Say Cheez!

Say Cheez! is a personal lifestyle blog written by a female therapist (that's me…..Brenda) living in rural Eastern Montana. This blog is all about blooming where you are planted and pursuing what makes you happy. For me, happiness includes travel, adventure, food and attempting to navigate mid-life challenges with humor and grace. Whether you are a return visitor to the blog or visiting for the first time, welcome home. I've been waiting for you!

Labor Day: An Annual Reset that I Love

Happy Labor Day weekend! I am looking forward to a three-day weekend and getting summer end chores done around the house, as well as a season end barbecue and watching college football on television. I am tired of my potted flowers so I might throw them away. I have kept them alive since June and frankly, I am tired of keeping them alive. This weekend always fills me with childhood memories of summer ending and the school year about to start. I remember perusing over my new school clothing and supplies, eagerly waiting for Tuesday to come so I could get back to the school routine and see my friends. The Labor Day Jerry Lewis MDA telethon was on one of our two television channels and I tried to pass time listening to Casey Kasem holiday countdown of the top forty songs in United States. I loved Casey Kasem closing every show with “Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars”.

I like the fresh start that Labor Day signifies. It is like a mid-year reset as we move away from the warmer weather to cooler weather and the holidays. Labor Days as a child were spent with my family collecting firewood in preparation for the upcoming winter. It was always fun to load up in my dad’s truck and head into the mountains to cut wood and haul it home. Mom usually packed a big picnic lunch for us and we would head out for the day to soak in the final rays of summer sunshine and get covered in saw dust. We spent hours driving and running through the forest cutting and gathering wood, as well as wildflowers, rocks, and any other treasures we could talk my parents into letting us haul home.

This weekend was also one that often included my mom canning and preserving food for the winter. Mom was an avid canner, and I remember lots of counterspace taken up with peaches, pears, relishes, and dilly beans “popping” as the seals took hold, and the jars cooled. I always took it for granted that our pantry was full of canned fruits, jams, vegetables, and pickled treats. Mom included her canned goods in family dinners and holiday meals. This was truly a labor of love as she also had spent the summer growing the items she canned or picking and / or paying for the fruits she did not grow such as peaches, chokecherries, and pears. We had close family friends growing up who had an apple orchard in the Bitterroot Valley and this was the source of applesauce and frozen apple pies. The orchard bordered a bass pond and I have fond childhood memories of fishing, picking apples, picnicking, and ice skating in Hackett’s apple orchard. So much fun!

My Labor Days today look different than they did growing up. Frankly, I am thrilled not to have to go to work on Monday and I no longer spend this weekend gathering firewood. My mom explained to me years ago that canning was stupid when you could buy canned vegetables for $ .75 a can, and she was right. I no longer have kids in the house who I am getting ready for the school year. I still like soaking in the late summer sunshine and the feeling of seasonal change in the air. If we were not starting a big renovation project over the next couple of weeks, I might be more vested in my Fall and Halloween decorating, but I plan to pace myself through this process. I am just happy to have a day off work.

Whatever your weekend looks like, I hope it is full of everything, everyone, and memories of Labor Days past that fill your heart.

Say Cheez!
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