Purple Asters?

In the spring when the boys and I did some yardwork for my grandfather, I salvaged this plant that Pop didn't want anymore. Based on the leaves, he and I seemed to think it was a butterfly bush. But, lo and behold, a few days ago it started to bloom - I guess it's not a butterfly bush!! Maybe a purple aster or a type of mum? Whatever it is, it's a beautiful bright spot in my otherwise dried flower beds. I love surprises.

Through Autumn Air

"The room had a low ceiling and two square, small-paned windows, curtained with muslin frills. All the furnishings were old-fashioned, but so well and daintily kept that the effect was delicious. But it must be candidly admitted that the most attractive feature, to two healthy girls who had just tramped four miles through autumn air, was a table, set out with pale blue china and laden with delicacies, while little golden-hued ferns scattered over the cloth gave it what Anne would have termed "a festal air.""

-- Excerpt from "Anne of Avonlea" by L. M. Montgomery

Disaster Relief Auction

Last night we attended the annual Brethren Disaster Relief Auction two counties over. The auction has taken place for more than 30 years, involves 100+ northeastern Brethren churches, and raises thousands of dollars yearly to help with disasters around the world. There is plenty to see - all kinds of things are donated and sold. There is also lots of great food! We bought amazing homemade soft pretzels from an Amish family and a delicious dinner complete with chicken, baked potatoes, rolls, applesauce, drinks and cupcakes. My favorite part is to look at the 100+ themed baskets that will be auctioned off. The guys liked the tool-themed baskets as well as the chocolate-loaded ones! I, of course, enjoyed looking at the tea-and-book baskets. Lots of great ideas!

Pumpkins!

Ben and I brought in the pumpkins and the gourds from the garden this afternoon. The Cinderella variety did especially well - they're the ones that look like big donuts (or flattened pumpkins!). I know they're not very traditional, but I DO like the look of them. And some of them are so, so orange. They went from the skidloader to being piled up on the picnic table where I can enjoy the sight of them from the kitchen window.

Baked Apples & Apple Fritters

Baked Apples
2 firm apples
1/4 C. brown sugar
Cinnamon
Butter
Preheat oven to 375. Half and core the apples. Put them close together in a baking dish or pie plate, peel side down. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Dot with butter. Add 1/2" of water to pan and bake, basting every 10 minutes with the pan juices. Bake 20-30 minutes or until apples can easily be pierced with a fork but still hold their shape. Serve warm.

Apple Fritters
1 1/2 C. flour
1 tabl. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 C. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 C. + 2 tabl. milk
2 medium cooking apples, peeled and chopped
Vegetable oil
Powdered sugar
Combine first 5 ingredients; stir well. Add eggs, milk and apples; stir until smooth. Heat 2-3" of oil in a large, deep saucepot to 375. Carefully drop batter by scant tablespoons into hot oil, cooking 5-6 fritters at a time. Cook about 2 minutes or until golden brown; turn and cook other side about 2 minutes. Drain well on paper towels; sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired. Yield: about 1 1/2 dozen. (This was enough for M., B. and me to have a bedtime snack. If my other boys were at home, I would have doubled the recipe.)

Apples & Peaches

This afternoon Ben and I drove to a local orchard to pick up the 1/2 bushel of big, yellow Encore peaches that I ordered for canning on Thursday. Upon entering the little farm store at the orchard, we were hit with an unbelievable fragrance of apples. When I saw they had Honeycrisp, I knew we had to buy a basket. My sister served this variety at Game Night last week sliced with a chocolate & raspberry dipping sauce on the side. One bite and these became my new favorite apples. So sweet, juicy and amazingly crisp. Ben ordered apple fritters this evening, and I declared we would have baked apples for breakfast tomorrow morning. I LOVE the fruits of fall!

Canning Inspiration

"Hannah Parsons had filled two large baskets with the clear yellow globules (of tomatoes), and taken them into the kitchen. She had washed them and put a great kettle full of them over the fire, and on the big white polished kitchen table she had spread out the other ingredients for her preserves. The big gray sugar jar, the ginger jar, the spices, the measuring cups and spoons, were all there at hand, and ranged along the wide oilcloth-covered shelf that ran from sink to stove were shining jars, and rings and covers lying in bowls of hot water; two long silver spoons to put in the jars so the hot stuff wouldn't break the jars when it was poured in, soup plates to put beneath the jars lest a drop should be spilled, though Hannah Parsons never spilled a drop when she was filling her jars. . ."

