Raindrops on Roses, and Whiskers on Kittens.

Football, Fall Colors, and Apples with Pumpkins.

Flocks of Sandhill Cranes with the wind in their wings.

These are a few of my favorite things! ♫

It’s a month into the school year, and the temperatures are finally beginning to cool off just enough for my ideal running weather. On weeknights, we cheer for New Buffalo sports and the weekends are Michigan State. From birding the fall migration to board games and Euchre nights with family and friends, it’s beginning to feel a lot like Autumn is here. Sometimes the schedule gets ahead of us and we forget to carve a pumpkin, but this year we started early and made not only one, but two Jack-O-Lanterns for the season!

Meet Luna the Llama, a friendly beast of the camel family who enjoys humming to herself while gazing at the stars. We carved her together with the Jagers while visiting for a Michigan State football game. Now Luna has a home in the garden by the birds. We will have to see just how long she makes it from the wandering herds of Grand Rapids deer with a peckish appetite for pumpkins.

Sparty lost big time on their home field to the Minnesota Gophers last week but we still made the most it by cheering them on until the very end. “Spartan teams are bound to win, They’re fighting for a win! Rah! Rah! Rah!” (Once a Spartan, always a Spartan.)

Despite the Spartan loss, we enjoyed some family time with the Jagers playing board games and eating good food while the dogs napped off their walks.

Back home, we prepped our plants with a frost blanket to protect them from the chilly evenings and made a spontaneous decision to carve another pumpkin for our porch garden!

Meet Ollie the Owl, who appears to be a recently hatched Great Horned owlet with tufts of luminescent plumage. Oliver is a true night owl who reads Hoo-dunnits, hoots for Michigan State, and loves Owl-ween!

Still to come are family reunions, pottery nights, and Homecoming Spirit week. The leaves have yet to turn and swirl around us while Sprout closely tracks them from her window stoop. We have pies to bake and new board games to try before the seasons change to hockey and basketball, but now that our pumpkins have been carved, we can feel a little more festive with our Fall traditions!