pumpkins and post four hundred . . .

I was so surprised to see that this is my 400th post! Granted, it's been since 2003, but *still*! Makes me think I should give something away or something . . . I may do a Thanksgiving giveaway, in appreciation for my seven blogging years and 400+ posts. Yeah!

So many pull out the pumpkins for October, and kick 'em to the curb when November rolls around. Not me . . . I'm just getting good and comfy with my pumpkins! Allow me to share . . .

My sweet daughter brought me back some yummy Pumpkin Pie Tea from her trip to Seattle. I had some this morning. It was the perfect compliment to a chilly November morning!

And it smelled oh-so-good as it steeped! A little sugar and cream -- it was like having warm pumpkin pie in a cup! YUM!

A cute little quilted pumpkin mat is a perfect counter adornment.

And then my favorite turkey . . .

Isn't he grand? I had a plain, brown one I'd gotten a long time ago, but I'd had it in my car when I had the wreck, and not all the pieces survived. I was determined to get another.

Imagine my delight to find this handsome fellow, and at 50% off, too! But then I realized I needed a pumpkin, and I hadn't purchased one this year. Rut roh. Last night on may way home and on a whim, I stopped in at a local nursery, and asked them how much for a pumpkin. The fellow behind the counter, who I believe may have been the owner, looked at me funny and asked, "What in the world do you want a pumpkin for? October's over! Just take one; we'll be tossing them soon anyway." Score!

Pumpkin goodness. Ah, yes!

Happy Friday, folks -- we have lots of campers in this weekend, so I'm sure we'll be busy!

:)

the landscape is slowly catching up . . .

Todd and I took the golf cart out a couple of days ago, just tooling about. When we moved here last year, it was late in fall and the glorious fall colors were at their peak! This year I have the pleasure of watching the transformation on a daily basis!

We first headed down to the upper pond. Because our summer was so dry, we're not going to have the spectacular colors we had last year, but in spite of the lack of rain, you can see that the foliage is doing its best to please!

The late afternoon sun was so bright, it was hard to get a decent picture. Above, the sun is to my back and shining down on the tree tops. It's almost easier to look in the pond reflection!

The leaves are definitely starting to drop. The bottom pond is full of swirly leaves!

Lots of reds and plums in these trees. You can just see Todd down there, searching the tree line for a good place to put picnic tables!

Okay, I admit, I'm a little fascinated with the reflection pictures. Especially since the colors look so much prettier in the water!

Ah, there you can see some gold leaves mixed amongst the red and green -- whew! It was starting to look a little Christmasy!

This tree caught my eye -- it has hardly any leaves on it; they're mostly all brown on the ground -- but the vine growing up the trunk is very pretty! It almost looks like a flame, growing as it moves up the tree.

In the deep woods things are mostly green. I just like the way the setting sun looked through the trees!

Slowly but surely, the foliage is catching up with the season!

:)

a ride through the woods . . .

Nature is a big part of our lives, living up here at Camp MACOBA! We absolutely love it -- in fact, we foster it by putting out seed and feed and mineral rocks for the deer/critters. Todd & I love nothing more than to sit at our picture window in the morning and sip our coffee, watching the multitude of birds fly in and out and their antics. We keep a list of each different bird and animal we've seen. Until this last week, we'd never seen a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, but now we've added them to our list!

We first noticed the female, who took up residence on the feeder just outside our window.

She literally camped there for quite some time -- just made herself at home! This was before we'd figured out what she was.

It wasn't until we saw the male that we were able to figure out what they were!

Above is him from the back . . . below is him from the front. Easier to see how they got their name, when you see the male from the front!

It wasn't hard to spot him anywhere he went within our view . . .

He's alone in the platform feeder here, but at one point, the whole family of six or seven were camped out in the feeder!

It's been so dry lately, all the birds are appreciating the bird baths. I watched a dove drink and drink and drink the other day!

Now that we've got the golf cart, I'm able to get around the camp a little better. Until the cart, I was limited to where we could go by car, and where I could comfortably walk. The trails were out of the question, and I really missed being able to walk them.

In particular, I missed being able to get down to this spot, one of my favorites! It's just below the pavilion -- about seventy-five feet down the hill. It's a sweet little secluded spot, sitting on the edge of a little creek. You can just make out the little bridge. It's the perfect area for a quiet picnic. There's already a grill down there, and we'll get a picnic table or two down there before long.

Todd had done a lot of clearing work on the trails over the past couple of weeks, and while we were out and about yesterday, we took the Nature Trail. I dearly love ferns -- they so remind me of the woods behind my Grandma's house -- and so this little gully of ferns caught my eye immediately.

They were so delicate and sweet! The late afternoon sun just danced it's way through the trees, making it all very pretty and almost fairy-like.

I was amazed at the amount of wildflowers still around, even though the leaves are changing and we've had temps down close to freezing.

I'm not sure what this is, but on closer inspection, it looked a lot like baby's breath.

It was delicate and white. I wanted to pick some, but until I figure out what it is (and what it's not), I decided to wait.

