Autumn Whimsy

As I lined the last of the butternut squash on the window sill, they looked as though they needed an extra bit of whimsy to top them off.

It's amazing what a Sharpie can do. lol

With Halloween approaching, I searched boxes in closets for a few saved decorations and found the cat and crow.


After the decorating was done, I found "Mister" on the sewing table picking out some homespun cottons for his next blanket.

Apple Muffins

Tweaked a recipe I found the other day and came up with another family favorite, apple muffins. Ray loves apples and with them on sale right now, well...let's just say he's one happy fella. ;)

Here's the easy recipe...

Apple Muffins



1 egg
¾ c. milk
1 shredded apple
½ c. oil
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. quick cooking oats
1/3 c. sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon

Whisk egg in a bowl; stir in remaining ingredients just until moistened. Mixture will be lumpy. Fill 12 greased or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm, topped with butter. Makes one dozen.

Happy Fall Ya'll!

Looks like the cooler weather has finally arrived and with it the rain and falling leaves. The fog was heavy this morning. The weather forecaster was calling for an early start to work because of visibility issues. We may see our first frost this coming weekend.

Fall also brings us gorgeous colors - reds, oranges, yellows, purples and golds. What a great opportunity to use nature's color palette to make a beautiful quilt. The new fall magazines have some great patterns using the colors for leaves, flowers and pumpkins. I'm ready to try another rag quilt in some earthy shades of woven plaids I bought the other day.

Many thanks to Judy over at Mennonite Girls Cook for her Caramel Apple Cake Recipe. I got two loaves out of the recipe and shared one with Ray's dad. He liked it as much as we did.

Agenda 21

I'd like to know who gave these men the power to run the entire world?
They're the cause of all this financial mess with their global ambitions.

Happy Birthday Hunter!

Today my grand-nephew, Hunter, turns two years old.
Here he is with my sister Tracy.
This was taken earlier this summer.


This one was taken last weekend.

He's riding his birthday present from grandma and grandpa.
He sure is growing fast.

Chilling Out

There's a cold front moving in this weekend. They're predicting a few showers along with it. It must be true as the spider on the porch has spun a line from her web up under the porch roof and out of the weather. Of course she's also managed to create a nice egg sac which she has undoubtedly filled to the brim. I've been afraid of spiders since I was a child, but I must admit, I've become fascinated by this one. She's a marvel to watch as she spins and climbs around in her web. She's certainly helped cut down on the gnat population, and for that, I'm grateful.

I had Ray pick up some golden delicious apples on his way home yesterday. I'm going to prepare an apple upside down cake for dessert tonight.

APPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

1 stick butter
1 egg
1/3 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon almond flavoring
1 1/2 cups apple (more or less)
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine 1 cup sugar with 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside. (If more flavor is desired, sprinkle sugar with a drop of vanilla and a pinch of ginger before mixing.)

Peel, core, and very coarsely chop 1 1/2 cups of apples. Prepare enough chopped apple to cover the bottom of the pan you'll be using and have a layer of apples 1-2 inches thick.

In a loaf pan or deep cake pan, bake the apples in a preheated 325F oven until soft. Remove from oven. Sprinkle the apples with the sugar and cinnamon mixture to coat well.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour, 1 egg, 1/3 teaspoon baking powder and 1 teaspoon almond extract (vanilla may be substituted).

Pour batter over apples and return pan to a preheated 350F oven. Bake until cake tests done.

Is This America's Future?

'Islamization' of Paris a Warning to the West



I hope not.

Hints of Fall

Fall is in the air here in Hitchins.

The mums are starting to bloom...


And the Maximillian Sunflowers...


The spiders continue to spin their webs too.


That garden spider hasn't been there very long. It's made a home under the eave on the front porch. I've been watching it from the front window and plan to make a large copy of it for a Halloween decoration. They had a huge spider at Kmart the other day for $60. I think it's eyes glowed red. Not sure what else it did, but for $60, it should dance too. lol

One Angry American Here

Ray Stevens says it all right here.

It's so funny and a shame that it's true. I hope all Americans who read this vote all the socialist progressive Democrats and Republicans out of office. We need a clean slate to get this nation back on track. I'm too afraid to exercise my free speech rights on this blog for fear of being shut down. I'm ashamed of this government and can't wait until all of these criminals are out of power.

Charlotte's Web and the Packsaddle Worm

I don't think we could have asked for a better holiday weekend. We had cool temperatures and lots of sunshine. Ray cut the weeds and grass from the back hillside. Although it took two days with a weed eater and his arms were pretty sore, we believe it was worth it. It looks really nice now and hopefully it will stay that way through the winter. We have a hot day forecast for today then another cold front will move in tonight with some showers. Then, nice cool temps on tap for the rest of the week.

Thursday, I got my first experience with a packsaddle worm or aka saddlepack worm when I began pulling up the corn stalks to make that foddershock decoration.

I thought another venomous spider had gotten me again when I felt this horrible sting on the side of my neck. It hurt so bad I was almost in tears before I made it back to the house and found a nice chain of, what looked like, blisters forming in a straight line on my neck. I washed the site and then took two Benedryl tablets. Those things knock me out and so out I went for about four hours before Ray woke me up. Needless to say the blisters were gone and no sign of anything remained on my neck. When I told my mother in law about the experience she knew right away what it was and said those worms were nasty little things and she'd been stung by several picking corn over the years. You can bet I'm gonna be more careful in the future.

Yesterday morning I was reminded of my favorite book as a child, "Charlotte's Web", when I discovered this large and beautiful web that had been spun across the back kitchen window. It was so pretty, I just had to share it with Ray. As he leaned his tall frame over the sink and off to the side of the window. He said, "There seems to be some writing in that web. It says, "some pig". He's such a tease.