“Pumpkins, Pawprints, and the Pause Before Winter”
There’s a small window between the last leaf fall and the first frost — that quiet in-between moment when the pumpkins are still on the steps, and your dog has officially taken over porch patrol. It’s not quite fall, not yet winter — and maybe that’s why it feels so peaceful.
The porch becomes a stage for slowing down.
The air smells like woodsmoke and wet leaves.
And if you stand still long enough, you can almost feel the rhythm of a season exhaling.
Inside, you might be making soup or lighting the first fire of the year. Outside, your pup watches the world go by — mail carriers, squirrels, a few brave trick-or-treat decorations hanging on. It’s the kind of moment you don’t plan; you just notice. Porch Life, after all, is about noticing.