Autumn in the Countryside

Hello there!  How was your weekend?  We only left the house to go grocery shopping on Saturday.. the rest of the time we just hung out, I crocheted, I finished the book "The Knitting Circle" on my iPad.  It was sad.. but good.  Last evening I began "The Language of Flowers".  Oh my.. it certainly isn't what I expected!  Too soon to say more.  I put out some of my fall decor on the dining table.  I won't be able to put out too much as we're using it for the 6 of us to have dinner together. I rescued the 5 legged oak farm table from my grandparent's chicken house 25 years ago and had it refinished.  Just a few weeks ago we were used to having our dinner on our laps in front of the TV.  Now we are more like the Waltons with the family around the table!  Here are my 3 little pumpkins that I crocheted.. love them!  For the pattern, click HERE. It's halfway down the page.

I love decorating for the season and holidays.  I don't do a lot of it, but my table usually has a centerpiece or some flowers.  It makes me happy.  As for the big holiday coming up, I get a bit extravagant... :-D  My friend Shirley gave me the felted acorn on the right last year, too.

I try to pick up one new decorative item each season, and this is mine from last year, a handblown glass pumpkin from the glassblower at McMenamin's Edgefield.   

My sister Denise and I made ourselves a little scarecrow some 25 years ago, too.  We created them from scratch.. we used aluminum foil to create a "skeleton" and sewed up some blue jeans and stuffed them and sewed on patches.  We used a circle of red felt for a hat, etc.  I love putting him out each year. 

On Saturday morning we were watching the Food Network while I crocheted and they were doing this long series on chili.  I'd been wanting to make homemade chili for a while, I do this every autumn, so off we went to the store to get the ingredients.  Here is my chili simmering on the stove.  We used red and black beans.

I don't follow a recipe - we quick soaked the beans for 2 hours, then simmered them until they were done, another few hours, then I sauteed up 3 1/2 lbs of ground beef, along with a chopped green pepper and a whole Hermiston onion and minced garlic.  When that was cooked I added chili powder, ground red pepper, salt and pepper and cumin.  Then added 1 can of tomato sauce, 1 can of stewed tomatoes and 1 can of tomato paste -- added that all to the beans and voila! - home made chili!  

Dayle made a big pan of cornbread while I was working on finishing up the chili.  Everyone enjoyed it, even the little guys! 

My daughter sent these adorable photos of my two granddaughters in a sunflower field.  Sweet! 

I miss them so much.  wah. 

This photo of Paige bowled me over - the braids.. oh my.  I used to braid Amy's hair when she was young.  We plan to go visit next late summer or fall.. way too long between seeing these precious girls.

Our son Travis and his wife Kristi have been working on cleaning up our barn - way too many things have been put in there, never to be dealt with - but those two are amazing and have filled a big trailer with stuff that needed to go.. they are off to the metro recycling center (aka - dump) as I type.  The boys were "helping" out and this is the result - do you see the dust and dirt?  They went straight into the old claw foot tub when they came in.

The weather here is finally fallish.. to be honest, I was ready for the high temps to go away.  I guess I'm an Oregon girl at heart and was ready for the cooler temps and even.. gasp.. some rain!  I hope you enjoy your week.. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)