Theoretically fall should be my favorite season

Warning, whine coming:

If your birthday is in the fall, it is supposed to be your favorite season. If your daughter's birthday is in the fall, it should be multiplied; and if you add one grandson's birthday, well how can it not be your favorite season?

How about because it means winter is coming and the days are growing shorter? How about if it means wearing more sweaters and heavier clothing? What about there is no logical reason? I mean I love fall colors, even prefer wearing them or winter to spring and summer colors, but where it comes to fall itself, I do the best I can to feel positive and get through it. This year it hasn't been making it easy.

It began with a fall (not the seasonal kind) while out helping Farm Boss move some wallboard. The sheets were long ones and much heavier than I am used to lifting. We had done maybe ten or so. I was lifting my half and backing up to slide it onto the slowly growing pile. I felt the back of my boot connect with something very solid and immovable-- turned out it was a pile of lumber.

Why was that there? I thought going down. Not good that this is a concrete floor, came next. Once I was flat out, I thought-- no broken bones. I can sit up. Why was that pile of lumber there? Glare at Farm Boss but the real problem was me. I hadn't scoped out what was around me. Nothing broken was the good news. Pulled back muscles were the bad news. Two weeks later into... fall.. and my back still hurt.

Stretch it out. Do more of the same thing (in short unload the rest of the panels), exercise, says Farm Boss. It isn't a big deal.

Wait, I say, was it a big deal when you hurt your shoulder two or three years ago?

That was different.... It always is.

Fall was off to a typical start. Next came something I haven't had for years-- salmonella. I think it came from some bad crab cakes and led to gastro something or other. Whatever it was, it was not good. Worse, whenever I upset my intestinal system that way, it takes mine awhile to get itself back in balance.

At that point, my back hurt and my abdomen. Is this old age? Shouldn't it all be better by now? Are you feeling sorry for me yet?

Add to it this fall political scene where every time I turned on the news I heard some hateful person spewing out fear or anger at my candidate and me for supporting him.

It was clear that there was only one thing to do-- comfort food. Cooking is one of my simple pleasures. Not gourmet style but just simple cooking. Pour a glass of wine, put on some music and put together something tasty.

Blackberries were over for the season, but the apples were ripening nicely on the tree. There are a lot of yummy healthy desserts you can make with apples. First I made an apple pie... actually two, just to see how it would go. Then an apple cobbler. Good but not the equal of the pies. I plan these cooking forays carefully so that Farm boss can take all but one piece each into work for those who work there. Apple pie isn't all that easy to transport and I began to remember another apple dessert very fondly.

When I was growing up, my mom made apple turnovers. They were so good. I more or less gave them up at the age where I needed to be slim. Do I care about being slim anymore? Not that much especially when mental health is at stake.

I never really had learned to make them. How hard could it be? My mom's always looked so beautiful and held together well. There were no recipes in my favorite cookbooks; so it was innovation time. It's one of those things where you know that if you put the ingredients together, they will be delicious even if they don't look great-- but looking great was one of my goals.

The whole process of making turnovers is pleasurable starting with going out to the trees to find some perfect apples. These are not sprayed trees; but that's healthier in my opinion. Careful coring and watching for the worm holes means no problem with worms-- even though my dad used to always say that a worm inside of fruit is the same as the fruit. Yeah right.

Bragging just a little, I am pretty good at pie dough. I know to make it flaky requires a light touch. Because I was making quite a few doughs, I decided to find out if more water would make it easier to hold them together. Yes, it did. It did because it made it tougher. So learned something and definitely not doing it again. Back to light touch.

To add to the ways to make fall better this year, there has been going out to the nature refuge and watching the birds. On Sunday, there were more geese than I had yet seen. The flocks coming in would descend rapidly and then look for a parking place rather like I feel when in Portland.

I have been enjoying working with my camera with both sky and land photographs. The birds, the fire in the fireplace, me, other people, you name it and I have been taking pictures of it.

One of my main pleasures through fall and winter are frequent fires in the fireplace. Right now it's especially good as the heat feels great on my back; so does watching the flames to my spirit.

As my final mental health tip for making the most of fall, I am watching lightweight movies on DVD, like the latest Indiana Jones. Not the greatest of them but it was an evening of not thinking (other than Harrison Ford sure looks a lot older. He's my age. What does that make me?). Other recent choices have been seeing the last two Shreks again, comedies, other kid movies, yep, they are the ticket for a few laughs and not thinking.

Despite all of that, my blood pressure was higher than it should be, but that apparently was not so much due to the nasty election but instead to the nasty fall when I began taking Ibuprofen to help my back. I had learned last spring that Ibuprofen raises some women's bp. When I stopped it, even though the election and bad news is not over, the numbers went back to more or less normal.

It has been a harder than normal fall with this election and how much meanness it has brought out. I still have hopes that it will end on a positive note. Naturally that means when Obama is elected president. I also hope his grandmother is going to be okay; but if not, that he gets the time with her that he needs.

More election stuff coming in future blogs. Boy will I be looking forward to the time when there is no more of it to write about! There are so many things to think about that are much more fun and better for the blood pressure. I will not be giving up my favorite lightweight or heartwarming movies though (I think The Notebook is on for tonight). I need those until after the Solstice when the days begin to grow longer.

Update even before I published this: I forgot another help for my mood during this election season-- The Daily Show. Laughing. Yes, that's good medicine. Catch this series of clips if you don't regularly get to see Jon Stewart. There are three and you just click on one after the other as he explains what being a real American means, what it's like in Wasilla, and provides a test to help you know if you are a real American. Clue: if you were watching Daily Show, you are not-- What the Pfot!. Yes, it's funny but probably not to Michelle Bachman. If you don't know who she is, definitely watch all three of these videos.

Geese, heron and egret photos taken at William L. Finley Wildlife Refuge.