Ya Haffta Pay the Piper

My favorite thing about being in the mountains in October is to watch the changing of the color and landscape.

However, there is a price to pay....

Four hours later (and a worn out pair of gloves), part 1 is done and ready for the next day's pick up!

Part one because that was only about 1/3 or less of the leaves needing to be raked....

But then the snow came, so....

Yes, I Really Do Love the Changing Seasons!

 From this......

To this.....

To this....

And then one day later to this...

And this....

And this....

The wind was so strong that there was actually a 4" accumulation in the above picture...

I even had a little drift at the back door....

                                            God creates the most beautiful palettes! 

 This month has been a reminder to me that some seasons are longer than others, some can change in an instant, some are more pleasant than others, some are given to grow us, some are to test us, and there is always change.  How I embrace the change determines how much I grow from it, how it will affect my attitude, whether or not I accept it as from the hand of God, and what I will do with it.  I am not always rarely good at looking for what God is going to teach me through it.  It is so much easier (but detrimental) to have a pity party, asking "Why?" instead of trusting that God will bring good from it.  Yet I know from Jeremiah 29:11 that He has plans for me for good! 

              My prayer is that God will turn my heart to Him and use every experience and relationship for my growth and His glory.

All Things Fall

Seems that everyone loves this time of year, especially those of us who live in areas where there is a definite change of seasons.

I love the "carpet" that suddenly appears under the trees....

Two days ago those little red trees had a green carpet under them...now they have a lovely orange red one.

Our taste runs toward all things apple....
I remembered today a recipe on The Cafe Sucre Farine (if you haven't visited this blog you are missing something!)  Chris has been a friend for many years and is a fabulous chef in her own right (she just finished a week at the NY Culinary Institute).  Every time I've been at something in her home the food is absolutely wonderful and presented in a beautiful way.  So I tried her Apple Pie Muffins...

Her picture is much prettier than mine (see it on her blog) but they are really yummy!  I've tried several of her recipes and it is like Southern Living... never had a failure.

And all things pumpkin....  Our neighbor in the mountains grows pumpkins at the "home place" where they grew up, and look how perfect they are!  They gave me a couple of them to make pies with because there is nothing like pumpkin pie made with fresh pumpkin!  After I tried it last year with her recipe, I knew I was done with canned pumpkin Sorry Libby.  (Why yes, those are rolls rising in the background... the deck is the perfect place for that.)

So the pumpkin is roasted and mashed and ready for pie.

Yes, I did title this "All Things Fall"... So why the blooming cherry tree?  Because she is blooming!  She also blooms in January or February, and then in the spring when most of her sisters do.

A Ride in (Yesteryear) the Country

As I've mentioned, we love to drive in the countryside and what better time of year to do it than now?!

One of my delights in doing this is finding those things of yesteryear...  This is now a junk an antique store but looks just like the original gas station with pump.

One of our favorite places is Phipps General Store which is alive with music every Friday night, and though we've been many times I had never noticed this sign on the front (I think we usually go in the back door...)  I love the sign opposite which says they open on Sunday after church.

Back a few years these were the barns for the dairy farm across from the store.  In honor of the cows, their ice creams are named after some of the cows who lived there at one time.

And out behind the store we came upon this peaceful scene...

See why we love to drive through the country?

Nine Years of Blessing

There is a lot of truth to the old sayings, "The only thing better than being a parent is being a grandparent" and "If I'd known grandkids would be this much fun, I'd have had them first".  I've loved being a parent and our children have brought years of joy to us, so I don't want to minimize that in any way!  But today marks nine years of blessing from our youngest grandchild and only grandson...

He has always been a snuggler (when HE is ready for it), tenderhearted, and all boy.

                                                 And quite a charmer...

An adventurer in some ways... and a little fish!  He loves swimming and will go in no matter how cold it may be.

Did I mention "all boy?"  This is not a staged professional photo... just a snap of him climbing a tree.

                                         He's gone through the typical stages...

Knows what he likes & what he doesn't like, and keeps us in stitches with his antics and comments...

                                            Did I mention can be quite a charmer?

                                            Did I mention a snuggler?

He loves the beach!!!

     He actually loved being the ring bearer for his uncle's wedding two years ago...

            And fell in love with his new aunt (check out the expression on HIS face!)

He is growing up way to fast, but what a blessing he has been for the last nine years!!!!
                                       Happy Birthday, dear grandson!!

