Posts Tagged ‘autumn’

I can picture it in my mind’s eye

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

First of all, I took these 3 photos.

Which turned out w a a a a a y better than they should have for my little $69.99 Kodak digital camera.

Check out this weed. This was in the mountains when Dave and I were there a few weeks back. It was getting ready to spread its’ seed everywhere. I just like how it captured the almost explosive-movement. No touch-ups. Just this. As weeds go, pretty lovely.

And then these two. With really good cameras you can adjust the focus so that the things you aren’t focusing on are blurry, out-of-focus. I do not have that option. But my camera, for some strange reason. did that anyway. I think I may have been zoomed, I am not sure. But I love how it blurred the background. These are not touched up. If I’d known I’d stumbled into something, I’d have tried more of whatever it was. *smile

Look at that crazy-awesome background blur.

Secondly, Hunter enjoyed trying a feather and ink for alphabet writing recently.

Thirdly, Peaches & Cream, from Palizzi Farm. As amazingly sweet and delectable as it sounds.

I LOVE corn on the cob. Did you know that? Love it. It is the Iowa girl in me.

Here they come, walking down the street. Get the funniest looks from – everyone they meet. Hey-hey for grandkids!

All together now – JUMP!

Remember when we were kids and adults made us smile for pictures when the sun was totally in our eyes? Yeah, well, now I have done that to my own grandbebes. I just thought they should experience it. Haha.

Peek-a-boo, little monkeys

Gemma drew her family

And other things.

Granddaughters are sweeeeet!

Little tiny Amelie walloped her cousin, Gavin, the other day and when her daddy said, “Amelie-no hitting,” she crossed her arms and lowered her shoulders with a decided **harrumph** and plopped herself down. It is hilarious thing to see such an itty-bitty pull such a big-girl move. It probably won’t be that cute 6 months from now, but it sure was this week.

Tredessa got her dress. And I can’t show you, of course, but she is beautiful in it.

Engagement to her cute guy? Check. Amazing ring? Check. Location for the wedding (a barn!!)? Check. Dress? Check.

This is just wrong. Right? Probably. But it is evidence that the grandkids were here.

THIS? Is a good morning sight! Fresh from the garden!

I should mention, I had just dropped the green beans into boiling water for 10 seconds and then quickly submerged them into ice water to shock them green-green and make them positively delectable for random all-day-long munching. Mmm. Mm. Mm!

And in honor of the first day of autumn, I am making red beans and rice and missing my brother, Joe, whose gorgeous first born will walk down the aisle tomorrow to be married. {Mrs. Elise Leonard, aka Elise-the-Niece}

You’re just going along, enjoying summer living, and then the veins of the leaves go blood red and begin pumping color into a random branch here or there. Fascinating!

“I can picture it in my mind’s eye and it’s beautiful, Clark.” (Christmas Vacation) I can also see it here at my blog and remember and smile.

Tags: autumn, corn on the cob, fall, grandbebes, photographs
Posted in Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, Making a List!, Mi Familia, Stuff I Actually Think, TV & Movies/Books & Entertainment | 3 Comments »

It was just one of those things

Monday, November 22nd, 2010

The candle…THE candle.

It was just one of those things

Just one of those crazy flings

One of those bells that now and then rings

Just one of those things

I never- ever-ever pay a lot for a candle-in-a-jar, but Target had a fall selection of Yankee Candles (the best candles in the world) near my birthday (early October) on sale for $18, down from $24.99 and when I expressed great pleasure in the “Autumn Festival” scent, Dave insisted on getting me one. You know – for my birthday.

I have burned it, and burned it and burned it. When I am home (and sometimes when I not, shhhhhh, it isn’t on purpose!), I burn it. It has burned all day long and all night long (like, ALL night long, much to Dave’s dismay). I have burned that thing for hundreds of hours by now. 300+ I’d say.

It was just one of those nights

Just one of those fabulous flights

A trip to the moon on gossamer wings

Just one of those things

Was it meant to last this long? Was it meant to make my early mornings so sweet and my evenings so romantic? Was it supposed to burn for untold lengths of time where the memory of it lingered in the air as I’d descend the stairs come morning? And as I watch the flicker this afternoon, smaller, much closer to its end, I wonder how on earth I shall ever replace this beloved candle?

