Welcome Fall

Fall is here! What a wonderful time of year! I spent the weekend doing very "fall-ish" things: making jam, making applesauce, cooking a fall dinner.

I think Fall is my best season as a cook. Somehow I feel more like cooking, the foods that are available appeal to me, and the dishes that I make taste (in my opinion) so good!

We had guests for lunch on Sunday. Catherine reminded me that the first day of Fall fell just after the weekend and so I was inspired to make sure the table looked very festive:

I ended up with a free subscription to Country Home and found a menu to inspire me. Thus, we had mulled cider to begin with, pork roast with fresh herbs (rosemary, sage, thyme, garlic), a variation of my own chutney, mashed potatoes, spiced roasted butternut squash, and green beans.

We had apples three ways between the cider, the chutney, and our dessert: Rustic Apple Tart.

The only thing we did not have was applesauce -- I think because we had our fill on Saturday!

Somehow, over the weekend the trees took on their first tinge of yellow. It's amazing how it just happens. Tonight we are off to join Grandpa and Grandma for a kayak picnic and to celebrate James' birthday a few days early. Therefore, I am off to go invent a Strawberry Cake!

Thinking Back

Yesterday I was thinking back seven years to our landing in Scotland (Sept. 17, 2001). Thinking also about what I could write for my 200th post, I decided a Scottish Memory just might work. Here is an excerpt from that time seven years ago:


"Alone, and in a new house, not to mention a new country, I knew the very first thing to do was to make a cup of tea. With my fingers wrapped around the hot mug, I took a seat in the front room and began to take in my surroundings.

I had already noticed the coolness of the room. It was only the middle of September, but already the air bore a chill in it. The front room, where I sat, had been painted a pleasing magnolia, with a bright terra cotta hue below the chair rail. Tiny orange flowers twinkled at me from their place in front of the gas fireplace. A large sofa sat opposite two matching stuffed chairs, with a small bit of wood floor stretched between them. The room had been tastefully decorated and I loved it.

I took another sip of my tea and gazed out the bay window, drinking in the view. Little brick houses, semi-detached, ran the length of the street; the only distinguishable differences lay in the brown or white paint of the window and door trim. Tiny patches of grass grew in front of each door. If one was lucky, a small tree grew as well. The street seemed deserted, but I supposed it was during school hours and any children would be up the street at school.

I had four years ahead of me. I couldn’t wait for the chance to explore our town and then beyond to as many places as possible.

My first task was to get our little house set up and our things unpacked. We’d come over with five pieces of luggage and ten boxes of books. The rest of the furnishings had been kindly provided by people we had yet to meet.

Behind the front room was the kitchen. Holding my mug of tea, I walked around inspecting each feature of the room where I knew I would spend so much of my time. There were plenty of cupboards, for which I was very thankful, and lots of counter space. I opened a cupboard and was pleasantly surprised to find it had been amply stocked in preparation for our arrival. I glimpsed marmalade and packets of flour and sugar. There were tins of tomato soup and baked beans, and a very tempting pile of biscuits and tea cakes.

Under the kitchen window was a sink and below the sink to the left were situated the front-loading washer and the dryer. Another wall housed the four-burner hob and below it the convection oven. Nearby stood the European-sized fridge. Almost as tall as the countertop, it could easily have been mistaken for just another cupboard. I leaned against the counter and let my mind wander, trying to imagine what our life would be like in Scotland over the next four years. Would we settle into life in a small town, meet friends and begin to feel at home? Only time would tell."

The Day for Apples

Today we went to pick apples. I have been hoping for a chance, but not knowing if, when, where, or how it would take place. Somehow, it just happened!

A friend invited us to come help ourselves to some of their "organic" apples. How could we turn that down! God blessed us with a beautiful day too. One couldn't get better skies!

There were plenty of bugs to look at (or be looked at by):

We were especially interested in this huge yellow and black spider. None of my other pictures of her turned out, but in this one you can at least see her egg sac, of which she was proudly standing guard. It was very fitting for Rachel who had just read in Charlotte's Web this morning about Charlotte's egg sac containing 514 eggs!

Apple picking is great fun for children!

It wasn't until the end of our time that we realized Baby Cakes had spent the entire time eating apples.
We decided we liked the green-colored apples best (we tasted the trees to see what was what):
So did Baby:
The apples were dappled on the outside, a sure sign of their being organic! :)
Baby stands guard over the apple bags:

There was one long row of crab apples. The fruit was just beautiful. I thought of Willow right away and knew that she'd make Crab Apple Jelly, so we came home with a few pounds to see if we could try some too:

"Let's just try one more," said Baby Cakes:

What a feast for the eyes!
"We'll just watch Grandma pick and enjoy another bite," said James and Baby Cakes.

