Where Are You Autumn?

Autumn...  
(sigh)

I begin anticipating autumn sometime around midsummer.   Here in Arkansas, summers can be brutal, with temps staying at or above 100 degrees for a couple of weeks or more.  This past summer was mild.... bearable... dare I say, pleasant.   Autumn arrived, and mother nature decided to play a trick, enveloping us with heat and humidity.    I am ready for sweaters and boots , but this southern girl is still occasionally wearing linen.  I know, a well-raised southerner never wears linen after Labor Day... friends, I had to let that one go and walk away.  The meteorologists keep saying one more week... I'm beginning to think they are just messing with my emotions.

I know you have all decorated for Autumn, haven't you?  Though I usually can't wait to pick out my pumpkins,  switch out petunias for pansies and mums, I just can't think about it with temperatures in the high 80s.   I looked at pumpkins this weekend... I couldn't get excited.   This is my one lone little pumpkin.  Sad, isn't it?  I'll keep you posted on my Fall decorations.  Perhaps something will happen next weekend.

Playing in the Kitchen

One of my favorite things about Autumn is pulling out favorite recipes, and playing in the kitchen.   I usually begin with my pumpkin bread.  This weekend R. was craving pie, and I know apple is his favorite.   I turned down the air conditioner, starting peeling granny smiths  and turned out an apple pie.   It was pretty yummy.  The aroma of apples baking mixed with cinnamon and nutmeg wafting through 

the rooms...   divine.

Do you have a favorite autumn recipe?

What I'm Reading

These may have jumped into my hands recently.

Just sayin'...  I'm finding little bits of everything I love about this beautiful season between these pages.

You know this is my favorite time of the year, for so many reasons.  

I love the colors, the aromas, the renewed energy, and not least of all, the food.

What is your favorite thing about Fall?

Happy Autumn friends!

Apples, Apples, Apples and Pumpkins

A few weeks ago I was treated to a trip just across the Missouri/Illinois border to pick apples.  I was so excited, the threat of rain couldn't dampen my enthusiasm.  I have picked strawberries and blueberries, peaches and pears, grapes and....well, you get the idea.
I have never had the good fortune to pick and eat an apple off the tree.

After being greeted by "Johnny"

we were ready to board one of the tractor towed wagons for a short,
but bumpy ride out to the orchards.

The trees were loaded with red apples

and green apples.

There were oh so many apples, and

  we were not the only ones enjoying the bounty.

We filled our bags and 

walked across the road to the pumpkin patch.

Now, there may have been one or two in our small group of four

who thought we were only at the farm to pick apples.  And,

I will admit, I did say I only wanted to take a few photographs.

      But...  

                      can you really pass up a perfect pumpkin?

                                            A perfect pumpkin just sitting there asking to be picked up?

                                                            A perfect pumpkin with an amazingly fabulous stem?

It is all about the stem!
Do you agree?

And so we loaded our treasures onto the trailer and headed back...

for the great weight in...

That's a lot of apples!

The pumpkins came next...

Oh my!
I turned and walked away.
I could have been in a little trouble, but
everyone was still smiling.

Whew, I needed a little refreshment
to steady my nerves.

On the way out I continued to browse.

 Pumpkins

and gourds 

to meet every need.

We loaded up the car and headed back just as the rain began to fall.

I returned home thinking of all the delicious goodness I would create with my many apples.
Apple butter, apple muffins, apple cake, spiced apples...
Visions of grandeur.

I did roast a few with a butternut squash, sweet potatoes and onions.
There might have been a small

apple pie.  The rest were enjoyed,
simply one apple at a time.

"An apple a day...."

Do you enjoy going out to pick your own bounty?
Do you have a favorite apple recipe?