If we’d thought a bit about the end of it

When we started painting the town

We’d have been aware that our love affair

Was too hot not to cool down

I have been preparing myself for the end, dreading it, yet helpless to stop it. I have been sniffing candles madly at stores, looking for my winter comfort. But so far, none can surpass my Autumn Festival – both fruity and spicy; tangy and zesty, yet mellow, rich. It has been the scent of my home as the days have grown shorter and the nights longer; as the chill has forced its way into early morning and long hours of dark azure skies.

So good-bye, dear, and amen

Here’s hoping we meet now and then

It was great fun

But it was just one of those things

It seems hard to believe another candle could ever match this one. This one. But I am fond of a deep red cinnamon scent, earthy and multi-layered…where o where is it?!

SONG LYRICS “It Was Just One of Those Things” by Cole Porter, performed by gazillions of artists, though I am fond of the Diana Krall version!).

NOTE: I used to get very teary when my mom threw out the Christmas trees at season’s end, too. They’d just made me so happy….

Tags: autumn, candles, cole porter, doris day, yankee candles fall
Posted in Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, Memories & Melancholy, Stuff I Actually Think | No Comments »

Sweeeeeeeeeet November

Sunday, November 7th, 2010

How does November smell?

Spicy, like cinnamon.

How does November look?

Golden, like autumn squash.

How does November sound?

Crunchy, as you shuffle through the leaves.

What color is November?

November is Topaz, a multi-faceted golden, orangy, yellowish amber Topaz.

What is November’s mood?

Lovely, filled with gratefulness and love; chock full of thanksgiving.

What is the texture of November? Does it feel like something?

Yes. It feels like a chenille throw, soft and fuzzy, warm and cozy, by firelight. Naturally.

How does November taste?

Sweet. Like the purest honey. Sweet is November.

Remember the movie called “Sweet November” ?

Overall, pretty lame, as Keanu {so very cute, but seemingly pretty empty-ish and not much good at dramatic parts), plus the melodramatic storyline will most usually end up (did you recall hoiw much hope I had for “A Walk in the Clouds”? *sigh…). Anyhow, rather unsatisfactory and weird story, but a few interesting quotes I am fond of and the title is nice! ;p

Nelson: Why a month? Sara: Because it’s long enough to be meaningful, but short enough to stay out of trouble.

Nelson: Try to be wrong once in awhile. It’d do my ego good.

Sara: You’re my immortality, Nelson.

Sara: Nelson, do you want to be my November? Nelson: Yes.

Nelson: November is all I know, and all I ever want to know.

Nelson: This is it. Life will never be better or sweeter than this.

If only the movie had been as lovely as these lines…FYI: A really really great movie to see each November is “Pieces of April” starring Katie Holmes. It is a sweet Thanksgiving movie (thank-you Rob and Carol Ann for introducing me to it!).

PICTURED: The K-kids – Gavin, Guinivere and Gemma; and Hunter-Magoo!

Tags: autumn, fall, pieces of april, sweet november, thanksgiving
Posted in Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, Making a List!, Mi Familia, Songs I am Singing, Stuff I Actually Think, TV & Movies/Books & Entertainment | No Comments »

October Skies

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

l (a leaf falls) one li ness e.e. cummings

My “leaf-is-falling-but-not-really” photoshoot in the backyard. ;p

It had actually already fallen. I was just replicating it a little {camera in my right hand, leaf stem in my left}.

I quit watering the veggies when I went to Montana over a month ago. I have been gathering regularly ever since, as the vegetable garden seeks to proliferate madly before the end. Then the rainy nights came and they thought they had been asked to stay a while longer. It pains me to tell them no, but I must. Until the spring, my sweet veggies – just until the spring…

“Well, it’s a marvelous night for a Moondance

With the stars up above in your eyes

A fantabulous night to make romance

’Neath the cover of October skies

And all the leaves on the trees are falling

To the sound of the breezes that blow

And I’m trying to please to the calling

Of your heart-strings that play soft and low

And all the night’s magic seems to whisper and hush

And all the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blush.”

- Van Morrison, Moondance

FULL MOON on the 23rd!

