pass the mustards

 We're deep into late fall here and I love the saturated colors.

(one of many deer that we're seeing in the fields in the early evening!)

Some recent rain has helped move the season along, but we still have those deep mustards and muted rusts that make the landscape so interesting in October.  Sigh...the colors and dark brown patches where the leaves have fallen are so dreamy and atmospheric!

Such a wonderful time of year, air so delightful and crisp that we're still sleeping with our windows open...holding morning "staff meetings" on the front porch...

(Todd seen here with our director of "cat"-alogue sales)

Strawflowers are still bright in the garden...

...and unbelievably, my climbing roses are putting out a final flush of blooms.

It's still warm enough to go hiking with friends...

...and find insects burrowing in spent blooms...

...but cool enough to justify lazy hours on the couch, curled up in a quilt with a good book and a homemade English muffin dripping with salted butter.

Recipe found on the King Arthur Flour site and I highly recommend it!

Overcast rainy days or bright skies overhead...

...it's the best time of the year for us!  We've had a long, delightful fall and are appreciating every second of it.

Have a great week! 

bread, bees, and colorful trees

Looks like we've got another mouth to feed!

This little guy comes every single night.  Claudia always leaves some kibble in the bowl...I like to think that she's intentionally being kind.

You know that I absolutely love possums, and we've already bumped up our cat food distribution so that he can fatten up a little before winter.  Todd is leaving vegetable scraps out by the barn for our groundhog, too.  Robert Lawson's Rabbit Hill was one of my favorite books as a child, and I love knowing that we're creating our own little sanctuary here!

Because of our crazy warm temperatures, there are other creatures around.  I'm hearing frogs again!  In October!  And I pulled this little guy out of Barnabas' mouth last week.  He must've come in on a flower.

Maybe one of these?  I present to you...the Last Bouquet.

It feels strange - and wonderful - to still be picking flowers less than two weeks from November.  Well, this is truly the last, because we had a hard frost the day after I picked these, and the garden finally wilted.  But I still have these beauties in the kitchen!

More kitchen beauties...I love making hearty soups and stews in the fall, and nothing tops them off like a loaf of homemade bread.  So good!  Easy, too.  It's better if you can let the dough sit overnight, but as long as it has a (combined) 2-3 hour rise, it will be good.  

Rustic Loaf recipe from King Arthur Flour

We're still having gorgeous sunrises...

...and so much fall color.

It's a bit hectic around the house right now because we're having our floors replaced this week - which means that almost every piece of furniture needs to be disassembled and moved.  Calliope is enjoying one last nap in the cat chair...

...and the kittens are letting us know that removing this "cat perch" from in front of their favorite window is not an option.

They were especially thankful for the booster seat this weekend, because our street is on the Hilly Hundred route.  The Hilly Hundred is a yearly bicycling event that attracts over 2,000 cyclists!  

We normally don't get much traffic here, but there's a lot of road work going on and we're on a detour route.  Listening to the cyclists call, "Car!  Car!" each time one passed reminded me of a certain Gilmore Girls episode.  I had to laugh!  

Deep breath as we gear up for days of penned-in grumpy cats, construction workers, furniture moving, AND the home stretch of our yearly Halloween marathon.

Twilight Zone's "The Mask" - one of the best!

Have a great week!  

It's a snow go

 The most beautiful month!

Busy days have delayed our trips to some local state parks, but it's so beautiful around our house that I don't feel like I'm missing out.  We're right on the edge of a state forest and the color on our own property is outstanding.

The cardinal blends right in!

Despite having a very light dusting of snow, mainly accumulated in bushes...

...many flowers are still going strong.  I love being able to pick fresh flowers in October!

Cooler weather is bring possums and strange cats to our porch, snacking on Claudia's leftover food.  Calliope keeps a close watch...

...while the kittens keep a close eye on her.

Still-warm sunbeams provide great opportunities for laziness!

October also brings Todd's half-birthday, celebrated on the 15th. This year I made coconut blondies, pressed into half of a pie pan (and held at bay with pie weights and aluminum foil)...

A halved recipe from Desserts For Two

The foil peels away to leave a perfect half pie.

Perfect for two people to celebrate one half birthday!  

October brings the best of both worlds.  We're making fires and cuddling in quilts, but we're also outside in shorts, picking flowers.  It will freeze tonight, but be back up to almost 80 by the weekend.  The sky is blue, the sun is shining, and the trees are glowing with color.  Happy, happy fall!

Have a great week!

pumpkin bumpkin

Pumpkin time!

Todd braved our pumpkin patch for this year's harvest.  Not me...after this recent chigger attack, I may never go into the weeds again! 

A quick spray to clean off the debris...

...and then a short trek to the house.

Besides covering the porch and front walkway...

I like to use pumpkins on our mantle.  Perfect and simple for Halloween and beyond!

Perfect for the dining room table, too...especially with flowers from the garden!

I put our Halloween decorations up, too, but really simplified this year.  Just bats...

...and skeleton hands!

This is a really busy/chaotic month for us, so simple is best.  

Weather changing...warm days but frosty mornings.

Leaves changing...

Mornings, the bright sun and the contrast to the white frost make the leaves seem even brighter!

It's the perfect weather for quilting. For now, I've decided not to finish the postage stamp quilt.

In the moment, I just wouldn't enjoy working on something so flawed.  I boxed it away in case I change my mind, or can figure out something else to do with the fabric.  

I'm also at odds with this quilt:  

photo courtesy of Midnight Quilt Show

I pieced it together from a quilt kit years ago, and I made a lot of mistakes.  Lots of cut-off star tips.  That's fine, but the quilt is gigantic.  Too big for me to quilt by myself, and expensive to send off for professional quilting.  I don't love it, so should I bother?  Should I just re-size it to make it more manageable to do at home?  We'll see.   

I picked up another unfinished quilt:  Confetti.  Examining it, I realized that I'd made another mistake:  instead of pairing together my perfectly-sized 2 1/2" squares to make the final blocks, I lined the squares up by the center slant, so that they would all line up nicely.  In the moment, I'd assumed that I could just cut down the final blocks to size, but they aren't meant to be squared up.  I decided to sew it together to see how it looked.  It only took a few hours.  

Eh...it's not for me.  Looking back through my scattered notes, I realized that I'd meant to lay out the colors like this:

The color changes are more gradual and natural, whereas my current quilt top feels blocky.  Given the choice to keep/quilt, pick out/resew, or try again, I've decided to just make another one.  I can give this one away, and I'd much rather spend my time working on something that I'll really enjoy.   Instead of reordering this fabric, I can actually use my scrap fabric stash to make something amazing.  Inspiration!!  

Looking forward to the happy fall days ahead.

Have a great week!