cough, sneeze, shedding trees

I finally finished knitting a pair of socks!  A simple slip-stitch pattern made it an easy project, and it was a great way to show off autumn-colored variegated yarn.

Midway through the second sock, I was tired of juggling the slip-stitch pattern on the bottom of the foot with the slightly different slip-stitch pattern on the top, so I decided to go for straight stockinette (the sole on the left in the photo below).  There's no difference in fit, although the slip-stitch sole on the right makes for a more squishy and warm sock.  In the name of expediency, I don't mind the difference!

Besides knitting, I've also been doing a little baking.  There's nothing like a pumpkin muffin on a cool fall day.

Would you believe that I have baked a pumpkin pie nearly every single day this fall?

I'm all for secretly-healthy desserts that you can eat in bulk, and this pie fits the bill.  A one-quarter slab is about 190 calories, which means that even eating half a pie in a day is fairly guilt-free. The original recipe is from Chocolate Covered Katie, but I've modified it to our tastes.

The BEST Crustless Pumpkin Pie

2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon cardamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/3 cup white whole wheat flour
1 can pumpkin puree
1/3 cup raw honey
1 egg
1 TB vanilla
1 TB oil
3/4 cup soy milk

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Mix the wet and dry separately, then mix together.  Bake for 35 minutes and let cool completely.

It only takes a few minutes to throw together, and it's so spicy and creamy that it's the perfect way to top off a meal.

I've had a lot of time to knit and bake lately because I've been sick with a bad cold or virus for almost two weeks, and Todd has been sick as well.  There's been a lot of laying around, watching T.V., trying to feel festive in our Halloween socks.

I hate missing this hiking time, because it really is the best time of the year to be outside.  Perfect cool weather, trails are less crowded, and the trees are just beautiful.  I couldn't bear to stay inside yesterday and dragged myself to a local park while Todd languished on the couch in a Nyquil-induced coma.  Some leaves are just beginning to change...

...and others are already a kaleidoscope of color.

It was great to get out for a few minutes, but with days of rain in the forecast and dropping temperatures, I hope the leaves will still be waiting for us when we're recovered!

I was looking at some photos of a recent hike and noticed this sycamore tree with its peeling bark.  When I was a kid, there was a massive one in a yard across the street.  I loved everything about it:  the numerous trunks twisting out of the base, the dangling bits of bark, the leaves with just a bit of fur on the veins, and the 'helicopter' seeds that were so fun to play with.  So why does this particular tree have this sort of bark?  What purpose does it serve?

Well, apparently it's a hotly-debated topic.  The obvious answer is that rapidly-growing trees have to shed the exterior bark that can't keep up with the growth, much like a shedding snake.  Or perhaps it's a deterrent against fungus and insects.  Or it's a photosynthesis aid, allowing the tree to take in energy without leaves.  All good theories, but there are exceptions to each.  The truth is, no one knows exactly why sycamores shed.

It's somewhat interesting, but nothing compared to what I found when I started doing some general reading about the tree itself.  Apparently they're famous for their longevity (living up to 500 years but becoming hollow after a couple of centuries) and their girth (up to 25 FEET in circumference!).  One website said that in colonial times, hollow sycamores could accommodate up to 15 men on horseback, somewhat implausible but technically possible.  Sycamores can become really, really big, and I was delighted to read that the world's largest sycamore tree stump is right here in the Hoosier state, measuring 57 feet in diameter ("Too big to fit inside a photograph!!").  Apparently this stump was once made into a novelty photo booth that could hold up to 24 people...maybe the "15 men on horseback" is not so crazy after all!  Here's an odd, poorly-shot video of it if you're interested.  Bonus:  footage of "Old Ben," the world's largest steer ("So large that his tongue filled a dishpan!!!").  We may have to take a side trip to Kokomo to see this in person...if we ever recover from these awful colds.  Meanwhile, we're going to lay low, drink our Nyquil, and hope that Tabitha will share a quilt with us.

Have a great week!

triple-wraps and scaly caps

This is my favorite time of year to hike.  The air is so crisp (I've determined that the absolute perfect temperature is 55 degrees) and although I have to double- or triple-layer because I'm always cold, it's so worth it.

It's not just the temperature.  The outdoor colors are so deep and rich.

Our leaves are just beginning to get a tinge of color, but sometimes you'll see an early-turning maple and get a sense of things to come.

Everything is slower and more quiet.  It's just perfect.

The spring and summer has a more obvious, showy beauty, but I think there's a lot of be said for this season's offerings. 

And there's still life, of course.  We usually see at least one berry-bearing tree or bush on a hike, which provides a great pop of color.

There are still gorgeous mushrooms around.

I came across a group of Pholiota squarrosa this week.

These shaggy scalycaps, as they are informally known, were once considered edible, with a sharp radish-like taste.  Now, however, they've been deemed poisonous, "especially if consumed with alcohol."  The see-sawing of mushroom recommendations is a little worrisome to me, so I'm sticking with the grocery store varieties!

A Fowler's Toad (Anaxyrus fowleri)came across my path last week.

They've been described as having a "sheep-like bleat" but I will let you be the judge!  For some reason, the male's mating call attracts both male and female toads, but he has a special "Whoops!" call that warns males attempting to mate with him that they've made a mistake.  Females lay up to 25,000 eggs in spring or early summer, so as you might guess, Fowler's Toads are pretty common!

I didn't realize that snakes shed their skin so late in the season, but I came across a clearly newly-shed snakeskin last week.

Apparently snakes shed several times a year to accommodate growth.  Problems with shedding from an incomplete shed can cause too many layers, especially around the head/eyes, and can cause blindness.  This snake didn't seem to have any trouble!