We also stumbled across these pretty little purple flowers . . .

And several in yellow, too. I took pictures of the ragweed, as well. It's never bothered me allergy-wise, and despite it's name, I do think it's a pretty splash of color in the fall!

Heading back to the RV, a little color in the hedges caught my eye:

Honeysuckle! In October!! There were several little patches of it, surrounded by the fall berries. I've never seen honeysuckle out this late in the year, and so it was a sweet surprise!

Just some of the images that are a part of my life, up here at Camp MACOBA this fall!

:)

glue gun monday!

Monday was the epitome of a beautiful October day. It was sunny and clear, with enough of a crisp nip in the air to keep you mindful that cold is coming! Sweater weather! This truly kicks off my favorite time of the year -- from now until the end of December!

Todd & I headed to town early, had breakfast at Cracker Barrel, and then headed to the Madison Baptist Association to have our picture taken for the directory. We also ran some other errands -- bank, Tractor Supply for bird seed, and Hunter Road for slippers -- before heading back to the camp. The weather was perfect and traffic was light because all the schools are out for fall break.

To that end, my daughter (the teacher) and I celebrated by meeting up at Emma's Tea Room for lunch. And my sweet girl brought me a pretty ceramic pumpkin! It totally went with my outfit, so the proprietor, Rebekah, insisted that I hold it in the picture.

My beautiful daughter is twenty-one weeks pregnant and just found out last week that she's going to have a BOY!! She's very excited, as is this grandma! Another grandson for me! I'm *so* very blessed!!!

After lunch, we made a trip to Hobby Lobby. I love that place! I could have spent a LOT of money there, but RV living makes that rather pointless, so I restrained myself to this darling little thing . . .

It rather perfectly goes with our whole "living in a campground' way of life!

From there, we headed over to Earth Fare. We had planned to go one Saturday in May, but the day before we were supposed to go, I had the wreck. It's a nice store -- fairly similar to our favorite Whole Foods Market, in Nashville! I can see it getting more traffic from the two of us! She did mention that it would make sense for us to coordinate our menus, so that we could shop & split. Since we're both cooking for two, it makes sense!

While I was there, I purchased an apple and a pear. When I finally got home, I made a yummy apple & pear tart for Todd & I. It seemed like the perfect fall dessert.

After dinner that evening I got out my trusty hot glue gun and finally started on the candy corn wreath for my Secret Pal. My sister gave me that hot glue gun AGES ago for my birthday, and it's the best one I've ever worked with. It's cordless, so I can remove it from the base and not be hampered by a pesky cord. It's been a while since I'd used it -- I forget how much fun they are!

I used a round, straw wreath form, instead of the styrofoam form (which has squared edges). I have to admit it made the placement of the corn a little more difficult, but I like the look better.

I'll hang it outside on Friday, once the candy corn has had time to get good & stale, and I'll spray the whole thing with a preserving spray. Once that's dry, I'll but the black ribbon on it and it'll be ready for delivery.

While I was playing with Jocelyn, Todd gathered up some acorns for me. I figured while I already had the glue gun out, I'd use those and some tiny pine cones I'd collected from Hunter Road to make something fallish.

Isn't it nice the way nature supplies such great crafting materials??

These little pine cones are really darling. And they look like flowers, when you look down on them!

Just playing around with things I had, I fashioned a cute napkin ring holder. Cute, huh? Worth making a second, I think. It was super easy -- it's just ribbon wrapped around a section of sleeve cut from a paper towel cardboard. I hot glued the ribbon in place, and added the decorations I wanted. Super simple, but pretty cute.

Finally, I was going through my fall pdf files, and stumbled across this little guy that I'd found in Martha Stewart's Living magazine. I haven't finished cutting him out, but you get the gist. It's a favor holder -- you fill the log with chocolates or nuts or candy. Since I'm using them more for decor than for favors, I'll fill 'em with pea gravel. I just thought they were really cute!

Happy Fall, ya'll!

:)

loverly weekend . . .

Truly, it's been a lovely, long weekend! I do adore having Mondays off. It gives the weekend lots of depth, and makes the work week far more bearable! ;)

Plus, we get to pack a lot of stuff in! Saturday, Todd and I headed to South Huntsville to pick up a golf cart for Camp MACOBA. We got a *sweet* deal on this baby, and it runs great. It handles the trails out here very nicely, which means Todd was able to take me through the woods and all around -- places I haven't been able to get to since the accident. It was wonderful!!!

We also purchased a large (20' by 10') screened tent. This will give us a place to have both sets of kids and their families over to eat, and have bug protection, too!

All it needs is to have one of the picnic tables brought over. Todd's going to do that sometime soon. I even grabbed my red-checkered tablecloth from Hunter Road for use here! We've got our lawn chairs, too, that we'll put under there for coffee in the mornings. Fun!

Saturday afternoon I made chili and put it in the crock pot, then I made Todd and I some sugar-free gourmet hot chocolate. We took it up to the bedroom and watched the Alabama game on the flat screen up there. We rarely watch TV up there (I watch it up there when I'm alone), so it was like a party.

