and one more

Ode to the end of summer...CSA is over.... I will miss it immensely, the fresh veggies full of color and deliciousness, the experiments with new foods never seen and in some cases not even heard of. It's been a great experience and one I hope to repeat next summer. I don't even want to think about heading to the grocery to purchase fake vegetables shipped from who knows where because that is what it feels like after you have had the real thing fresh from the garden. I ended the season with two more fun meals - one with turnips - which it turns out could be a new favorite for me and the other a veggie enchilada - with tatsoi, pattypan and red peppers. Yummy! Now I begin to compile my cookbook because of course I must keep a record of the fun and the yum! Thankfully we have lots of squash waiting to carry us through the winter and even a sweet potato or two. We have been blessed.

favorite picture from my fall trips

early morning mist over the water

Lake Wallenpaupak, Poconos

The Country Living Fair

My third trip this month was to GA. I was taking my girl back to school and decided it would be fun to spend a long weekend with my family in Atlanta. Then I read about the Country Living Fair coming to Stone Mountain and knew it would be a blast. When I called the girls they were "in" so off we went with thousands of other crazy ladies to the fair. We actually went two days and saw different stuff each day. It was a bit overwhelming but incredibly inspiring to be among so many artisans. I want to do this when I grow up. No wait - I want to do this NOW! Obviously the economy was not suffering at this fair - other than in my pocketbook, but I took about 100 pictures of inspiration to make up for the lack of shopping, or should I say, my usual robust style of shopping - I'll take one of these and one of those was severely limited. I did find one or two little things I couldn't live without (and no, the things above are not those!)

Personal favorite: Bed and Breakfast - Make Your Own

traveling the countryside

I haven't been doing much of anything but traveling this month, in fact 3 of the last 4 weekends have been spent away from home. It has been a joy to experience fall in several different regions. First stop - the Pocono Mountains of PA - see posts below. Next trip was to the mountains of West Virginia. We actually drive over 5 different mountain ranges on this trip. Interestingly enough, the colors were gorgeous on the west side (below) of the mountains but not so much as we traveled east. (picture above)

in the meadow at our friends farm


at the river

The biggest disappointment on this trip was the reality of "you break - you buy." Yes friends - it is true - they really do make you buy it - especially if it is a $200 antique rootbeer canteen that you never even saw before it crashed into pieces at your feet. Ugh! I still feel sick thinking about it. One minute I am admiring a teapot and the next minute I am looking at ceramics by my feet. I won't tell you what I really thought at the time but I will tell you I cried - but it made no difference and yes it is true - I am now banned from antique stores by my husband. It's a shame but there's no use crying over spilt milk as my momma used to say. But it will take a while to get over this one!

A walk in the woods alphabet

D is for decay, H is for hemlock, and X (it was laying in the path just like this which brought a squeal of joy from me. Do you know how hard X is to find?)

One of my current art projects is an alphabet from walking in the woods on the farm. I have photographs and sketches of almost every letter which i will post when it is completed but I found a few more this weekend in the Poconos that I thought to share. I haven't decided if I can use them since they aren't in "my" woods. What do you think?

and look what else I found:

K is for Kathy. What I wouldn't give to find her in my woods more often!

fall in the mountains

I went away for the weekend with girlfriends from high school. We met up at a halfway point in the Pocono Mts of PA where we stayed in the charming log cottage of my friend Linda. So fun to stay in a place that is so close to our own dream of a log home. We hiked in the woods, got a kayak out on the water, and chatted about life over the last 30 years until we were hoarse. So much fun to reconnect and reenergize in the beautiful creation. I can't wait until our own place is really up and running and I can entertain friends and family in our own retreat.