An Old Friend Stops By

The deer have been moving in closer to the house as Fall really sets in. There is one female who always stops by and peers in through the back doors to see if she can beg an apple. She is the boldest of all the deer who make the woods behind our house home. Today she came by and scored a few apples before a special visitor stopped by.

This old male has shown up in the Fall for the past three years and hangs around through the winter months. He was injured last winter and I thought for sure he was not going to make it. So I was especially happy to see him today and treated him to apples and carrots before he decided to retreat back into the woods. I'm hoping this is just the first of many visits this year.

Spooky Sweets

These two Halloween cakes from "i am baker" make me wish I was more talented in the baking department. I can only imagine the patience required to pull off the Bat Cake.

I'm planning on making some cupcakes next weekend so that we can have a little Halloween celebration while we carve our pumpkin. I'm going to cheat and use box mix, but found some really cool cupcake liners and bought orange and black icing so we can get a little creative. I figure it's better to compromise and end up with cupcakes than be over ambitious and end up just short on time. Cupcakes from scratch is just going to have to wait for less hectic days.

Pumpkin Carving Kit

I splurged on a pumpkin carving kit, if you can call $6.99 a major outlay of cash . It's more of a splurge in the sense that carving a pumpkin can certainly be done with a decent kitchen knife a spoon. My "use what's at hand" motto of recent was overridden by the notion that the kit would make our pumpkin carving seem more like an event. Also some of the templates provided convinced me that I might be able to pull off something really spectacular. I'm thinking if it goes even half way decently, I'll end up with something more impressive than my usual three triangles and a mouth. We'll see. A beautiful pumpkin sits in the kitchen waiting to be transformed. pictures to follow.



This neat little "Pumpkin Hollow" idea is from the Disney Family Fun site which is packed with lots of great projects and inspiration for Halloween.

Roadside Attraction

I've been meaning to take pictures of this abandoned dinner for over a year now and finally accopmlished it last weekend. I was determined to capture some images of this dilapidated beauty before it is bought and renovated or towed away and replaced by something new. My biggest fear is that it will just be demolished one day. No one would demolish one of these gems or would they?

I hope not, but just in case we finally stopped after grabbing our last Polar Cub ice cream of the season and I took a couple of pictures. The light was really strong and maybe not the best for photos but I ended up with a few shots that I like.

Apple Picking and Hopefully Apple Pie

We went to the apple orchards early this fall hoping to beat the crowds and also to make sure we didn't miss out this year. It's so easy to think you'll get to something and then suddenly run out of weekends. The one disadvantage, it was hot when we went out and lugging a basket of apples is no fun in hot weather. There are two disadvantage come to think of it. The second is that apples are generally sweeter after a good cold spell and ours are definitely on the tart side.

All the more reason to get to another item on our "Fall To Do List" which is to make an apple pie. Nothing like a lot of sugar and a buttery crust to dress up some less than sweet apples. Now I just need to decide whether to do a thin slice or chunky apple pie.

My Neighbor Totoro

I bought My Neighbor Totoro on a whim not knowing what to expect and was pleasantly surprised. We tend to watch our videos over and over (as three year old will), so I've seen this one several times already. It's a sweet story with surreal elements, I guess most animated children's videos are. My little one likes the Cat Bus, "Run, run, run!" she laughs and screams. I particularly like the the settings which depict rural Japan in the 1950s. The representation of nature and the seasons are very beautifully rendered, although a little disjointed from the anime style drawing of the character's.

The video came with a bonus disc in which Hayao Miyazaki and other members of Studio Ghibli discuss the making of the movie and The Totoro Forest Foundation. The foundation was created to preserve the forests and natural habitat of the Sayama Hills which were the inspiration for the film. It was inspiring to see the conservation efforts and I love hearing people discuss why they create what they do, so I am quite pleased with my impulse buy.

Last of Summer

Summer is officially over and fall has taken over in a big way, from the school buses on the road to the crisp weather. The stores are full of Halloween stuff as if September doesn't even exist. The chipmunk is digging a new hole and apparently fortifying for the winter. I was hoping for an Indian Summer but have resigned myself to an early Fall and cold Winter.

Our garden is shutting down, the sunflowers are now basically reduced to bird food except for a few late bloomers. The deer have stolen the last of the tomatoes and the one hope of a pepper. The inflatable pool is slowly creeping towards the neighbor's yard and asking to be deflated. Feels like time to batten down the hatches and get ready for indoor living. We still have pumpkin picking, a hayride and jumping in leaves to look forward to but the days are getting shorter. That's the hardest part losing the summer light. Goodbye summer, we loved you.

Monday Inspiration: Samuel Beckett

I really love the idea of failing better. Forget the pressure of succeeding all the time and just fail better. Thank you for these wise words Samuel Beckett.

Want a reminder that's it's okay to not be be perfect, this poster is available at Keep Calm Gallery.

Some Favorite Bits of Summer

These are some of the images that are going to define the summer of 2010 for me. Is fall really just a week away? Well it actually already feels like it is here.

First pony ride.

First dragon ride.

Chasing balloons.

Our Garden.

"Slide go wee."

Visiting "Joanie Girlie" the pig and the chicken family "mommy, daddy and baby".

Peach picking.

Now We Are Three

Well almost. Tomorrow is actually my little one's third birthday but we squeezed in a tiny little celebration for our tiny little family yesterday before the work week took over. Happily it was quite a success with the party girl.

We did a little something each day of the long weekend to get ready. She helped with the preparations including cutting the flowers, wrapping her presents and trying to light the candles of her cake. (Suddenly, I had a fear she might start taking an interest in matches. Something else to worry about.) I think that is what she was most looking forward to - blowing the candles out on her cake and making a wish.

I'm constantly amazed at the things she picks up. We certainly spoke about singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out the candles but I never mentioned making a wish to her. Sure enough she found out somewhere. I was about to light the candles and she declared "I'm going to blow out candles and make a wish." She did pretty well (with some help), so I hope she gets her wish. I'm not even sure she knows what a wish is but who knows. I can only wonder what my little three year old wished for. I made a wish too, but it's a secret.