The Best Things...

... Are Found in Your Own Backyard

A Gathering

For man,
autumn is a time of harvest,
of gathering together.
For nature,
it is a time of sowing,
of scattering abroad.

~Edwin Way Teale

Listen to Your Heart

Sometimes it is not easy, but I love this little reminder to, "Listen to your heart." This beautiful little altered tin is one of my etsy treasures. Isn't it gorgeous!
Whimsypics

Pieces, Chunks, and Slices

In the fall when I was young, my dad would often take a nice ripe, red apple from the tree, and peel it off for us in one big, long piece. Then he'd cut off chunks and slices from the apple for us to eat. Man did those apples ever taste good. Sweet Memories.



“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”
~Martin Luther


BAKED APPLES
This simple recipe can be made with dark or golden raisins instead of the pecans if you'd like. You could use any kind of nut too - try them with walnuts or cashews.
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients:

* 4 Granny Smith apples
* 1/2 cup brown sugar
* 4 Tbsp. butter, softened
* 1/2 cup chopped pecans
* 1 tsp. cinnamon
* 1/3 cup water
* 2 tsp. lemon juice

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut the top off the apples to make a flat surface. Cut a strip of peel around the apple right next to the cut surface. Cut the core out of the apples, making sure to leave the skin at the bottom intact.

In small bowl combine remaining ingredients except water and lemon juice. Stuff apples with this mixture. Mound any remaining mixture on top of the apples. Place in shallow baking dish and pour 1/3 cup water and lemon juice around apples. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes until apples are tender. Let cool 15 minutes before serving.

From about dot com

The Yellow Wallpaper - A New Update

I have mentioned the movie, "The Yellow Wallpaper," several times here on my blog, which you can read about here and here. I received an update and a link from the movie's director, Logan Thomas, and wanted to share it with you. This facebook page will have any updates and will also release movie stills. I am really looking forward to this movie, which is based on a short story.
Here is what Logan Thomas posted about the movie~

Hello,

I'd like to follow through with an update about The Yellow Wallpaper. We have begun the studio courtship dance, and the big festival circuit. I'm happy to tell you that there is a FILMMAKER HOSTED, FACEBOOK PAGE "The Yellow Wallpaper (offical movie page)". We will post stills from the movie, events, releases, and even try to answer film and lit. questions for those interested. The page is brand new and we hope you'll come to visit us.

Logan

Literary England

Book Share Fridays:
"Literary England" by Richard Wilcox. It has been awhile since I've done a Friday book share! I found this book while searching Amazon, and to be honest, I am torn between recommending it, and not.

It is from the 1940's and was part of a 'picture essay on literary England' that appeared in Life Magazine. The concept of the book is brilliant, but the photographs are in black and white, and the author could have written the synopses of each featured place much better than he did. Having said that though, there is some merit to the contents, and if you love Albion like I do, it might be worth buying.

Here are a few of the literary spots they feature:

Canterbury Cathedral (The Canterbury Tales), Burrington Gorge (Rock of Ages hymn), Keats Grove (John Keats Hampstead home), Dickens' House, Assembly Rooms at Bath, Top Withins (Wuthering Heights), Wimpole Street (Elizabeth Barrett Browning), Doone Valley (Lorna Doone), and Stonehenge (Tess of the d'urbervilles).

Wind-crazy

The birds are going wild in the autumn sky. I saw two different flocks today, and they were wind-crazy, moving fast and furious as a single unit, in their respective corners of the sky. Amazing. Wish I were up there with them!

Photo Credit - Phil Schermeister
"Flock of Birds Swarming a Field in North Dakota"

Fallen and Found

Today after a thunder and lightening storm I went on a walk. As I turned the corner to come home, I saw this~
Beautiful and delicate, so perfectly woven on a base of tightly packed dirt. If I could, I would have climbed up the tree, and carefully nestled it back between two branches in hopes it might once again give warmth to the birds who created it. But the tree is far too tall.

The perfect solution came from an observant eight year old who found it earlier in the day where I had put it, and tenderly placed it between two branches of a small tree in our yard, where it fits perfectly.
There it will remain for the rest of fall and through winter, too. Come spring, I am hoping another set of birds might find it useful. If anything comes from it I'll be sure to post the rest of the story!

o little nest,
may you nicely rest,
nestled in the branches of my tree.
fallen and found,
rescued from the cold damp ground,
you'll live to see another spring.

