Sheila Schoonmaker

Hey, I can do small talk . . . when it’s about something that arouses my passions.

I like the equinoxes. Only twice a year, we get to experience day and night being about equal in length all over the world. This year, fall starts today in the Northern Hemisphere at 11:44:18 A.M. EDT. Thanks to the earth taking turns, one end of the planet can cool down while the other end warms back up.

Even though I’ll miss seeing the sun shining longer in the day, I do like the calm and quiet peace that comes with earlier evenings. I thrive on seasonal changes. They’re so stimulating!

This past Sunday, when I went outdoors, I was hit with the powerful scent of drying maple leaves. I have no idea why that always makes me feel so good! I’m not a ‘flower’ person, but I sure get excited over colorful autumn leaves! That’s highly evident by the way I made the inside of my house look.

Besides the pleasant surprise of leaf aromas, a pumpkin captivated my attention while I was walking my dog. I wonder if this one particular pumpkin owner, whose house I passed by, would feel too creepy over my asking to photograph the one I saw growing in his yard? There is something uniquely beautiful about each pumpkin I see, but this one is special. How does someone compliment a person on such things without making her feel nervous or him maybe assuming I have an ulterior motive? People are understanding if it’s a photographer for a magazine asking, but one for a blog? I need to exorcize the ‘why must you do that?!‘ ghost which periodically haunts me.

As I’m typing away here in the wee hours of the morning and feeling the temperature dropping, I’m being reminded of something I’ve literally put behind me and have forgotten. It is my desktop. No, it’s not the one on my computer. It’s the one that was on my desk several months ago that I couldn’t decide whether or not to put back, or where to permanently store it, if it doesn’t go back on my desk. The large section is on the floor and the small one rests on the stove. They don’t match, but I don’t care. It is a bit too close to the stove to light it up, huh?↓

Wood Stove

Desk Top

Without this wood stove burning, or the one in the cellar (which is surrounded with even more crap), the house will only get colder as each day draws closer to winter. I know! . . . I’ll chop up the darn thing and put it into the wood stove!