Tags: august rush, autumn, e.e. cummings, eecummings, fall, falling leaves, garden, maple leaf, melancholy, moondance, movie, rain, van morrison
Posted in Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, Memories & Melancholy, Songs I am Singing, Stuff I Actually Think, TV & Movies/Books & Entertainment | 1 Comment »

Black Coffee and Pumpkin Butter

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

Breakfast. The most important meal of the day.

Joe brought me a present from his beautiful wife and my sweet sister-in-law (aka: Robin – sister of my heart) when we met in Springfield a few weeks ago. She made me some perfectly earthy cinnamon and all the spices of autumn-seasoned pumpkin butter, beautifully presented in a prismed jar. She also sent some of her delicately tangy and ambrosial apple-pear jam.

Breakfast. The most scrumptious meal of the day.

I brought them home and showed them off under the pretense of sharing, but I hide them in the refrigerator, moving them frequently, so that on early, dark mornings I can toast some thick slices of multi-grain bread and have one of each: apple-pear jam and pumpkin butter (with real butter, of course…does that go without saying?). And my black coffee. My very dark, very strong black coffee.

Black coffee.

In my soul, I am Julie London and this is how I sing about black coffee (and anything I am really into). Yeah. That’s right, I am this passionate about black coffee.

A good start to my morning…Jeanie

NOTE TO SELF: Call Robin because I am almost out of my delicate, almost-floral bread spreads.

Tags: autumn, coffee, food, jam, julie london, pumpkin butter, robin moslander
Posted in Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, Songs I am Singing, Stuff I Actually Think | 5 Comments »

Delicious Autumn

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.”
~George Eliot

I am visiting my parents in Springfield.

Two days ago I watched my backyard Aspens flutter dark green to yellow in one day. I swear it. The leaves were turning that fast, hourly lighter and brighter in color. Today it is snowing in Denver, really snowing, they say. By next week the naked branches, up to their knees in brown crunchiness, will glare at me as I attempt to rake up the once-glorious leafery.

But I?

I have chased autumn into a Missouri mood that lingers like musk on my skin. I have escaped to turning-leaves on proud trees and the deep intensity of autumn colors that hold both the memory of exuberant youth with its’ fresh, green-spring growth, and the exploding red-to-the-core ripeness of the late summer tomato, now seasoned to a complex beauty, indisputably richer and wiser for the aging. The blazing urgency of the season, so much to experience before it all passes into winter, is salty on my tongue. I inhale the cinnamon-scented air, and taste the pungent, spicy and intangible gift of the equinox while the crickets sing that haunting song I have always loved.

Burnt sienna and ochre rustle restlessly as autumn falls and the cool night air sprinkles wet diamonds onto my keyboard and into my mouth filling my lungs with cool, brisk air and enduring toasted warmth at once. Haley’s Comet spilled burning meteor fragments in the wee hours, punctuating the night sky with light, a spectacle for late-night lovers young and old.

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What is it about fall? Not just nostalgia, so much sweeter. Faded, yet more glorious. Softer, yet stronger. The taste? Lingering, commemorative, a celebration of all that has ever been with a watchful eye for all to come. Delicious.

I always hate to see summer end, yet the autumn is my life’s palette, the colors of my heart. Even the heading at the top of this page gives ode to the falling leaf…Jeanie

NOTE TO SELF: Grab the season with gusto, hold it close until the last leaf flies away.

pictured: a google image of Missouri and what I am surrounded by

Tags: autumn, autumn quotes, fall, hael's comet
Posted in Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, Memories & Melancholy, Mi Familia, Stuff I Actually Think | 4 Comments »

My mom waxes poetic

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

My mom and I were drinking coffee on the deck this morning and enjoying the rustling leaves in their fall coat-of-many-colors. Autumn is romantic. This is from my mama’s heart and mind:

“The butterflies are taking one last dance across the meadow.

