It's 2:02pm and I just sat down to lunch. Other than a quick trip out to the doctor, I've spent today at home waiting for another FedEx package. It was a loud morning, and I have appreciated the peacefulness since.

The leaves on my sugar maple that have started to turn golden are falling like a lovely foliage rain. I'm watching them as I slowly chew hearty bites of massaged kale, walnuts, dried cherries and roasted potatoes. It's an interseason salad; it's fitting for today.

A pork and beef ragù is simmering on the stove, nestled by my old Staub's trustworthy walls. Sometimes I wonder what you can count on more than cast iron. I like that about my Staub, which is why I have several.

Although the sauce has been cooking for nearly an hour, it remains in the "vegetables melting into the meat fat" stage which is to say, it's still in the nascent stages of what will become a savory ragù. It's not there yet. But it smells so good in here, and this netherworld is nice. It smells like cool fall days which, in this interseason, isn't quite right, but it's close enough.

Because of the FedEx uncertainty, the boys are getting a ride home from school. Tuesday is early dismissal day. They get off at 2 which I don't understand. Why not 3:15 like every other day? I love the extra 75 minutes that Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays provide. On Tuesdays, I feel a bit cheated.

I cannot wait to see them, but I am also not ready for them to get home. I suspect I have roughly seven minutes left. Seven minutes more of quietly chewing and quietly stirring, quietly watching the leafy rain and quietly able to hear the pets snoring softly. Seven minutes more of quietly being with myself and my own thoughts.

I don't like saying goodbye to all that until tomorrow, even though I welcome warm, wriggly boys who adore me and whom I adore. I don't like feeling this countdown even though it also leads to laughter and kisses. But it's there, like leaves falling on a hot day and half-cooked ragù. And there is magic on the fulcrums in and around life. It's just harder to find on some days than others.