-- Excerpt from "Sunrise" by Grace Livingston Hill

A Little Autumn Decorating

Turtles for Game Night

My sister is hosting a Game Night at her home tonight. Last time we had a Game Night we spent the entire time talking. We should have called it Conversation Night! (We did get one round of "Compatability" in.)

Anyway, there will be three families all together, and we're sharing refreshment duty. (As if refreshments are ever a duty.) I'm to bring a sweet. Actually I've made two - sugar cakes and these easy turtles. I got the original recipe here at Rosemary's Sampler - a wonderful blog for tea ideas and recipes. These Easy Caramel Turtles are, indeed, easy. They would be great as gifts for the holidays. Enjoy!

Easy Caramel Turtles

Mini pretzel twists
Rolo candies (1 - 1 1/2 lbs. - I bought these in bulk at Giant. They were cheaper this way than already bagged.)
6 oz. bag of pecan halves (bought at Aldi)

Place pretzels on a cookie sheet. Top with unwrapped Rolos. Heat about 3 - 3 1/2 minutes in a 250 oven until chocolate softens. Remove from oven and press a pecan half on top of the chocolate. Allow to cool before removing from the tray. Because it was pretty warm out today, I put the whole tray in the frig for 1/2 an hour to firm them up and then put them in a tin. Yield: With 1 lb. of Rolos, I got 70 turtles.

Delighting & Committing OR Bending & Rolling

Delight yourself also in the LORD,
and He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD,
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring it to pass.
-- Psalm 37: 4-5

As I studied the beginning verses of Psalm 37 this morning, I decided to do a little word study with "delight" and "commit."

I always thought the word "delight" in this verse referred to a rejoicing in and taking pleasure in the Lord. And though we certainly do those things, this word actually comes from another word meaning "to be soft, pliable." In other words, we're told in this verse to be pliable in the Lord. As I thought on what this may look like, I realized that being pliable could be a picture of trusting Him and being moldable, bendable and teachable before the Lord. The funny thing is is that I realized when I'm trusting Him, listening to Him, and asking Him to make be moldable and teachable in His hands, I find myself desiring that which He desires for me, that which He has for me. My heart's desires become His heart's desires!

As for the word "commit" in this passage, it has a connotation of meaning "to roll." How do we commit our way to the Lord? Roll it right on Him! Seems to me a better idea than trying to carry my burdens myself or even trying to lift them into His hands to take care of them. Rolling sounds a whole lot easier!

Soap Making 101

I'm currently watching "The Art of Soap Making" from this series and would love to see the other ones. I also found out the West ladies have one on canning. I can't wait to order some soap making supplies and get started!

Tea at 9

An old friend of mine gives tea parties four times a year - once during every season. I was lucky enough (blessed, really!) to be asked to her fall tea. We enjoyed two hours of tea food, chatting and a walk to visit the gardens. Not only that, but I came home with a jar of Rosa's homemade salsa. What a sweet morning!


The menu:
* Strawberry Yogurt topped with Granola & Almonds
* Zucchini Bread with Raisins
* Cheese Omelettes with Slices of Bacon
* Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip Cookies
* Whoppie Pies
* Black Tea with Cream & Sugar

1st Birthday

Yesterday we spent the afternoon celebrating my youngest nephew's 1st birthday. My sister decorated with a simple animal theme. She free-handed an icing tiger on the baby's cake. And used fun animal plates for everyone -




Her home was decorated with fall flowers and vignettes for the autumn season. A feast for the eyes . . .


My four year-old nephew was eager to show me his bug collection. My sister has been collecting small glass bottles with large necks for him to put his bugs in versus a traditional glass case. They make for an interesting display on his bedroom dresser -

Lancaster Science Factory

We spent this rainy, cool afternoon at the Lancaster Science Factory enjoying the 50+ exhibits and laughing over fun discoveries.

A silhouette of Ben in the light room . . .


