On The End Of Summer

Dear September,

It seems you just arrived and now you are already slipping away!  Your 30 days have been full to the brim and so much has been accomplished around here.   But I'd love it if you could linger on and push the coolness of October back a whole lot longer.  Alas, I know there's not even the slightest chance of that happening.

sun shining through the trees at Nose Hill Park

I'm already missing these things about you:

- wearing my flip flops day in and day out.  More often than not I've had to put socks and shoes on lately.

- fresh peaches.  Just the other day I ate the last one that I'd saved from our BC trip.   And there are no more  to be found in any store around here.

- more hours of daylight than night time.  Much to my chagrin that all came to a quick end last week.   I'm much happier when there's more daylight and the time is falling back too.

- leaves, whether green or coloured.  Sadly there are more leaves on the ground than on the trees these days.

- flowers - the pansies and the sunflowers linger on but every day they look droopier.

- the warmth - the only way to be truly warm these days is to wear jackets and sweaters and socks and soon I'll have to include hats and mitts.

There's not much combining left to do in our little corner of the world and your warm, dry days have helped with that.  Thanks for holding off with the rainclouds and cold.  A few more weeks of that weather would be most appreciated.  Thanks for doing your best!

See you in 335 days!

Crystal

Five on Friday

1.  Could our harvesting progress anymore slowly?  Bob knows every inch of the combine, inside and out, from the repairs he's had to do.

2.  I love the colors of this season and driving through the countryside, off the beaten path, at this time of year.  Three times this week I've traveled a different scenic route.

3.  The weather has been glorious this week - sunny days, warm temperatures, even the nights have been balmy but there's been too much dew to combine after 9 p.m..

4.  I kind of wish my garden would clean itself out.  I'm tired of it all this week.  I guess digging 5 rows of potatoes will do that to a person.

5.  Photo of the week:

 taken along the Old Battle Lake road

Five on Friday

1.  This post really made me think about the attitude that I bring to my family and our home.  I am most often an optimistic person and I need to remember to convey the joy that I feel in living with those around me.  And - those pancakes sound really good!

2.  I'm doing some baking with fresh fruit these days.

Almond and Plum Coffee Cake from Cheeky Kitchen

3.  At long last we've done some combining :))

4.  My laptop has decided not to recognize either of our cameras this week.  So here I sit with great pictures of garden produce and of combining but I can't get to them so you can see them.  I haven't even had time to Google the problem and find a solution.  Hopefully that will happen soon.

5.  Photo of the week:

Still dreaming of Wind Rosa Orchard- 

especially as we watched the aftermath 

of fires in Peachland, just one town away

Lists of 2012 - #35

Listography 2012 - #35 - Things to Do This Fall

1.  Can BC fruit and tomatoes

2.  Make apple pies with my Mom and my friend

3.  Make tomato salsa and peach salsa

4.  Get back in to the swing of subbing

5.  Take a road trip to the mountains

6.  Have fun with my camera

7.  Change out seasonal decorations in the house

8.  Clean out the garden

9.  Attend Bob's parents moving-out auction sale

10.  Enjoy autumn colours and the sunflowers

11.  Make cards and send happy mail

12.  Be a go-fer for Bob during harvest

13.  Survive the craziness!!

Quote of the Day

"Autumn marks the end and a beginning.  The summer peach harvests are complete, the leaves in their final month of work before they begin to yellow and fall and the tree takes its rest.  Some leaves have been busy since March, laboring through three seasons to produce a fat harvest.  In October they turn bright yellow, orange and scarlet.  They complete the valley's canvas, vivid against distant gray mountains and browning fields and still-green vineyards.  As they begin to drift to the ground, both the branches and the earth share their colors for a few weeks."

from Wisdom of the Last Farmer (2009) by David Mas Masumoto

Five on Friday

1.  The weather this week has been so gorgeous that I just had to pump up the tires on my bike and go for a ride along the lake yesterday.  When I drove home, this is what it looked like going up our road.  The leaves have really changed color now and the sun was at that perfect point in the western sky to give a beautiful warm hue to everything.

2.  After breaking my glasses nearly three weeks ago, I finally have new ones to wear!

3.  Today was the day to make beet relish - it's going to be so good on the deep, dark days of winter.

4.  If you are looking for home decor projects that you can sew, the Sew4Home site is amazing!

(photo from Sew4Home)

5.  Do you have some apples that need to be taken care of?  Then you should try this Apple Pie Filling In A Jar.  Naomi gave me some two years ago and it is absolutely delicious!  It's still on my to-do list for this year.

(photo from Skip to My Lou.org)

October

Words from Write. Click. Scrapbook this morning:

October gave a party, 

The leaves by hundreds came,

The Chestnuts, Oaks and Maples,

And leaves of every name.