Past Their Bloom

The October roses are long past their bloom, yet very welcome. This little rose bush that I bought over the summer, just never took off, but it's still trying, and occasionally a bloom appears here and there. It will need to be replaced next spring. The poor thing thinks it's a beautiful lush bush!

'Tis the last rose of summer fall left blooming alone; All her lovely companions Are faded and gone." ~Thomas More

Peter Rabbit

But Peter who was very naughty, ran straight away to Mr McGregor's garden and squeezed under the gate. First he ate some lettuces and some French beans, and then he ate some radishes. And then, feeling rather sick, he went to look for some parsley.
~Beatrix Potter, Peter Rabbit

Canyon Walls

We drove up to the mountains today, and pretty things greeted us on each side of the canyon walls.

"Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree" ~Emily Bronte~"My sorrow, when she's here with me, thinks these dark days of autumn rain are beautiful as days can be; she loves the bare, the withered tree; she walks the sodden pasture lane" ~Robert Frost

The breath of an autumn breeze.
Faint coolness on my face in the morning air.
Tingles as I breathe in and the freshness goes down deeply.
Reaching for warmth in the form of a blanket,
Wrapped almost tightly enough to keep out the delicious chill.
Drinking sunshine in the form of liquid warmth,
Flowing through my body to almost keep out the delicious chill,
Almost but not quite.
Crunching, crisp leaves that fall from the tree,
Fluttering like butterflies,
Looking like flecks of gold as they land on the ground,
Little gifts of yellow, red, and orange.
Beautiful Autumn, I have waited for you all these days,
To come back around in your time and season.

Copyright Bookish Kind, 2008

(Autumn Prayer) I Raise My Cup To Fall

I raise my cup to fall, to blessings given one and all.
The harvest bounty laid, before eyes and hands bent in Grace.
~Bookish Kind
Do you know "Lark Rise To Candleford"? This is one of my favorite episodes, I love how they all work together to bring in the harvest. Enjoy!

Cobwebs

Cobwebs~
Summer has flown right through me,
leaving her feathers trailing behind,
like cobwebs left to thrive
in a deep dark corner.
The labyrinth must be cleared away,
now that autumn is here.
One tangle at a time,
it will be removed,
to make room for thoughts
that flitter through,
quick as lightening,
which must be caught directly,
or escape and vanish into thin air,
never to be heard of again.


Photo Credit~
Ruth Marler, "Padlock and Cobwebs"

Old Ways Are Still the Best

It's time to pull out the fall clothes, which has always been a rite of passage, a sign of a season change, growing and moving on to a new thing. There is an old song by Sweethearts of the Rodeo that says, "The old ways are still the best and I cannot deny it." So true for many things, and I think it fits with fashion, too. Shall we say Victorian! These outfits are inspired from bygone era's, but are also modern enough that you wouldn't look like you were going to a costume ball, although there is nothing wrong with a ball, I long for a ball!A pretty Ruche sweater ~simply stunning, very classic. You can go as far as you dare with your fashion, but I just love the simple classic look. Feel like you are in your rightful era, instead of born in the wrong one!

Photo credits~
Modern Victorian
Ryan Enn Hughes For The Globe and Mail
Ruche

What the Boy Took From the Giving Tree

The gnarled oak spoke volumes to me,
in it's layers of wisdom.
But I refused to hear.

For years it gave me
rest in it's shade,
strength in it's food,
warmth and shelter from life's storms.

For years, I took it for granted,
not realizing it was my sentinel.
Forgetting the truths it had told,
I made my own way,
walking away the times I needed it most.

The wise learn from the experience of others.
Others, like me, only from our own.
Sometimes lessons are learned years apart
from when they are taught,
and sometimes not at all.

The old paths and trails that bend
and weave among our thickets,
are written and paved
with both sense and sensibility.

There is discernment in layered rings and peeling bark.
In missing branches and stumps.
There is experience that comes from weathering the storms,
and learning from the beauties of life.
There is forgiveness that heals the flaws,
both those that lie on the surface, and those deep within.

Love is unconditional, and goes both ways.
I will stay close, and not venture far.
I have all I want right here.

Copyright, 2010 The Bookish Kind

~Inspired by Shel Silverstein's "The Giving Tree"