Autumn always makes me feel a little melancholy, especially days like today when the cold air is tempered by brilliant sunshine, and there's a tiny breeze lifting up the papery leaves strewn about. Autumn typifies transition to me, a state of being I've never been fond of. Too much unknown, too much anticipation for what may come, too much longing for what has passed.
This entire year has been transitional for me: a marriage, a move, a job lost, a job returned, a baby. And then there has been my baking and this blog. So many new experiences and so much floundering. I feel lucky to be living my life.
Being able to bake this summer, to go each Sunday to the farmer's market and sell pastries and talk with people has been an immeasurable joy. My favorite moment of the summer was when a woman buying a bag of apricot jellies lingered to tell me about a candy store that used to be in Ottawa, where every creation was handcrafted. She described layers of taffy and oversized candy canes and her delight in all. As she described all of these remembered moments, she was clearly transported back to her childhood and I was there with her. It was magic. And this is where a little fruit, a little sugar, and a bit of craft can take you.
I was planning to finish up my season with the last two weeks of the market, but my life seems to be getting too full to manage everything. My sincere apologies to those of you who I told you'd see me sometime during October. I hope you'll understand. And thank you, thank you, thank you for stopping by my booth on Sundays. I can't even tell you how much I've loved every minute of this experience.
I will be continuing to blog here, so I hope you'll stop by. And I may be back to the market next fall.
For now, to take the edge off autumn melancholy and the cold air, there are pumpkin doughnuts. These are basically this recipe, but I swapped out half of the flour for spelt flour, and for the topping I used a mix of white sugar, date sugar, with a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg.
