"There is magic in the night 

when pumpkins glow by moonlight."

Oh yeah, she LOVED the pumpkin guts...

Hello Kitty is ready to go.

So everyone takes in stray black cats on Halloween, right?

Just in time for Halloween and the start of the "Pumpkin Spice Everything" season...

...are these yummy little Pumpkin bars.

Who knew the experimental fusion of an easy Paleo shortbread crust recipe 

(See below)

with a no-bake pumpkin filling recipe

(See farther below)

could result in so much magic.

Try it for yourself if you don't believe me.

And I dare you to not eat a third of the pan in one sitting.

http://deliciouslyorganic.net/raspberry-crumble-bars-grain-free-paleo/

(Follow only the 'For the Crust' section of the recipe. After you spoon the dough mixture into the prepared pan and press it out evenly simply bake at 325 for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown and fragrant. Then proceed with the filling recipe below.)

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

1/4 cup cold water

3/4 cup canned pumpkin

1/3 maple syrup

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 nutmeg

1/4 cup coconut milk (full fat or lite)

1 Tbsp vanilla

pinch of salt

In a small saucepan sprinkle the gelatin on top of the cold water and let soften 1 minute.

Turn the heat to medium and bring the mixture just to a simmer, stirring until the mixture had dissolved. Remove from heat.

Whisk in the remaining ingredients until combined.

Pour on top of prepared and cooled crust and chill in the fridge for 3 hours.

When on the breath of Autumn's breeze, From pastures dry and brown, Goes floating, like an idle thought, The fair, white thistle-down; O, then what joy to walk at will, Upon the golden harvest-hill!

Mary Howitt

After a very fun, yet very full weekend it was nice to just kick back and simply 'be' today; on this, most likely last, hurrah of the clement and beautiful fall weather.

We "went into the woods..." to quote Thoreau

 and hiked the Devil's Staircase segment of the Ice Age trail.

The air smelled of dry leaves and damp leaves and burning leaves.

The thick layer of fallen leaves underfoot rendered conversation virtually impossible.

Which left all three of us free to contemplate little more than the loveliness of the pale sky, the slanting rays of late afternoon sunshine and the final glory of a Wisconsin Autumn.

(Ok, and stop for a few milkweed fluff-blowing photo ops...)

BITTERSWEET OCTOBER. THE MELLOw, 

 MESSY, LEAF-KICKING, PERFECT PAUSE

 BETWEEN THE OPPOSING MISERIES OF

 SUMMER AND WINTER.

CAROL BISHOP HIPPS

Sunrise, fog and a yellow-leaf canopy...
equals a glorious fall morning.

A trunk-full of Autumn...

...Bittersweet.

"October gave a party; The leaves by hundreds came - The Chestnuts, Oaks and Maples. And leaves by every name.

The Sunshine spread a carpet, And everything was grand. Miss Weather led the dancing, Professor Wind the band."

George Cooper.

 After our long walk today, 

in between rain showers, 

I couldn't agree more...

Last weekend I dug all my geranium plants out of the window boxes they had been growing in all summer and put them in Terra Cotta pots in the garage. 

This weekend, after giving their startled roots a chance to acclimate to their new, smaller confines I pruned them all into more manageable and “conducive to the indoors” sizes.

And just like always…

I hated to do it.

I often wonder why I love gardening so.

I’m not naturally cut out for it.

Truly I’m not.

I’m too attached. 

Too anxious.

Too kind.

Just call me the sympathetic gardener.

I detest pruning, dividing, transplanting.

If some brave little plant has succeeded in thriving where it’s at or found success in the shape it’s in I am so reluctant to come around and alter things.

But.

That is not gardening.

Real gardeners, all sympathy aside,

know what’s best for their plants.

And more often than not it involves a free hand with the pruning shears.

Sigh

What can you do...?

I did feel a little less “mean” after I had gathered up the all the snipped off flowers and put them in a vase, though.

Their blooms certainly are colorful.

And, I must admit, look a whole lot better on my dining room table than in the garage.

The last of my herbs, harvested before the frost...

Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in fall.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Fall Vacation Day 6; aka the Journey Home

We stopped for some pumpkins...
(There were roadside carts and stalls everywhere.)

The apple orchard was PACKED. And I mean PACKED!
This is the checkout line and only the checkout line.

It was just too cold (at 35 degrees)
and too crowded for much photo-ing.

I'm confused. Are the guns giant? Or merely the raffle?

Some of the small gourds we picked out.

Fall Vacation Day 5;

The cold, wet weather afforded us 
the prefect excuse to head into town
(or the city as E preferred to say) 
for a little retail therapy.

Food truck fare.

One happy girl.

Pretty much the best thing ever. Coconut milk caramels.

It was a day for wild, wild skies.

But things cleared up long enough for a glorious sunset.

My big purchases.

Plus this tablecloth. 
Just couldn't resist the scalloped edges 
and embroidery.