The hot chocolate (with whipped cream piled high) made it feel like a party too!

This morning, I asked Todd to bring me some Coffee Mate on his way home. What a darling ... he also brought me some flowers!

He said the orange just looked happy -- I have to agree! And perfect for autumn!

I found a pair of shoes at the Dollar Store that I can wear on BOTH feet!! You can't know how exciting this is for me. Never mind the fact that I had to buy a size larger so that my right foot could fit into it! I DON'T CARE!

They aren't the most glamorous of shoes, but they're functional and look halfway decent and they're the SAME! I'm smiling! You can tell there's still swelling in the right ankle, too, but I really think the Mobic is making a difference. It's been a lot easier to walk since I started taking it.

This afternoon I decided it was time to decorate with some fun, fall things!

I think I kept a good balance of fun and pretty things. This is my second fall to decorate in the RV; we moved in early in November last year, and I did put my fall things out (for just a little while). I can't believe that *I* didn't take any pictures -- Camera Queen that I am!

Finally, as I often do, I'll end with a little reminder of one of my favorite things in the whole, wide world . . .

He really *is* such a happy little dude!

:)

to my Mom & Dad . . .

Happy *Golden* Anniversary!!

What a truly wonderful example of marital love
you have been for fifty years.

We love you much!

:)

fall processes . . .

Fall has been on my mind. I have this very clear picture of a fall wall hanging in my mind, and in order to be *true* to the process pledge I took, I thought I'd jot a little of it down today! There's probably a kit out there somewhere that does something similar to this, but this is what's in my head, and I think I'd like to go with it.

My thinking is a rectangular wall hanging -- not overly big -- probably around 22" X 17" s (Which happens to be the *exact* size of my desk calendar; wasn't that convenient?). Maybe a little bigger, but I want it to be something I can hang in my RV, so it really couldn't be too much bigger!

I sketched it out on paper. My idea is a bushel basket at the top left corner, with leaves falling out of it, starting small, and getting progressively bigger to the bottom of the quilt. I am not the best of sketchers, but I get my point.

I like the idea of just a tree trunk in the background, with the quilting making the bark look. I got my basket in there, but I wasn't happy with my leaf drawings, so I pulled up Publisher and played around in it a little. I like the effect of the larger leaves spilling out over the inside border!

So far, so good. I added acorns at the corners -- I love acorns! I just used a couple of different clip art leaves and resized/rotated them to get the feeling I'm after. I found a clip art tree that I chopped up in paint, so I didn't have the rest of the leaves and limbs showing on it. Then after I printed it, I realized I want the trunk a bit thicker, so I penciled that in, along with my quilted bark, and my basket. I'm not sure I like the holes in the tree -- that was just the picture I pulled up -- but it does give the roots definition. I dunno. In my mind, it makes the tree look a little spooky, and that's definitely not the feeling I want. I want substantial.

I felt like my basket drawing needed to be heavier, darker, so I put the pencil back to that. I'll probably use more leaves than what I've pictured -- it needs to be a little fuller -- and I'll probably use a mossy-green batik for the background. I didn't think I'd like green as the backdrop, but it sets off the fall colors very nicely! I'll keep a darker green for the outer border, and bind it in a dark brown.

I was originally thinking of quilting the leaf definition on the leaves, but now I'm thinking I'll machine applique, and quilt a twirling, falling leaf pattern instead! (Whew!)

I found a great template for a maple leaf -- I'd like to have at least two different styles of leaf (like a maple and an oak), and may two or three of an odd shape thrown in for interest. I think I'd like to use bold, fall-colored batiks. Batiks are perfect for autumn leaves, because you get that rather mottled look -- it also adds eye interest!

I have to admit, the thought of cutting out all those leaves is rather daunting! This is definitely where a GO! cutter or even pre-cuts would be nice. Really, the GO! cutter would be most GREAT! Perhaps one of those will find its way into my possession someday soon!

So there it is. The process has begun. FIRST, though, there are some Lissa blocks and a Sawyer quilt that I MUST see to!

TGIF!!

:)

mail call!

So I slipped into the post office yesterday afternoon to check our post office box and guess what I found???

A SURPRISE!!!

A package? For me??? Who could have sent it?

Hahaha! I've been expecting you, ma cherie! (Which is most appropriate, because my little package came from Calgary, AB, CANADA)! I got a package from Canada!! Well, Canada didn't really send it; it came from LEE in Canada!

It's a beeee-yooo-tiful fall-inspired mini quilt! And it really is quite charming.

I love the viney leaf pattern quilted in the borders! This makes me more inclined to get out my sewing machine and practice machine quilting. I love the things you can do with the machine and the look of it. But I'm a little ... afraid. And a LOT impatient!

And the title, "Fall View" is so appropriate, given all the wonderful colors that make this pretty topper!

Lee also sent me a little extra, "just because." !!! Isn't she *sew* sweet?!? It's a darling little zippered bag. I *love* zippered bags! :)

Lee, again and again, thank you! It's lovely and I love it!

Jour hereux!

:)