Date Weekend, CX Style

We spent the weekend in Walla Walla, along with many members of our "cyclocross family"--i.e. the folks from all over the Inland Northwest who brave rain, snow, wind, and, rarely, heat, to travel long miles for an hour or two of suffering.  The weather was classically unpredictable, true to cross style, but we did catch a glimpse of fall color.  

Even though the venues are the same, each time, each race, is still unique.  Life gets in the way, so it's a different mix of "regulars" each time.  The courses change.  The weather changes, often several times in a day!  This year, my husband and I are feeling even more a part of the group.  People know us, they asked where are son was, and they laughed and teased us when we said we were on a date.  I didn't have to be the mom up at 4 am--though there was one of those!--and we could sleep in late.  Awesome!  We got to act like grown-ups and go wine tasting and have a nice dinner out.  We bumped into other friends at breakfast.  All of us are on different trajectories, from college students to empty nesters.  But we all do this crazy thing every fall and support each other.

Of course, the only thing about being "known" is that people are starting to ask me when I'm going to race....   

The Edge of the Season

We went to our last Farmer's Market of the 2012 season.  For me, the end of market truly marks the turning of the year from one into the next.  Each of the last seasons have been unique.  I read a blog post once (and if I could remember where, I would cite it!) that said having a child takes you out of the comfortable life you've created for yourself and moves you to new, uncharted, and much more turbulent, territory.  The emotional highs are higher, and the lows are far lower.  I would add that each year is also a new adventure.  You're getting to know a new person, and they're getting to know themselves.  They learn to do new things, and you adjust your roles and your relationship.  Your relationship with your partner, and your family as a unit, also evolves.  I've gone from wearing my baby, to pushing the stroller, to having him follow me as we go about our Saturday morning market routine.  This year, for all but about two Saturdays, we biked to the market and loaded up the trailer with our produce for the trip home.  Next year, will he be riding his bike alongside mine?

Our Indian Summer is over now, and we are really into fall.  We had our first fire in the wood stove this morning to take the chill off the night.  We are at the edge of the old season.  We are at the beginning of the new.  I'm a little sad, because this year has been so great.  So many fun adventures, so much laughing.  

So it helps to remember that the adventures are not over, and time is really more circular than linear.  We can't always see what's around the next corner, but we often circle back to places of familiarity, even amidst change. And if we're really lucky in life, we have a great circle of friends with whom we can share the adventure!

Finding our way out of the University of Idaho Corn Maze at dusk...lovely!

The Colors of Fall

Once, when she was here at the end of summer, my mother remarked "these are the colors I know how to paint."  She said this as we drove around the Palouse.  A Kansas girl, she meant, of course, the gold of the wheat, the blue of the sky, and the white of the clouds.  Today the clouds were more grey than white, but in the morning, the clouds occasionally gave way to bright spots shining down like gold on the fields.

We spent the morning at Bishop's Orchard in Garfield, WA.  Red and gold and green.  As my four year old neighbor reported, the "apples have glitter on them" -- drops of rain leftover from last night, the first rain we've had in three months. 

Honestly, fall, when we have it, is there anything more delicious?