Soup's On

When the leaves are beginning to change, and the temperatures start to fall, my thoughts turn to comfort food.

A favorite simple soup is homemade mushroom soup, earthy-goodness, silky smooth and comforting on cool Autumn nights.
Serve with a crusty loaf of French bread, light a candle or two and enjoy.

Cream of Mushroom Soup.

6Tbsp. butter
1 med. onion
3/4 lb. mushrooms
3 Tbsp. flour.
1 clove of garlic ( very finely chopped )
1 tbsp. fresh thyme chopped or 1 tsp. dried
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
dash of nutmeg
1 Knorr Swiss vegetable cube
3 cups of chicken broth
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 large bay leaf
fresh ground pepper to taste.
fresh parsley or chives for garnish

               ********

Melt the butter and add the chopped onion and garlic. Cook until onion is transparent at medium.
Add mushrooms and continue to cook for about 5 min.
Add the flour and the vegetable cube and stir in. Immediately add the chicken broth and water, incorporating slowly.
Add bay leaf and pepper, cover and bring to a boil.
Add Worcestershire sauce , thyme and dash of nutmeg.
Turn heat down immediately and simmer for 5 minutes.
Remove bay leaf and add cream.
If desired, top with fresh croutons or crackers.
Garnish with parsley or chives.

Early Morning Mist

Our mornings start off chilly, and damp, usually with a lingering mist.

By noontime, we have dried out, and the sun shines brightly, offering pleasant enough days to get on with those pre-winter chores.

School children are enjoying their Fall break, distant sounds of laughter are heard as they play without a worldly care.

The hectic days of Christmas will soon be upon us, the rhythm of the seasons continue.  

 

It was one of those days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.

{Charles Dickens}

November Days

 

Last night our semi-annual clock fiddling took place once again.

An hour backwards from Daylight Saving Time, affording an extra hour of sleep on these colder mornings.

Just enough time to remind us, that the year is winding down, and soon, a long sleepy winter will be our companion.

A time to regenerate our weary souls, and make new plans for the coming year ahead.

A time to dream.

 

 

" It was November - the month of

crimson sunsets, parting birds,

deep, and hymns of the sea, passionate wind-songs in the pines.

Anne roamed through the pineland

alleys in the park and, as she said,

let that great sweeping wind

blow the fog out of her soul.

L.N Montgomery

~ Anne of Green Gables

Trick Or Treat

 We'll leave the light on for you.

 

" By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes,
Open, locks,
Whoever knocks ".
 
Shakespeare / Macbeth 1606

 

 

 

The Turning Of The Leaf

 

 

  

 

 

 

" I'm so glad I live in a world where there are October's. "

~ Anne of Green Gables

 

Long-Awaited

Our trusty weatherman has predicted we'll be finally experiencing some Fall-like weather this week.
No more of the ninety degree days, but temperatures much cooler, and  seasonal.
I can't wait to open the windows at night, enjoy the crisp air, and fall asleep to the sound of the screech owl calling.
*ahhh*

Autumn

 " And all at once, summer collapsed into fall"

~ Oscar Wilde

Seasons Of Mists

Summer Days have not yet took their leave.

The most perfect of Autumnal days today, blue skies and sunshine galore.
Our rainfall has been little to none for an entire month, many of the trees have already lost their brown leaves prematurely.
The air conditioner continues to hum....

 

"Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells."

~ John Keats

Hello Autumn

These first few days of Autumn, a little decorating, a little gardening, a little relaxing 

Life is noticeably slowing

Nights are drawing in fast, dark before the clock strikes seven now.

Our days are still seasonally warm in these southern United States, giving the opportunity to finish those end of summer chores, before Old Man Winter sets in.

Leaves are beginning to gather, hummingbirds are making their way deeper South, the 7pm sunsets are fleeting,l

The smell of wood-smoke fills the night air.

"Autumn ....the year's last loveliest smile"

 

“~ John Howard Bryant

 

 “Autumn...the year's last, loveliest

 

Returning

The Morning Glories have made an appearance.

This Grandpa Ott variety, returns year after year, without any help from the gardener.
The vines wrap their tendrils around the weathered-wood fence, and grace us with beauty, all summer long.

The flowers are a sumptuous Royal Blue trumpet with a contrasting purple star.
A strikingly beautiful combination.
Not quite the Autumn palette, yet nevertheless, we'll enjoy their presence until the first freeze of the season, and then it's " show-over ".

 

  

THE MORNING GLORY

Was it worth while to paint so fair

Thy every leaf - to vein with faultless art

Each petal, taking the boon light and air

Of summer so to heart?

To bring thy beauty unto perfect flower,

Then, like a passing fragrance or a smile,

Vanish away, beyond recovery's power -

Was it, frail bloom, worth while?

Thy silence answers: "Life was mine!
And I, who pass without regret or grief,
Have cared the more to make my moment fine,
Because it was so brief.

"In its first radiance I have seen
The sun! - why tarry then till comes the night?
I go my way, content that I have been
Part of the morning light!"

~ Florence Earl Coates ( 1850-1927 )