My favorite exhibit was the kaleidoscope of mirrors - it was as if you could see your image for infinity. Amazing . . .


E. was very focused on making giant soap bubbles. What fun that was!


And this is my favorite shot - my long-legged boys playing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" together on the pipe drums!

Farm Auction

Several years ago the boys came up with a game patterned after the farm auction they had visited with their dad. It involved making play money, choosing an auctioneer and bidding against one another to "buy" toy tractors and plastic animals. Last night Eli and Caleb came up with a new twist for the game. They sat at the kitchen table for 2 hours making up little cards that said things like: "Sell your corn for $150." and "The coyotes sneaked onto the farm and killed a chicken." and (my personal favorite!) "Kill the bull. If you own a bull, receive $300." So they have the regular farm auction and then take turns pulling cards to see the outcome. It's still undecided as to whether the winner is the person with the most money at the end or the most farm equipment at the end. Oh, the dilemmas of boyhood . . .

Apple-Honey Challah Bread

Yesterday was the perfect day for baking bread - cool and cloudy. I decided to try a different type of bread than any I've made before. This apple-honey challah recipe comes from the September issue of "Martha Stewart Living." Here at the farm it received an average score of 7 for taste on a scale of 1-10 (1 being horrible, 10 being incredibly delicious). For the way it made the house smell, it scored a perfect 10.

Revelation Study

For the month of September, Nancy Leigh DeMoss is doing a series of lessons on the book of Revelation on the radio broadcast, "Revive Our Hearts." For more information on the series and/or to find a radio station in your area that carries this program, visit here.

Family Reunion

Besides eating great food and catching up with our family, there were lots of opportunities for:

Several rousing games of croquet . . .


Lots of BINGO. My favorite prizes were a bag of Ginger Snaps to have with afternoon tea and handmade potholders with scarecrows and orange rick-rack on them . . .


Yard games - someone put some already-turned leaves in a frisbee for a lovely still life . . .


Guessing the number of M&Ms in the jar . . .


And, the ever popular, baby snuggling . . .

Zucchini Bread & Strawberry Jam

Tomorrow afternoon is our annual Labor Day weekend reunion with my grandfather's family. Part of the tradition of the picnic is to play lots of rounds of BINGO. My contribution to the prize table will be several small jars of strawberry jam and a handful or two of these mini loaves of zucchini bread. Let the games begin!

Zucchini Bread

3 eggs
1 C. oil
2 C. sugar
2 C. zucchini, grated
1 tabl. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tabl. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3 C. flour

Preheat to 350. In a large bowl, beat eggs well. Add the oil and blend together. Then add sugar, zucchini, vanilla, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and baking powder; mix well. Stir in flour. Grease 2 large bread pans OR 6 mini loaf pans. Pour mixture into pans and bake for 40-45 minutes for large pans and 30-35 for minis.

Watching Before Bed

Eli's 12th Birthday

This evening while I made Eli's birthday supper, he eagerly decorated the kitchen in bat attire. With black balloons swirling around on the floor, black streamers hanging from the ceiling fan (which looked and sounded like bats if put on high speed!), foam bats clipped in various places, and cardboard bats hung from the archway, it looked like a bat cave! We found bat-shaped peppermint patties and bat Pez dispensers for favors for E. and his brothers as well as small plastic bats to decorate the table.

For his birthday supper, Eli requested:

* Potato Cheese Soup
* Homemade Applesauce
* Crescent Rolls with Strawberry Jam
* Fudge Marble Bat Cake (original directions for the bat cake here)
* Coffee Ice Cream & Rainbow Sherbert

Now the birthday boy's in the living room, watching his new DVDs - 30 hours worth of the old PBS show Marty Stouffer's Wild America. Very appropriate for our bat boy, I think.

More Bat Preparation

Another craft for the bat party. This time, E. and I made several bats from black foam glued to clothespins. We plan to hang them from black crepe streamers in the kitchen. Eli adapted the idea a bit from the original, but you'll find the instructions here. Tomorrow's the big day!

Bat Napkin Rings

Eli's 12th birthday is two days away and preparations are well underway for his bat-themed birthday celebration. Last evening, we crafted these bat napkin rings to put on the supper table. The instructions and templates are found here. Very easy and very batty. More fun to come . . .