"Delicious Autumn!"

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." -- Albert Camus

For me, this quote rings true each year. My heart is embedded in the fall season. I don't know when my love affair with September-November began. While I was raised in CA, I spent a pivotal five years in New England where I learned to drink up the changing colors and embrace the earth's passage into winter. Since then, I can't get enough of this time of year. I purposefully planned two October babies, adding to the sense of celebration in our home. I love autumn and everything it entails.

I'm not a huge home decorator -- think of it as an occupational hazard. (At the end of the day, does a surgeon want to go home and remove a stray appendix?) So when I do acknowledge a holiday or seasonal change, its done simply, quickly, and with little fanfare. This is what my fireplace mantle looks like right now. I probably wouldn't have done even this much had my 5-year old not requested I "make the house beautiful" for his large family birthday party (I know...he's a creative little soul). To do so, we pulled some silver julep cups and mercury glass pillar holders out of inventory. The candlesticks were adorned with fresh orange mum pomanders, and the julep cups were given a quick mass of fresh rose hips. Throw on a few squash and pears, a handful of votives with twine and voila -- all done.

Following those photos are photos of the arrangement I put together for Kathy's birthday. I don't give a whole lot of flowers as gifts (going back to the occupational hazard), but Kathy is one of my favorite people to arrange for. She's got so much style and appreciates the unordinary -- and I know just what she likes! Her rustic-yet-streamlined flowers consisted of two varieties of roses, rose hips, and green and brown hypericum berries in an unstained wood box with just a little bit of moss to finish it off. The colors reminded me of early fall -- right about the time the leaves have started to change and the old and new colors bleed into each other. Fitting, since both our birthdays are at the end of September which is right about the time that is happening in the canyons.

I love autumn, am sad to see it go each year, and always look forward to its return. And this year is no different.

Happy Autumn!