Aren't the crab apples amazing!
It was about this time that someone made the observation: Baby Cakes hasn't stopped eating.
We filled the baskets and bags and headed back to the car.
Grandma stopped to pick a bouquet to leave for our friends:
We stopped at Grandma's on the way home for a much-needed cup of tea and then it was time for dinner and soccer. I was given a delightful 1 1/2 hours on my own in which I was able to take a walk and pick my own bouquet!

And now I must turn my mind to apples...... and what to do with them. I feel as though they dropped in my lap and I'm just kind of hoping that some time also drops in my lap to make good use of them! :)

The Wedding and Flowers

The wedding is over and life is getting back to normal. It was a wonderful occassion. Everyone looked beautiful, the food was terrific, and there were friends to enjoy conversation with.

So, here are pictures of all the fun. Thursday I went over to my friend Laura's house to get started. Together we spray-painted all these hydrangeas a lovely pink color!

Federal Express delivered "The Box" and we carefully unpacked all the flowers, re-cut them, and stowed them in buckets of fortified water.

Friday morning, after tea of course, we started in.

Laura's sister Kathy (who, I discovered, is a reader of this blog!) came to help. Together we spent the morning wiring and wrapping flowers to assemble the 13 boutonnieres and 4 corsages. (Special thanks to Laura's daughter Megan who stayed close to the phone and answered any question!)

After our much-needed lunch break we started in on the bridesmaids' bouquets. I just loved their colors!

Laura worked on the most important piece of all -- Stephanie's bouquet! It was just beautiful!

With minutes to go until Kathy and I had to leave, we raced right into the final three arrangements for the front of the church.

Miraculously we finished just in time (leaving poor Laura to worry about the huge mess):

The next day we set off for the wedding.

Here is an overview of the wedding. You can't see much, but you can get an idea of what things looked like:
Stephanie and Jeremy looked wonderful! Stephanie's dress (sewn by one of her bridesmaids) was gorgeous, and the flowers complemented it just right!
I loved the bridesmaids' bouquets against their dresses:

And the boutonnieres held up very well!

It was a very happy occassion!

Stephanie's mom did the cake! Isn't that amazing!

And then we were all sent home with giant home-made cookies tied up in little bags. Lovely memories!

So, now I'm anxious to do more flowers. :) It really was fun. I guess I'll have my chance in 4 weeks when Stephanie's brother gets married and Emily does the flowers for that wedding.

In the mean time I'll be working to get my children properly outfitted for the next two weddings. We had a shoe crisis just minutes before we were to leave. Rachel had only flip-flops and couldn't find any of her 4 pairs, David had only sandals, James had nothing to wear with his dress outfit. We managed to find a good-looking pair in the closet but with no laces. Brown wool did the trick! Fortunately, Andrew had real dress shoes to go with his black suit jacket that he wears with navy trousers which are two sizes too big (the shoes hold the trousers up). He confided in me, "Mom, people will think I'm a mini-preacher." Smile.

Vacation Food

Well, the flowers are done! It was a fun day, and I think the flowers look absolutely gorgeous! I won't post any pictures now, since it's not fair to post before the bride's seen them! I'll save them for Monday.

However, since I had some time, I thought I'd upload these pictures of food from our vacation week.

I made this nice little tray of tea for Michael and me one afternoon. Every once in awhile I like making a tea tray to take up with me for my quiet time. It always adds to the occassion.


Michael and I had the chance to eat at Panera's one evening:
Here is my basket of inspiration in my kitchen:

One evening we had spaghetti squash with a sauce of fresh tomatoes and sausage on top. Just lovely! We enjoy substituting spaghetti squash for pasta at this time of year:

Our last set of visitors brought us some wonderful cheese from Wisconsin. We saved it for a picnic one day. We had smoked cheese, sharp cheddar, and cheese curds. Note the white peach in the corner -- I love white peaches and nectarines.

Michael, Emily and I went out one evening and here's what we had: Clam chowder,

Shrimp, and
Jerk Pizza. They were all very good!

Andrew is off at his first soccer game. James and I have just wrapped the wedding gift and now I need to do some housework. The temperature is back up in the 80's and it is very, very muggy. I think we'll be having storms all weekend as a result of the hurricane. Happy Weekend to you all!