Out my front door.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I love Fall. It’s the time of year when you can throw the curtains open wide and let the soft sunlight shine in. Unlike summer when I run around the house closing all the curtains to keep the sun out and keep the house cool. The view out every window is breathtaking right now—filled with color.

It’s so dark in the mornings that it’s hard to rouse yourself up and out of bed. Just a few minutes more I tell the dogs ...

What follows are views around my yard right now.

Colorful fallen leaves in the front yard.

The back fence.

The back yard: flower garden area, the woods next to the yard, mushrooms in the woods.

Along our street.

Leaves (what kind?) the size of dinner plates.

It’s so hard to capture the colors. They glow with a warmth that just doesn’t come through in the photos. It warms my soul from within.

Did I already tell you that I love Fall?

Yesterday when I drove down to Wayne to do my ‘big box’ store shopping, I took my camera along just in case. When I got to Monksville Reservoir I was glad I did. The fall colors were glowing in the morning sun. I just stood there for a while drinking it all in. Then I walked out on this floating dock to take some shots. It’s not quite peak yet, but very close.

The only disturbance in the water were tiny ripples fanning out from the slight movement of the dock as I walked out on it.

Taking a much closer look at the reflections causes a case of confusion! Which way is up? The photos end up looking like abstract paintings instead of photographs. Watch out they don’t make you dizzy!

Beautiful, is it not?
I can’t wait to get the canoe out this weekend! More to follow!

Please note: These photos were not enhanced in any way. They are just as they came out of my camera. No tweaking of colors.

We had a mixed weekend: one day at home and one day of the Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool Festival.

On Saturday we had a lazy morning of playing with our iPads sitting side by side (as predicted!). We also got some chores done that needed to be done, such as taking down the cabana curtains and storing them away for another year. We always find an interesting critter hiding amongst the curtains. For the past two years we’ve found the same type of prickly black caterpillar seen here. This year we found this colorful spider. I was convinced it was poisonous because it just looked like it was, but from research online it looks like it’s just a common garden spider. I know you all don’t like photos of buggy things, but you have to appreciate Mother Nature when she’s this creative.

Saturday was very windy and not the kind of day you’d want to spend a lot of time outdoors in. It was a challenge folding up the cabana curtains! We also moved wood from our large stack of wood to underneath the deck for easy and dry access. We still have more to do but at least it’s a start.

Sunday was a beautiful day weather-wise! The wind was gone, and in its wake was a typical fall day with clear blue skies and crisp air. We drove up to Rhinebeck for the Sheep & Wool Festival.

This man was carving pumpkins with the theme of the Festival in mind.

We wandered around from barn to barn with all kinds of wares for sale. I did manage to buy a bit of yarn— a pretty colorway from Spirit Trails for a scarf and some soft soft soft Alpaca for neckwarmers and who knows what else. I am hoping it gets me jump-started to do a little knitting again. I hope I remember how ...

While wandering through one of the barns I passed a person that looked familiar. It was Jane! We had promised to meet up anyway and here she was without any planning or cell phone calling! We hugged and chatted for a little bit and it was good to see her again, and looking so well at that!

I also met up with friend Karen, and somehow managed to run into our next-door neighbors Aileen and Bruce too!

When I saw the way these sheep were trimmed I was reminded of all the sculpting that goes on in dog shows! What gives with the tabletop cut? Why would you want a square sheep?

And I’m not certain this this guy could see a thing.

Did I forget to mention that Sunday was also our anniversary? 29 years. Where did the time go? We raised a glass or two (or three) of champagne when we got home.

Cheers to us!

You know me—I love a good storm. Sitting in Colorado under all that blue sky while back home they were having two really good storms drove me crazy. As predicted, the Nor’easter came. But it was pretty much a fizzle. Yes, it rained but not nearly as much as they had thought it would. No biggie, that’s for sure. Today is supposed to be gusty and windy on the tail end but that’s about it. If you want good weather just ask me to come and visit you! But, there is a definite upside to this and that is the changing trees. Right now they don’t need to have their leaves ripped off!

It was still the perfect kind of day (cloudy and cool) to be making this stew. It takes tons of prep work with peeling and cutting all the veggies and making the red wine and porcini mushroom sauce, but it’s totally worth it.

It gets served with some lentils (they get the sauce too) and a celery root and potato purée. Delicious!

Now for the second part of this post. The day before yesterday Rick came home from work and handed me an Apple bag. I knew right away what it was—an iPad! He told me I would probably getting one for Christmas or my birthday, but it’s neither one of those! What a surprise!

I LOVE IT! Thanks so much, honey!

Since Rick got his back in May it’s hardly left his side. I’ve often kidded him about how his iPad can do just about everything. Well, except for one thing that I can think of! And, if it did that he wouldn’t need me at all! After just one day of playing around with it I am beginning to see the addiction. I can just see us now, sitting side by side completely engrossed in our own little iPad worlds, sending each other IM’s back and forth ... how romantic!

Yesterday I was roaming around the grounds of Skylands Botanical Gardens and came across this flowering bush. They had lots of them planted. Does anybody know what this is? The photos show the different stages of blooming through the strange pod that comes after the bloom. The branches are ebony and it’s a large bush-like plant.