It seems the holidays, along with the changing of the seasons have come along in a faster succession than usual this year. Then we tossed in a week of wedding celebrations, halfway across the country, so it's been one big non-stop party for us. Apart from the horrible outcome of the election, anyway.
These photos of the fall foliage on the way to Mosquito Hill are from last month. I was having too much fun with Halloween to get around to posting them. It's all bare limbs and grey skies now!
Any sort of Thanksgiving decorations are a bit hard to come by, so I was happy to find this trio of candles in an antique store. My Mom had some exactly like them that she put in her kitchen windows right after Halloween each year. Their eyes and mouths were worn off but that never really mattered.
Of all the gifts from nature we have to be thankful for, fall foliage has to be up there at the top of the list. Isn't it great that trees put on such a wonderful display each autumn? We had a White Mulberry tree in our backyard that stayed green until there was a hard freeze, then it just dropped all it's leaves at once. It was kind of shocking to wake up and see it go from summer to winter just overnight.
Burt and Ivy have been charged with the task of camouflaging the black hole of the fireplace. I keep meaning to find an interesting screen or put together a basket of dried flowers to make up for the lack of having a fire during the festivities. It's all fine from a visual standpoint but adding a few extra BTUs to a house full of people after running the stove all day just results in a lot of open windows!
In these parts, every autumn looks different. Sometimes the trees turn color all at once and it's over in the blink of an eye then the following year it's a slow, lingering process. The intensity varies too, the forest can be ablaze in red and yellow one year and drab and brown the next. Here's one end of Mosquito Hill with a little bit of the prairie meadow. This fall was pretty good, at least an 8 out of 10.
I wish I had learned that advance preparation is the key to making a dinner for guests easier, much earlier in life. I am thankful for all those simple recipes that can be made a couple days ahead of time!
His Madness is thankful that his new knee enables him to walk up the hill much faster.
I've had this metallic green-gold runner for awhile and decided to try it out since I was a little tired of setting the same table year after year. Of course, it was a complete disaster, it clashed with the dishes and flowers and ended up looking pretty boring as well as leaving no place for the food! I took this photo before I dismantled the whole thing and went back to my usual scheme of a bouquet of flowers that gets removed right before the turkey comes out and a pair of candles that likely add a few more degrees to an overheated room and probably just make everyone nervous! So much for ambience.
Golden leaves and long shadows on top of Mosquito Hill.
It's hard to stick to just one motif when decorating a pie.
A Jackson Pollackesque view of some maples.
It wouldn't be a formal dining experience without But's impersonation of Mr. Carson. Only he knows how much space is proper to leave between the wine glass and dinner plate. At least Ivy's amused.
On the road for one last look at the autumn leaves.
A belated Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate!
So how was your Autumn?
