Before :: After

Happy Halloween!!

We've been spending the weekends getting ready for the colder weather.

Hauling wood, cleaning..

Finally got around to getting a dumpster delivered to clean out the garage and all the left over construction supplies that have been lingering in the back woods for years.

A dumpster..

delivered on our anniversary!

HA!

for some reason I find that insanely funny..

Re-seeded the cold frame now that the weather is cooler. It has been in the high 30's in the mornings and the temperature in the frame has been around 50 degrees ~ Anxious to see how it does when it is cold and staying cold!

Tossed in some lettuce, mache, kale, and spinach.

Wonder if I could grow some green onions in a bucket?

Staggering views of color no matter which way we turn. This time of year is like living in a kaleidoscope.

The den dormer is one of my favorite places to soak in the colors.

I want to walk right out into the leaves..

Trying to hold on to the colors as long as I can. Bits of leaves cut into squares and glued into my sketch book with watercolor gradients to capture the color before it fades.

Hoping you are all out enjoying the autumn colors as much as we are!

Perfect Ten

Mother Nature scored a perfect ten yesterday on 10-10-10!

We escaped for a few hours to the lake to enjoy some warm sun..

and a fall foliage paddle!

Leaves resting so gently on the water.

It was wonderful to skim along with them to the song of the chirping chipmunks!

This is our favorite spot at the end of one of the coves. The sea weed is deep and you can see the bass swim with schools of blue gills ... if you are reeeeaaallly quiet..

Pools of paisley pollen blown into corners of the quiet coves..

No wonder I am hugging a box of kleenex!

Hope you are all out enjoying some beautiful autumn weather!

Apple Sauce

I never got around to that fire yesterday.

We have this apple tree out by the garden that has been there forever.

It's never had very many apples on it, but for some reason this year..apples!

Not the best looking on the outside, but perfectly fine on the inside.

Dad grabbed a ladder last week and we set to picking.

Managed a nice kettle full of apples. Maybe it was the bees .. or my mother's pruning?

Note to self: learn to prune fruit trees.

Just throwing in some blue sky. It's been raining and cold here fore 3 days straight.

..sigh..

Cooked the apples down and grabbed the Squeeze-O!

Dump in seeds, skins, apple chunks and all ~ Crank the handle ~ and applesauce comes out!

Found this in my grandmother's basement year ago and it still works like a charm!

Not sure if those were "applesauce" kind-of-apples, but I am not going to look a gift apple in the mouth!

Tastes pretty good too!!

Autumn in the Woods

It's dark and dripping today.

Autumn has come to the woods.

The underbrush and leaves are starting to turn and drift.

Drips suspended in time with bits of the gray sky trapped inside each drop.

Leaves cocked and resting before they dry and blow back into the woods.

Canoe waiting to skim along the dark waters littered with color.

Last of the garden view.

Only a few tomatoes left and the carrots that we will bury under piles of dry maple leaves so we can dig them out to enjoy over winter.

It's cold and gray today.

Perfect day to stay in and get the house in order.

Think I'll light a fire..

Happy Monday to you..