Some long-gone spider made a little nest in this leaf.

Some caterpillars, especially leaf roller caterpillars, will make webs in leaves, but it's usually just a small pocket. 

I'm looking forward to more near-daily hikes as the weather gets cooler.  Borga loves it!  It's funny, we never do family pictures...just random dog-holding pictures when we're out on a hike. 

We even did a city dog walk (and obligatory pics) this week.  Borga got her own glow-paint! 

The cats, meanwhile, are staying busy in my quilts.  I'm pretty sure they think I made them specifically for their comfort.  :)

Have a great week! 

predicting worms as the season turns

Only three more days of hot, uncomfortable weather and our temperatures will drop down into the low 60s for the foreseeable future!  We've still been hiking every few days, but I noticed something interesting yesterday.  It was a close, humid morning with heavy dew, and we were absolutely assaulted by mosquitoes.  One of my favorite books is Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible, and it brought to mind a passage where one of the protagonists stumbles through clouds of mosquitoes, being bitten repeatedly, feeling the poison of the diseases they carried enter her body.  Now I can say:  me too!  I was really surprised at their number, considering the lateness of the season.  I did some research, though, and determined that a nice stretch of wet weather, followed by a hot spell, can actually cause them to mature more quickly.  That's exactly what we've had, so it's weather tailored to their success.  Mosquito weather!  Thankfully, they go dormant at around 50 degrees, so they won't be an issue much longer.

Despite the fact that I was unable to stand still for very long to photograph, I was able to capture some interesting things.  I love the pattern on this tree.

These grooves in the wood are caused by burrowing insects, like bark beetles. I think it's so pretty.

Who do you think left this little package in our path?

Deer scat is fairly recognizable, but that's the only wild animal scat I know by heart.  However, there are lots of clues here.  The size and shape (small, narrow), the color (dark), and the obvious contents (seeds) give plenty of information.  Taking into consideration the seed-eating animals that live in this area (coyote, possum, fox, raccoon), I was able to determine that this is raccoon scat.

I'm seeing a lot more caterpillars now as well.  This brown-bordered owlet caterpillar has clearly been feeding on this plant, gathering energy for the next stage of its life cycle.

I've seen both the striped and yellow woolly bear caterpillars, too.

The dew was so heavy that it almost flattened the hairs on the yellow one!

I've heard a lot about these caterpillars being able to predict the weather, that you could tell by the width of the stripes on the striped woolly bear how hard the winter was going to be (the wider the center stripe, the tougher the winter).  There's actually a woolly bear festival in Ohio, where they have a parade, caterpillar races (!!), and a winter predictor caterpillar in the spirit of Punxsutawney Phil, the famous Pennsylvania groundhog.  It's all good fun, but truthfully, the width of the center stripes just shows how long the caterpillar has been eating.  The more it has eaten, the wider the stripe.

I've seen the usual mushrooms...

...but this was a new one for me.

Its unusual shaggy shape made it easy to identify:  a bearded tooth lion's mane fungus, a culinary delicacy!  They tend to grow out of oak or beech trees, and their presence indicates heart rot, or rot at the tree center.  Those who collect them note their location, because they return to the same spot year after year.  I'm still not confident enough to eat foraged mushrooms, but this one is considered fairly safe, since no poisonous mushroom has this distinctive shape.  If you aren't sure but love the taste, you can actually order a grow kit online!

Seasonal berries are now fairly bright red...

...and patches of colorful leaves are seen more frequently.

You can still find late-season flowers, though!

It's a great time to be outside.

Have a great week!

top drawer, sycamore!

It's perfect weather to be outside!

Even though it's still in the low 80s all week, mornings and evenings are delightfully chilly.  I'm loving the outside, but the inside has been a bit of a struggle.  I'm used to decorating for fall with seasonal fabric, pillows, art, and bedding...with leaf garlands, pottery, wooden bowls and candlesticks, and huge bouquets of leaves...

I can't forget all the pumpkins and other miscellaneous decorations!

But we've gone from a 4,000 square foot house to a tiny apartment.  We'll be back in a house next year, but for now, everything is in storage:  the fabrics, pillows, bedding, decorations...all packed up.  Even if I could access it, there just isn't space for it here.  The table we're using for meals is one of the FIVE tables that used to be in my craft room.  There isn't space for big leaf bouquets and fancy centerpieces.  Instead, I tried to keep it simple this year:  a small ceramic pumpkin, a colored ribbon around a plant pot.

I put up a few small wooden signs, and bought some velveteen and paper flowers to spread around.

Now that it's October, I'm slowly incorporating Halloween.  The little ceramic pumpkin above was a repository for daily fall jokes on post-it notes.  But now, the jokes are held in a plaster model of my own teeth that somehow made it into one of our apartment boxes!

I bought some Halloween socks...

...and we'll be ready for our scary movie marathon...31 scary movies in 31 days!  We started early.  :)

The leaves are slowly starting to turn, and I will be bringing some into the apartment when they really start going...somehow.  In the meantime, we're exploring the local Sycamore Trust hiking spots.

Sycamore Trust is a non-profit conservation organization that covers all of southern Indiana.  They say it best: "We manage active restoration projects, monitor wildlife and plant health, and build trails on certain public preserves for health and enjoyment." There are 12 nature preserves within 20 minutes of where we live.  They are mostly small, with a few miles of trails that wind through meadows and forests...perfect for an after-supper hike.   I love seeing the usual seasonal sights...gnawed nuts...

...colorful fungus...

...and an array of late-season webs and spiders (look away if you're spider-averse!):

Even this harvestman, while technically not a spider, is getting into the action.

Happy fall!