Falling into Fall

To Autumn

Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
.............J. Keats.............

With just over a week to go before leaving for France, I'm grabbing every little moment of 'almost Autumn' here in the Southeastern US. My favorite season............with the evenings closing in earlier, the mornings fresh and slightly misty as the sun peeks through. On Friday I felt a breeze as I left the grocery store and stood in the parking lot watching puffy cloud formations skid across a Carolina blue sky. At last, the air felt clean again and I felt energized.

Dancing on an Autumn breeze.

The goldfinch on a thistle head

Stood scattering seedlets as she fed,

The wrens their pretty gossip spread,

Or joined the random roundelay.

........Jean Ingelow.........

A Taste of Autumn

Have you ever bought fruit and found it wasn't ripe enough to eat immediately? When I opened the nasty plastic clamshell box containing these California plums. I found them to be really rock hard ~ a big disappointment! However a quick run through the cookbooks today turned up this Plum Raspberry Crumble in Ina Garten's great 'Barefoot In Paris' - Easy French Food You Can Make at Home. This was simple and delicious - luckily I had frozen beautiful raspberries this Summer, the plums baked to soft perfection, and all other ingredients are basic items we all keep around the kitchen.

Just the right dessert for an Autumn evening - warm from the oven with a dollop of creme fraiche - even the colors excite one's taste buds!

Autumn Greens

Before the shorter days take on Autumnal hues, remember the greens............they are still here in different forms.
Traditional orange pumpkins, golden butternut squash, Indian corn, rusty gourds, rosy hips and berries - all brighten up the Autumn landscape................but I'm almost green with envy for these!

Pull up a chair, sit and ponder awhile.................watch the early morning mist rising up from the Autumn garden, hear the fresh green acorns falling through the russet oak leaves. Can this be the one.....................will it become a mighty oak?