Autumn Leaves

Fall is my favorite season, and the only complaint I have is that it's usually too short. This year, that was not the case.  We had a long, beautiful fall, and I felt like I was enjoying the fall colors for weeks which was such a blessing.  I love the beauty of creation...and how God gives that to us to enjoy because He is good and He loves us, and He reveals His love in nature...and He reveals His nature in Creation...   Well, in our little corner of the world, raking leaves is not a bad thing... It's actually kind of a "status symbol".  If you have leaves to rake, you have trees... And the more leaves in the yard, the bigger the trees, which (to us) is always a good thing.  :-)  This year we even had enough leaves to make a pile...  And somebody got a chance to play in that leaf pile...   

Maybe that wasn't who you expected...

But who can resist that face??

Stay . . .

Okay!!



Field of Dreams

 Here is a post that I was working on about 2 months ago... It's a bit out of date, but I'll post it anyway (it'll buy me some time while I organize my life a bit): 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 We've been keeping busy, and taking every opportunity to enjoy the beautiful fall season while it lasts! So, let's rewind a few weeks...to a gorgeous Sunday afternoon late in September. Ever seen the movie "Field of Dreams"?   Well, the men of the Berean softball teams had the memorable opportunity to play ball in a field much like that one...  

Game on! 

And while I took a lot of pictures on that day, I'm admittedly biased.  There's one player in particular that I'm especially fond of...

Making one of his "signature" diving catches...

(and yes, he caught it :-)

A field of dreams indeed.  And a very good day worth blogging about--even if it is a little lot late.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Snap back to December...

Reading this post, I can't believe how quickly time flies!

It doesn't feel like this could have been 4 months ago already...

We were blessed with a long and beautiful fall this year, and we tried to make the most of it, I think.  So, there will be a few more fall posts to come.

I also hope to post a few pictures of some of the little projects that have gone on in recent months, but those are lower on my priority list so I'll get to them if time permits.

An Abundant Harvest

 Several years ago, we planted 2 young apple trees. Over the years, we've gotten some apples. At some point, Mike decided to prune the trees for the very first time.  (We can't agree when it was, but it was before summer. :-) I wish I had a picture, because the pile of branches that he removed from the trees was a bit shocking. Apparently a harsh pruning was just what the trees needed, because we had a record harvest this year! 

 Many of the branches were sagging under the weight of the apples. We had virtually no worms in the apples.  We're not exactly sure why that is because we've never sprayed our trees.  Most of the rejects were ones that a bird or a gopher had "snacked" on. We picked conservatively--rejecting apples with any significant flaws (I like to leave those for the critters to enjoy)... And we still picked nearly 180 pounds of apples! 

We were overwhelmed!

We gave away many of them, and then kept a few for eating,

and saucing.

Yum!

A couple guys down the street got word that we were making applesauce...

And so they showed up on our doorstep to devour some . . . peels.

Ha!  Who knew that apple peels were a delicacy?  :-)

I would say I still have about 25 pounds or so remaining for apple dumplings...and apple crisp...and apple muffins...and apple bars...and maybe some apple oatmeal... 

Any other ideas?

A neglected blog. A new season...

 Wow.  It's been awhile, hasn't it? We're still here. I thought I'd blog a lot over the summer because I'd have more free time and more fun stuff to talk about. But I had no desire to sit in front of the computer for most of the summer. Maybe in the next few weeks I'll post a little about some of the indoor and outdoor projects that we did... But for now, I'm gonna dedicate this post to a new season.  I love seasons...don't you? I love the change of seasons.  I especially love fall. I love the colors, and the crisp air.  I love warm sweatshirts and hot drinks and "study dates" in coffee shops. Seems like I was just posting the first signs of spring on the blog... Today is a classic fall day--breezy and overcast...and absolutely beautiful. So, I thought I'd share some first signs of fall:  ~ Pampas grass blowing in the breeze ~

~ Remnants of an abundant harvest ~

 ~ The garden's final blooms ~

~ Leaves kissed with color ~

 

Mmm...  Welcome to fall.  I love it! I hope you're getting out there and drinking it up.  If not, find a little time to immerse yourself in the season and delight in the One who created it for us to enjoy. I love the change of seasons, in nature and in life. God has opened some new doors for our family this fall as well.  It's always so encouraging to see how He uses us from season to season. Maybe you'll hear more about that in the weeks to come, too. But I better save something for later. So, check back soon!  This blog is officially active again.  :-)