First leaves of fall

September Light

Fall in Portland

It seemed like we turned from summer to fall on the 23rd, amazingly on schedule with the calendar.  It happened overnight...I went to bed in the summer and woke up in the fall.  That is how it felt.

It's fall now but it's still glorious outside.  Wonderful weather for walking and sitting on the porch.  It's cool enough at night to need blankets but still have the window open and it's a bit chilly in the morning.

Late afternoon sun in the back yard

the front porch

I need to get out on that porch now.

History and the kitchen

I love details about women's history.... how women worked and lived in the past.  I've been watching a tv  series on YouTube called the Victorian Kitchen.  It's about working in a kitchen on a big estate in that era (sort of like Downton Abby but with none of the intrigue and more focus on the cooking).  In the show, they actually prepare different sorts of meals in a real Victorian kitchen.

Victorian Kitchen episodes

It stars a woman who started life as a scullery maid in such a kitchen and became a cook.  As she cooks, she shares stories from that time in her life.  She was actually working during a post-Victorian time, but apparently kitchen life on big estates stayed the same well past the actual Victorian period.  For example, they continued to cook using wood fires even though gas cook stoves existed.  Their was a distrust of cooking with gas; they thought it would somehow taint the food.  And it was the servants who did all that hard labor anyway so there wasn't much motivation to make life easier for them.

There is another show I like even better about cooking in England during World War II, with rationing and such.  Did you know that one of the first foods that became unavailable in England was the onion?  Imagine how difficult it would be to cook without onions.

Unfortunately only a few episodes of that show are available.  Here is a link for the Wartime Kitchen episodes.

Wartime Kitchen and Garden

We've been watching another show about England in World War II called Foyle's War and there is an episode where someone gets really excited about an onion, which I didn't understand until I learned that onions were mostly unavailable then.

When I'm Sixty-Four

I am going to be sixty-four soon.  Soon enough that I've already opened my birthday season, meaning I've already started celebrating.

None of the traditional milestone birthdays have seemed momentous to me.  This one does.  The Beatles song "When I'm Sixty-Four" keeps rattling around in my head.  I think that song must have imprinted on my brain when I was a sweet young thing.

When I'm Sixty-Four

I feel like there is before Sixty-Four and after Sixty-Four.  I don't think working should be part of the after sixty-four scenario.  I have a sense that time is very precious.  I've reached that time in my life when I wonder if this is the last time I will do things.  This is probably our last house and probably our last kitchen.  I have friends who say it is like that for them, too.

Antique drawer slides

We have this great old cabinet we bought in an antique store in Newburyport Massachusetts.  That was when we lived in our first house in Massachusetts.  It's lived in every kitchen since that house (this is the third one).  

It has these amazing drawer slides made entirely of wood.   I've never seen drawer slides like these anywhere.  You can see the drawer slide in operation here.  It makes this wonderful creaking noise when the drawer opens and closes (I also like the squeak of old screen doors).

Here is what they look like with the drawer removed.  Note the wooden rollers.

And here is what they look like removed.  See all those wooden rollers.

Northwest wildfires

There are several large wildfires burning in Oregon and Washington and the rest of the Northwest.  It's usual to have some fires late in the summer but it is particularly dry and unusually warm right now.  I check the fire news and the fire information all the time right now.

Northwest fire map

There is a bad one very near Sisters.  The smoke in Sisters must be horrific.  They've closed the Pacific Crest Trail in the area.

Pole Creek Fire near Sisters

This one is near Mt Adams and near several of our favorite hiking and camping spots.

Mt Adams fire


So far none are very close to Portland and mostly the wind doesn't carry the smoke this way.  But today it smells a bit smoky in Portland.  And last week it smelled pretty smoky when we went for a hike in the gorge.  It scared me to see how dry things are.  I think if I had seen anyone smoking a cigarette I would have tackled them (yes, people DO smoke when they hike).

I worry about all the places I love becoming charred for years to come, maybe for my lifetime.