Remember September

September is a time when summer yields forth its bountiful harvest, the air begins to cool to a delightful crisp, the leaves start changing their colors, and children go back to school. When we were little, my mom would have us sing a playful song, "Remember September."   Today more than ever, I have begun to see how truly relevant its title really is.  It seems that the commercial world would have us skip right over September and get onto Halloween. In fact, some stores by the end of the month have even clearance marked their October flare to make way for Christmas.  Its unfortunate because of how much September has to offer.  That is why I am grateful my mother always made sure to  celebrate this first of the autumnal months.  

With my new goal to revel in the richness of each season, I made a list of my mother's main September traditions, adapting them if needs be to my own preference and circumstances.

The first one I will tell you about is the advice to 

Eat Lots of Apples! 

        Perhaps it is its association with Back to School that earns the apple its place as the honorary fruit of September, or just the fact that it is in season and therefore you can find apples in abundance at stores and farmers markets.  Either way, one of the best ways to celebrate September is to enjoy apples.  

FRESH APPLES

 Its fun to pick some up at local fruit stands, or, if you live where apples are grown, some orchards offer apple picking where you can go select your own right off the tree.  

CARAMEL APPLES

 I also love buying caramel apples from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory! They have so many varieties and are delicious!! This year I thought I would try making my own, however. The caramel recipe below works great to dip these apples in because the caramel stays relatively soft. As a result, you won't pull any teeth out trying to eat one! After heating the caramel sauce, I stuck large skewer sticks in freshly washed apples and then dipped them in the sauce. Then, I set them on a lightly greased plate (or parchment paper works) to dry.

           

HOT APPLE CIDER

Combine a 64 oz. container of apple juice, 2-3 cinnamon sticks, 1 tsp. cloves, and 1 tsp. nutmeg in a large stock pot. Bring to a boil and then simmer on low for an hour or more. It makes the house smell delicious too! Or, stores sell many delicious kinds that come ready made. All you have to do is heat it up!

APPLE SPICE CAKE (from MARTHA STEWART)

My sister found this recipe several years ago in a Martha Stewart magazine, and it has been a family favorite ever since. I served my cake this year after a delicious dinner of warm, homemade chili to make the perfect autumn meal!

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 3 to 4 Granny Smith apples, cored and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (3 cups)
• 1 cup chopped assorted nuts, such as pecans and walnuts (optional)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Caramel Sauce (see below)
• Nonstick cooking spray with flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 12-cup Bundt pan with cooking spray; set aside.
2. Working over a large sheet of parchment paper, sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; gather sifted ingredients into center of sheet; set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine vegetable oil, sugar, and eggs; mix on high speed until lemon yellow.
4. Fold reserved parchment in half lengthwise; with mixer on medium speed, gradually shake in dry ingredients until just incorporated.
5. Add apples and, if desired, nuts, to batter; mix to combine. Add vanilla, mixing until incorporated.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 75 to 90 minutes.
7. Remove from oven, and cool slightly on a wire rack.
8. Invert cake onto rack; turn cake right-side up to cool completely on rack, and serve drizzled with caramel sauce.

CARAMEL SAUCE 

• 1 cup light-brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

Directions

1. Combine ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until thickened to desired consistency

                            

        My mother would also teach us about Johnny Appleseed in September, and read us story books about his life. Did you know he was a real person? We would also have fun coloring and crafting things that had to do with apples. My son is still a little too young for crafts, since he's only nine months old, so I got some fun things for a young girl I baby sit. 

Happy apple-ing!

All Seasons Sweet To Me

Roald Dahl once said, “Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you,  because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”

My mother is one of those people who believes in the magic.  As busy and demanding as her schedule is, being the mother of eight children and now a grandmother to fourteen, she has never lost sight of her ability to celebrate and relish the simplest of life’s pleasures, to draw out the wonders of each and every day, and to see the extraordinary in even the most ordinary of things. 

In turn, my mother always worked hard to instill those same abilities in her children.  That’s why at our house growing up, January didn’t just mean the month after Christmas or snowy days when kids go back to school. Instead, it meant warm snowflake-shaped pancakes, learning about polar animals and ice crystals, and snuggling up for storytime with books about Jack Frost and wintery wonderlands. Just as summer didn’t mean lazy days when children’s minds grow dull with video games and idle pastimes. Instead, our summers came alive with magic as my mother aimed to inspire and expand our young minds and spirits by turning each week of the summer into a different adventure, complete with crafts, books, field trips, activities and special treats! There was an “Under the Sea” Week, a “Creatures of the Night” week, an “I Believe I Can Fly” week, and even a “Back to the Days of Pooh” week.  With each, she would introduce us to culture, music, literature, and prose, while encouraging our imaginations to run rampant  and our curiosity to thrive.  For my mother, you see, time-honored traditions are not just reserved for holidays, but for nearly every day of the year.  “I wanted to fill my children’s lives with wonder,” she told me once, “to teach them to revel in the richness of the seasons, to experience life to the utmost and to cling to the magic of childhood.”

All grown-up and a mother now myself, however, I found one August afternoon that I had started to forget how to cling to that magic. I had recently graduated with my Masters degree, and expected to have a lot more time on my hands to enjoy  being a stay-at-home mom. However, somewhere between the diaper changes and around the clock feedings,  I felt busier than I ever had before, and stared at my ever lengthening to-do list with a feeling of discouragement.  There just always seemed to be so much on my plate and as my focus turned to all that needed to get done, I quietly mourned the fact that the coming Fall, a time of year I used to look forward to with immense anticipation, had begun to lose its luster amid the mounting responsibilities.

That's when I looked at my beautiful son playing on the floor. Watching him,  I thought about the newness of his little life. The world still held so much wonder for him, so much magic in the simplest and smallest of things and I realized how easy it is as adults to let our days be filled with only the humdrum of to-do’s.  I needed somehow to get back to those childhood days- to learn to see again the wonder and glory of each passing day and season in the way I did as a child. In the way my son did now. And most of all, I wanted to ensure that my son’s beautiful sense of wonder wouldn’t fade. I needed to safeguard it, to nurture it, to expand it, in the way my mother always had with mine.

I knew just where to turn. Calling my mom on the phone she shared with me the insightful words of Rachel Carson:

"A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement.  It is our own misfortune that for most of us, that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood.  If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder...he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in."    

There was a pause over the phone, as if to let the wisdom of those words sink in, and then she said, "Start now!  Don't wait until your to-do list is done, or you have more time, more kids, or more money. Take your little boy by the hand and set off on the adventure of  'rediscover[ing] with him the joy, excitement and mystery.' Relish each day, savor each season, focus on the beauty and wonder that is to be had.”

My mother’s counsel breathed new life into me, and hanging up the phone I knew just what needed to be done. Starting this September, I would begin by incorporating my mother’s traditions into my own life- to fill my home and heart with her language of ritual and celebration, to draw out the wonders of each passing day and to savor the sweetness of each season.  

    And I hope that as I embark on this journey of re-awakening my “inborn sense of wonder” that I might help to inspire not only my son, but others, to hold onto their childlike wonder and sense of adventure. And most of all, to believe in the magic.