Pumpkin Carving Party!

Good Morning!

Last Saturday our family went to a pumpkin carving party hosted by the fun, witty and wonderful "H" family!

Mr "H" was teasing me that he was going to be on my blog, so Mr. "H" here you are!!!!

We had a wonderful time! There was lots of fun, friends and of course, FOOD! I made some cut out cream cheese sugar cookies that I will share the recipe for tomorrow.

Everyone did a great job on their pumpkins! Yngwie did Spongebob and Dear Husband and I did musical notes and guitars on ours! The Pukin' Punkin" was compliments of Yngwie's friend Garrett!

Tomorrow is Halloween! We will be heading up to my Grandmothers house in town to help her hand out treats to all the little "spooks" in her neighborhood. I really miss trick or treating! If it was acceptable for adults to go, I would!

Hope everyone has a blessed day.

Linda

Friday Show and Tell

Today for show and tell I have a couple things and neither of them photograhed very well.

The first one is my cape that I had told ya'll I was making. It is from brown cordoroy that I got at the thrift shop for $1.00!

It was very easy to make and fits so well! The pattern shows where you can make them in fleece, so I am going to try that too.

Secondly I want to show you the great and wonderful things that I received from Stephanie from http://nightquilter.blogspot.com/. This was from Peas Halloween swap.

Oh My Goodness! I was jumping around the kitchen like a kid at Christmas! There was a carvable pumpkin and the tools to carve it, scrapbook papers, Halloween buttons, leaf hooks, a ceramic tea light pumpkin, Halloween votives with the orange & black candles, a glow in the dark pumpkin candle, a Boo hand towel, a black frame, a flickering pumpkin light, a glow in the dark skeleton pen, a glittery (and I love glitter!) BEWARE sign, an iron on "ghouls night out", some autumn spice mix and some Hybiscus seeds from her very own garden! I was so excited! Thank you Stephanie! I love it all!

Head over to http://kellishouse.blogspot.com and join the fun.

We are going to a pumpkin carving party tomorrow and I can't hardly wait. There will be good food, good fun, and great friends. Who could ask for anything more!

Have a great weekend

Blessings

Linda

Fall Fun

We are finally we are getting some much needed rain! It rained almost all day yesterday and rain is predicted every day through Saturday. We need it so badly. We are 13 inches below normal. The warm weather still continues, even with the rain. We are about 10 degrees higher that what is normal this time of year.

This weekend we took our convertible and went for a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The weather was gorgeous. We hiked down to the old Niagra Power Plant. It is a pretty easy hike, down to where the Roanoke River rambles through. The power plant still supplies some power to the area. The river is so low that we could climb rocks where usually it is covered with water.

This panoramic view of the Roanoke Valley was taken from the top of Roanoke Mountain. The ride up the mountain has to be driven very slowly as it is a one way road and very steep and curvy, but the view is well worth the wait.

I am looking forward to a Pumpkin Carving Party that we will be going to this weekend! I am usually pretty traditional when it comes to carving pumpkins, I do the triangle eyes and nose and snaggled toothed grin. But, Yngwie and Dear Husband and pretty artistic. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

Have a blessed day!

Linda

Pecan Cheesecake Bars

I am not a fan of pecans or pecan pie. But, I really liked these! I made them Saturday for my son and his friends and they loved them.

The recipe comes from the Sept/Oct. issue of Southern Lady.

Pecan Cheesecake Bars

1 1/2 c. all purpose flour

1 1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar, divided

1/2 c. butter, softened

2 cups finely chopped pecans, divided

2 (8oz) pkgs of cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. milk

2 tea. vanilla extract

1/2 c. light corn syrup

1/3 c. butter, melted

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, combine flour and 3/4 c. brown sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resemble coarse crumbs. Stir in 1/2 c. of pecans. Press mixture evenly in bottom of a 13x9x2 baking pan. Bake 10 minutes and cool.

In a medium bowl combine cream cheese and sugar. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Add milk and vanilla, beating until combined. Pour into cooled crust. Bake for 15 minutes and cool for 10 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine 3/4 c. brown sugar, corn syrup, melted butter and eggs. Stir in

1 1/2 c. pecans. Pour over creamed cheese mixture in pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until center is set.

I refrigerated these and though they were better served cold.