The Sunshine spread a carpet,

And everything was grand,

Miss Weather led the dancing,

Professor Wind the band.

--George Cooper

Pictures from our yard

Inspiration Walk

I had my camera with me last week when I was in town early one morning and I was inspired by Kristen's Inspiration Walk around her town so I took a few quick pictures.

Our main street has a tree-lined boulevard right down the middle of it.

The white tree trunks provided such interesting contrast to the leaves.  

And my favourite, looking up.  

One day I need to do an actual photowalk and spend a bit longer documenting the details of our hometown.

These trees line the road right across from our driveway.  They are spectacularly golden this year.  

God's Beauty

There are so many beautiful colors outside and around our home these days.

"Today is mine, a gift from God"

Leslie E. Dunkin

A Study in Motion

Just a little glimpse of the Canada geese on a sunny autumn afternoon at the lake.  

The End

of gardening for this year!  I picked the spaghetti and acorn squash -

and the pumpkins.  Helayna and Meadow each took home a great big one too.

And the last 2 boxes of green tomatoes came off because the forecast is for frost at night now.  It really was a bountiful harvest and the growing season was a full two weeks longer than normal for us.  The credit for this garden really belongs to Bob who kept the weeds under control, watered regularly and was so keen about the whole project.  I would not have done all of this on my own!!

 The marigolds and nasturtiums with their brilliant oranges and yellows linger on - they always cheer me up!

The Smells of Autumn

Do you associate the seasons with certain smells?  If you stepped into my kitchen today, I think you would say it smells like autumn!  And that's because I have a pot full of apples, from one of the three trees in our garden, simmering away on the stove, well on their way to becoming applesauce.

Today I'm using some Parkland apples which make a lighter colored sauce but the Rescue crabapples give a beautiful pink color when they are cooked.

Melinda and I had a little chat this afternoon and she told me about a recipe that Bob's Auntie Irma published in her family heirloom cookbook, that makes applesauce in the oven.  I had never heard of such a recipe or such a technique!!  Unfortunately Mel's recipe book is packed away in a box in Nova Scotia but I googled and found this great looking applesauce and apple butter .  I think I'll try it on another batch as soon as this one is finished.

I have a foodmill that I use to press the apples through after they are completely cooked.  I only use it at this time of the year and it's perfect for crabapples because you don't have to peel them first.

Mixed with a little brown sugar and cinnamon, it's a perfect dessert for the first day of fall!

Other smells that I associate with this time of year are the damp smell of leaves and pumpkin pie.  What smells trigger thoughts of autumn for you?  

Autumn Quadding Adventure

Sunny September afternoon + temperature of 28 degrees C + good friends + 4 quads + being outdoors = a great time!

We headed to the Brazeau Dam area with our friends, Audrey and Aime' and this is what we did:



someone got stuck in a water hole



surveyed the river and the reservoir



someone else got stuck in the muskeg



drove along grassy trails



enjoyed the leaves changing color, the brilliant blue skies and each other! A very fine way to spend a Saturday :))

Signs of Autumn

Even though the weather has been warm and we haven't had any frost yet, the signs of autumn are starting to make themselves evident. The last few days have been Indian summer warm and the usual rainy first week of school didn't happen. The leaves are slow to change color this year so perhaps we will be very lucky and have a long autumn.











I was reminiscing this morning about the happenings of 2001 in New York City. I distinctly remember hearing the news and even the exact spot where I was at on the road, as I drove home from an early morning walk with my friend, Audrey. Then upon arriving at school, how everyone - staff and students - were clustered in the library and watching coverage in between classes, all day long. Where were you 8 years ago? I know so many families were personally affected that day with the loss of family members. I want to acknowledge that today is a day of remembrance across the USA and around the world.

October Thanksliving - part 2

Today I am thankful for food and family, home and health, and time to enjoy my life.




The harvest is gathered in and today we celebrated Thanksgiving with our families.




The freezer is filled up, the shelves are loaded and we are ready for winter! I am so thankful for the abundance and variety of food that we are blessed with and I am reminded that there are other mothers around the world who aren't able to feed their children every meal.

Thank you Lord for providing food for us to eat. Help me to share the abundance of all that we have.





A sign of some of the cooking that went on here today :))



One of my favourite pictures of the day!!

October Thanksliving - part 1

We have so much to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving weekend so I'm going to dedicate the next few posts to making lists of some of my blessings.

For friends -




For family -




For parents -




For these two (who are far away today) -




For this little family -




For these two -




For this newly expanded family -




For her -




For him -



For her -



For peace in our land -




Stay tuned for more!