Although our anniversary was in August, I surprised Ashlee this weekend with this painting done by our talented friend Briana Sullivan. Our living room looks so much brighter now!

They have a certain curvature of the back

– a graceful arc under perfect 15-year-old skin.

This arc is the result of many sunny hours of youth

spent indoors under the soft glow

of computer screens.

This is a new bending of a line –

a new curve in a season where curves appear.

But this flawless arc is a darker symbol than the blossoming of youth.

It’s a defense, an escape, a quiet act of surrender

 to a life that provides stimulation in mouse clicks

and lonely words on lonely walls.

Outside the world burns and beckons

and the stars on a October night miss the gaze of youthful eyes.

But everywhere there are these arcs — fallen trajectories,

perfect skin pulled taught

over a bent and bowed frame.

And the quiet sounds of mouse clicks.

Friday was the last day of moose season, and while I never got the big bull I was hoping for ( I did get a 1/3 of a moose I helped butcher and haul out of the swamp earlier this year), I spent the evening in the beauty of the mountains. The end of moose season is such a bittersweet time. In the ebb and flow of the year, that last crisp day of September is sort of admission that winter will soon be here.

Below are a few pictures: