five pounds last night just by licking the spoon. I used this recipe by Ree Drummond and used whipping cream instead of half and half because it's what I had on hand. And why not? It was insanely good.

If we were having coffee today, I'd tell you how nervous I was to start the 31 Day series tomorrow. It's hard and scary and weird to share so much of myself with an internet full of strangers, and I'm worried that I'm setting myself up for failure and that no one will read it or that everyone will think it's dumb. Writing for 31 days is going to be hard, and I'm hoping it's going to be the good kind, the push myself farther than I thought I could kind of hard. Hopefully not the what were you thinking, that was a terrible idea kind of hard.

If we were having cofee today, I'd give you a big slice of that pear tart with caramel sauce. Because I really need to get this stuff out of the house before it disappears from the refrigerator, one huge spoonful at a time.