Fresh and Fast

Long before "organic" and "natural" were fashionable I was "into" cooking fresh food from scratch.  I still rarely buy anything boxed (to make a meal... I don't make my own crackers, etc.!)  But when this comes up in conversations I usually hear, "I don't have TIME to do that!"  Well, for most things it really doesn't take any more time and not that much more effort, so I thought maybe sharing a spur of the moment recipe would be an encouragement.

The photo is not the best so bear with me here.....  We got home from church and I started some water to boil for the whole wheat pasta (I don't really like it as well as the white kind, but I've found that if the sauce is good enough it will cover the taste...)  Then I chopped up broccoli, onion, green pepper, and spinach which I dropped into a skillet that had olive oil in it and was warming up while I chopped.  I later sprinkled it with garlic salt as I stirred it (think stir fry..)  I made a sauce by whisking together a heaping tablespoon of flour, about a cup of milk, and a little bit of chicken broth.  When the vegetables were beginning to get tender, I poured the sauce in the skillet and stirred continuously for about a minute or so.  Then I sprinkled about 1/2 cup of Feta cheese into the skillet & continued stirring while the sauce thickened (I added about another 1/4 cup of milk) and the cheese melted (threw in a little more Feta, too.)  By the time the sauce was ready the pasta was done.  So I plated the pasta, dipped on the sauce, and lunch was ready.... in about 20 minutes time from start to finish.  About the same amount of time it would take to make a boxed macaroni and cheese!  But this was oh, so much better!

Knowing me as he does, hubby asked, "Is this from a recipe or did you make it up?"
Made it up.

Pumpkin Time +

What is there about pumpkins in the fall & all the orange that is so enticing?  Well, pumpkins are not all orange anymore...

                                              Like these "blue" ones...

                              Some LOOK like pumpkins (even ugly ones) but really aren't....

                          Some that aren't pumpkins still kinda look like pumpkins....

         But these were the most unusual & really lived up to their name.... Speckled Swan Gourds!

                                  And there really are still orange pumpkins, too!

Yesteryear

Over the last 10+ years I thought we had covered nearly every road in Ashe County as we love to go for drives in the country.  I should have known better since it is a huge county.  Sure enough today we stumbled upon a road we'd never traveled & though it was gravel, pretty much a one lane, & the going was slow it was okay because we had no place else to go (ah, love retirement!)
If I had my old panoramic camera there would only be one picture... But since I don't, use your imagination a bit & look at this the way we saw it... one piece after another in a long string along this country road.

                                            Notice the date on this!  (1775)

               This house sat up behind the mill "complex" and was abandoned.

But isn't it nice that they didn't just board up the windows... they painted the boards a contrasting color!

                                       Love it when we find an old treasure.

Food USA

We have been on the road for one full month touring the western USA.  It has been an awesome experience and though we hate to see it end, we miss our family & friends and we have made some wonderful memories!  I have snapped nearly 1000 pictures (so thankful for digital!)  So you will may see a few of them on here over the next 6 months periodically.

But the first pics I want to share are some of the wonderful places we ate, both for atmosphere and for the food.  We tried to avoid chain restaurants altogether, and we only ate about 3 times at chains during the entire month.

 We ate dinner at this little place in the historic downtown of Van Buren, AR.  We were the only ones in the restaurant and when we walked in the hostess asked, "Are you here to drink?"

 Since there was a bar to the left of these tables in a step down room, we thought she meant did we want to sit in there or in the upper dining area.  I said, "We are here for dinner."  She asked, "What are you drinking?" and I responded hesitantly, "Water."  She then said that if we wanted a glass of wine with dinner we would need to fill out a form...  Turns out it is a dry county, so they have posted on the wall that it is a "members only club."  But to "join" the club you just will out a form with your name and address, then they give you a membership card that you bring each time.  We did sit in this area because we could sit right by the window.  And right behind my chair was this:

 I had said before we got there that I was NOT going to have dessert that night.... WELL... I gave into the coconut cream & have no regrets!

I was so excited when I saw this French bakery because I wanted my dear hubby to taste some of the delicacies our daughter and I had when he sent us to France about 14 years ago.  The restaurant was very crowded and we wanted to get ours to go so we could eat it in the park across the street in downtown Santa Fe, NM.  I specifically asked for a raspberry tart since that was the one thing we would have every opportunity we had.

I purchased this and an apricot turnover so we could share each of them.  As beautiful as this was, it was not like the ones in France.  And the turnover had a half of one dried apricot in half of the turnover and none in the other half.  It was an $8.50 "experience" for hubby since he had nothing to compare it to, and we enjoyed watching people in the park.

Now to find some clothes that I can fit into...