Please hurry back, I’ll see you in the spring…”

-Norma Moslander

Tags: autumn, butterflies, fall
Posted in Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, Mi Familia, My Most Unforgettable People, Stuff I Actually Think | 2 Comments »

September Garden

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

“But now in September the garden has cooled, and with it my possessiveness. The sun warms my back instead of beating on my head … The harvest has dwindled, and I have grown apart from the intense midsummer relationship that brought it on.”
- Robert Finch

Pearl has beautifully cleaned her garden and cleared it away. My cousins in the midwest, I have heard, have done the same. But I always struggle to let go, to actually let summer pass into fall.

Early last week I thought the zucchini looked weak and perhaps were nearly “over,” so I watered them once more, gathering an arm-load of fruit, planning to uproot and end their time over the weekend. The very next day, however, they were alive again with large yellow blooms, shouting their worth and prolonging their stay.

Some of the garden will make it through the cold.

But these cold days and cold, cold nights are going to do all the tender plants in. Ultimately many of the flowers, including the petunias and nicotiana and zinnias, will make it through this frigid spell and will shine like stars in the universe in October as Monarch butterflies dance around them, captivating my fancy while I should be doing something productive. And if I cover my tomatoes and peppers, which, of course, I will, they will suffer some, but keep producing – almost until Thanksgiving, the Lord willing and I remember to pay special attention.

Some of the garden won’t make it through the end of the week.

But the cucumbers, the zucchini and the spaghetti squash will likely not make it past this week. Their tender leaves are taking a hit that will be irrepairable. I have already pulled most of the green beans.

It’s so hard to say good-bye.

But it is hard to let them go. It is difficult to watch the yard begin to retreat into its winter-ready clothes where once it danced merrily in dazzling color and sizzling heat. It’s hard to hear the sound of dry, rustling leaves where children once splashed in water to the frog, toad and cricket’s song of the castinets.

The harvest is dwindling.

Today I brought in 2 armfuls of baby zucchini, lemon and English cukes and some other variety of cucumber. I ate a couple of small beans right there amidst the soil and fading green. I grabbed some huge, very happy-looking peppers (where a fridge full of their colorful cousins await being used), and I grabbed the reddish tomatoes, which are too soft inside to expose to such cold, but will continue their ripening on the counter and be delectable in the next 2-3 days.

This is the September garden. It dwindles.

Tags: autumn, cucumber, fall, garden, seasons, summer, zucchini
Posted in Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, Memories & Melancholy, Stuff I Actually Think | 4 Comments »

Wind

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

Threatened by a forecast of freezing rain turning to snow, we are actually hosting a magnificent and sunny day fully lighting the multi-faceted palette and texture of fall. Fluttering madly in the autumn breeze and dancing to the tune of the wind chime, the once-emerald leaves of the Aspen clump are becoming more golden by the hour. The burning bushes are flaming as scarlet as they can be and potted flower heads are bowing in reverance to the power of the season as it blows by, sometimes in a whisper, sometimes as a roar.

Psalm 65.9 The Message

O, visit the earth – ask her to join the dance!

…fill the God-river with living water. Paint the wheatfields golden.

Creation was made for this!

Drench the plowed fields, soak the dirt clods with rainfall…

Set the hills to dancing! dress the canyon walls with live sheep,

a drape of flax across the valleys!

Let them shout and shout and shout! Oh, let them sing and sing!

I am singing my head off to You, O Lord, and trying to sing as loud as the trees which are clapping their hands and the bushes which are dancing (the twist) for your pleasure. You have made all of creation so holy, so set apart for Your glory. Can I live my life as free, as abandoned?

God and all He has created are glorious!…Jeanie

NOTE TO SELF: See His glory.

Tags: autumn, Bible, fall, garden, my backyard, prayer, scripture, wind
Posted in Home & Garden/Food & Seasons, JESUS, Lover of My Soul, Stuff I Actually Think | 2 Comments »

October is Orange

Saturday, October 4th, 2008

October is pumpkins and spice, rustling leaves, brilliant carrots and abundant gourds and squash. It is wool socks, leather shoes and a new pair of dark blue Levi’s. October is tricks and treats, turtlenecks, Sunday suppers and chimnea fires. It’s roasted seeds and amber and gold with browns and greens. It’s spicy, cool mornings and indigo-dark skies. It’s cinnamon rolls and fresh spicy pies. It’s blazing color and fried green tomatoes, and caramel and taffy and apples, too. But mostly, October is orange.