October surprise

This was a real surprise, something I spotted at my dad's on October 14, believe it or not.  Roses!

I was about to get into my car in preparation for leaving his place, when I happened to glance back.  There's a field adjacent to his house, with part of a weathered fence still in place. This is what I saw:

I had to run back and capture a few photos with the Kindle.  This is in a little corner area just adjacent to the field and what's left of the fence.  You can just glimpse the field to the left of the photo.  My mother had a little flower garden in this corner space and the roses are really all that's left of it now.

Years ago when my daughters were at boarding school, there were rose bushes in front of their dorm and one year the roses bloomed in September.  The girls all enjoyed that surprise so much.  I think roses in October are even more surprising! 

Here are just a couple more pictures.  I was aiming to capture the dew or raindrops -- whichever it was -- on the rose petals.  If you click on the pictures to enlarge, you'll see that I succeeded somewhat.

Hope you've enjoyed this October surprise as much as I did!

A Vagabond Song

Oh, what a beautiful poem this is!  I have loved this poem,  by Bliss Carman,  for many years.

A VAGABOND SONG

There is something in the autumn that
   is native to my blood --
Touch of manner, hint of mood;
And my heart is like a rhyme,
With the yellow and the purple and the
   crimson keeping time.

The scarlet of the maples can shake me
   like a cry
Of bugles going by.
And my lonely spirit thrills
To see the frosty asters like a smoke
   upon the hills.

There is something in October sets the
   gipsy blood astir;
We must rise and follow her,
When from every hill of flame
She calls and calls each vagabond
    by name.
~ Bliss Carman

The "scarlet of the maples" is particularly beautiful this year.  The red trees grab our attention every time.  And the "frosty asters" do look like lavender-blue smoke.

In New England we are blessed to see this glorious display of color every year.  We never tire of it or take it for granted.  And speaking for Mr. T and myself, the beautiful colors and the blue-sky days call us to explore the countryside round about us once again. 

National Cookie Month

A vintage cookbooklet from my collection

Did you know October is National Cookie Month?  Neither did I, until I read this amazing fact in an email from King Arthur Flour.  Now, I think it is important that we celebrate!

Cookies and bars are some of my very favorite things to bake.  In fact, I have an entire Pinterest board which I have titled The Cookie Jar.  Check it out -- you will find loads of inspiration there.

And, as you might guess, I have loads of cookie recipes here at my kitchen table.  I went back to the archives and linked up to some of them for you.  These Best Blond Brownies really are the best.  I highly recommend them and they are so easy!

Photo from Taste of Home

The Easiest Peanut Butter Cookies Ever take just a few simple ingredients and are a fun cookie to bake with kids.

Page from a vintage cookie booklet

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles are a perfect cookie for fall baking.  Yes,  they actually do contain pumpkin as an ingredient ... they are not just pumpkin spice.

Photo by Annie's Eats

These Crunchy Toffee Crackle Cookies are a recipe I developed myself to taste like cookies I remembered from the hometown bakery of my childhood.  They come pretty close!

And if you are interested in a whole bunch of cookie recipes, go here: Cookie Recipes Galore.  This is a post I did with links to collections of my cookie recipes.  It was a link-up to Gooseberry Patch's Recipe Round-Up, so there are also tons of  recipe links below my post.  Have fun with them!

 Happy National Cookie Month!  And happy baking!

Autumn Breeze

One teensy step at a time, I am attempting to declutter at my dad's home to get rid of things he doesn't use, as well as other items which are just clutter (think empty cardboard boxes in the basement, etc.).  One day I was doing a bit of straightening up in his kitchen cabinets, which are filled with dishes he never uses.  He tends to use the same plates, bowls, mugs, saucers, glasses, etc. over and over, which is probably best since those things are familiar.

But on an upper shelf I came upon a stack of these bowls.  They are probably salad bowls, but would certainly work for cereal or ice cream as well.  I have no idea where my mother ever acquired them. She had no other dishes like them.  I can see why she was drawn to these, however.   Like me, she loved fall, and the colors would have been perfect for her kitchen.

I looked these up online and found that the pattern is Autumn Breeze or simply "Breeze" by French Saxon China.  The bowls I found have no markings of any kind on the bottom, but the design is unmistakable.

And in my looking, I found that French Saxon also made a Pine Cone pattern.

Photo from Pinterest

Be still my heart! How perfect these would be for our "dream cabin"!

A few more autumn dishes

Today I am going to show you just a few more of my autumn dishes.  These are mostly photos I have taken in the past, with one notable addition which I will put in a separate post.  The pitcher above is not as old as it looks.  It was a gift from my mother some years back.  I think she found it in a Williams-Sonoma catalog.

 The grape dish above definitely is vintage and belonged to my mother.  See the matching spoon?  The spoon peeks out of an opening between the dish and lid to form a stem for the grapes!  You can see it at left in the photo below if you look closely.

This is a tiny leaf dish someone gave me.  It's about the right size to use for a tea bag holder, but I can't imagine its intended use other than that.

My daughter and son-in-law gave me this pretty spoon rest.  I love using it every fall.

 The teacup above is one that I bought at a yard sale years ago.  I spent less than $1 for it, I know.  It has the Canadian flag on the other side of the teacup, but I always turn it to the back when I display it for fall, because it detracts from the pretty leaves.  Turns out this teacup is Royal Albert Canada From Sea to Sea.  

The sugar bowl above was a gift from my daughter.  Love it!

 A friend just recently gifted me with a number of these pretty birds which are salt and pepper shakers.  These two fit right in on my fall hutch!

I like to display these Fiesta ware salt and pepper shakers, which are very vintage indeed, in fall.  The colors, especially the orange, are just perfect for the season.

Hope you've enjoyed seeing these fun fall dishes!

"Autumn Fires" -- a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson

My girls had the Little Golden Book version of A Child's Garden of Verses, by Robert Louis Stevenson.  This is from the 1978 printing of the book, which was the thirteenth printing.  "Autumn Fires" was one of the girls' favorite poems, probably because of the adorable illustration of two little girls raking leaves.  We have never burned our leaves, so that was outside their experience, but they loved the poem anyway.  Here it is:

Autumn Fires

In the other gardens, 
   And all up the vale,
From the autumn bonfires
   See the smoke trail!

Pleasant summer over
   And all the summer flowers, 
The red fire blazes,
   The grey smoke towers.

Sing a song of seasons!
   Something bright in all!
Flowers in the summer,
   Fires in the fall!

The illustrations in this book are by Eloise Wilkin, one of my favorite illustrators.  Notice the details like the rocker on the porch, the incredible view and the wild geese forming a V.  Click on the picture to enlarge it --- and enjoy!

In my view...

Every time I come or go from our driveway, whether in a vehicle or on foot, I notice how pretty our roadside trees are looking.  Our camera still isn't working properly so I just took these photos by aiming my Kindle toward the treetops!  If you click on the picture you will notice a variety of colors, from yellow to orange to red to burgundy and even pink and green.

Sometimes when I walk to the mailbox, I will spy a perfect leaf or two, or one that is so unusual (like this "plaid" leaf I found last year!)

that I just have to bring them inside and scan them.  Well, I bring them inside.  Sadly, I don't always remember to scan them.  I often will set them on the hutch or somewhere and forget about them until they have curled up and are un-scannable.  Here are two that I did remember!

A red maple leaf

A yellow oak leaf

And here is one more view of the colorful treetops:

Hope you have enjoyed this October view from our driveway!  We certainly have been!