I Love Halloween!

I really like the whole Halloween scene! I like the ghoulish jack o lanterns, the funny witches, and the friendly ghosts! I love to see children in their princess or Power Ranger costumes, tripping up the sidewalk in apprehension of what kind of candy they will get. Now that Yngwie is too old to trick or treat, we go to my Grandmother's house to pass out candy to the trick or treaters on her street.

Here a couple of photos of my Halloween Tree and Villages. The tree is new. I had been using a table top Christmas tree, but when I saw this one at TJ Maxx, I couldn't resist. I bought the pumpkin garland and the candy corn lights last year and they fit right on to this tree. I found the little ornaments with the bats, Frankenstein, etc.. at a gift store in town. I also have some rubber "body parts" on the tree.

The little villages and people are just things I have found through the years. The Peanuts characters I got at Hallmark a few years ago and the squirrel and the owl are just little figures I picked up at a thrift store and they wanted in on the fun. There is a hodge-podge of a lot of different things going on, but it's fun to look at all lit up at night.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Linda

Finally Fall!

Fall has finally arrived in SW Virginia. This morning the temperature was 48 degrees and that cool foggy mist is hovering near the ground. When I went out to feed the dog and cat, there were 5 deer standing under my dogwood tree. Of course I ran and got my camera, but alas, when I returned they had ran away.

Yesterday was a beautiful day with the high only 71 degrees. A perfect day for making candy apples. I'm sure there is a way that you can make the candy part from scratch, but I just bought the mix at the grocery store.

Start with clean apples. (if you get them at the grocery store like I did, make sure y0u wash them in hot water to get that waxy film off of them.
Boil the mixture with 2 cups of sugar and bring to the hard ball stage on your candy thermometer. (If you don't have one go buy one, they are great!). Carefully dip each apple into the mixture and swirl to make sure the apple is completely covered and place on a lightly greased pan.
Voila! Beautiful candy apples!

I also made a "pumpkin girl" similar to the one in the Martha Stewart Halloween magazine. I couldn't find the right "natural" elements to do the face so I just painted it on. I am working on making a cape. I bought the pattern this summer and last night I cut it out of some brown corduroy that I bought for $1.00 at the thrift store. So if it doesn't turn out right, I really haven't lost anything but the time I spent making it. I'll get back with you on the progress of that!

Hope everyone has a blessed Sabbath.

Linda

Records Being Broken!

Summer is still holding her own around here. The record high for today is 86 degrees, the expected high for today is 92! We broke yesterdays record as well. We also have only had less than an inch of rain since June.

This is very frightening to me as we are hearing of neighbors whose wells are drying up. We are conserving water the best we can by limiting the time on showers, only washing dishes once per day and washing them by hand, not in the washer, and these is no watering of plants outside unless we get it from the lake.

I guess the one good thing about hot sunny days is that we are still spending alot of time on the lake. We broke our own record yesterday by swimming and tubing on October 7th. Our old record was last year and the last swim day was October 3 and we all turned blue from the cold.

The lake water is down too. This island is usually just barely above water. As you can see we were able to anchor our boat beside it and walk over to it without getting wet!Our heat wave should be over by the end of the week when the weather is supposed to be back to normal, around 60-70 degrees. Let's just pray for rain.

Have a wonderful day!

Linda

Holiday Cooking Blogger Style!

http://overwhelmedwithjoy.blogspot.com/ is hosting a holiday recipe blogger cookbook (well, virtual cookbook!).

Just pull your tried and true recipes out and join the fun! I have been browsing the recipes and I have gained 5 pounds just reading them!

This recipe comes from a local caterer. When I first heard about it I thought "YUCK" but after the first bite I was hooked!

Cheese Slaw
2 cups grated swiss cheese
3/4 c. mayonnaise
3 green onions chopped
4 oz. jalapeno peppers, chopped
4 oz. banana peppers, chopped

Mix all ingredients together and chill. If too firm to spread after chilling add a little more mayo. Serve in a hollowed out cabbage head with crackers.

Aunt Ruth's Orange Salad
1- 9 oz. Cool Whip
1 small container of cottage cheese
1 large pkg of orange jello
1 small can mandarin oranges, drained
1 can crushed pineapple, drained

Mix together the cool whip and cottage cheese, add orange jello and mix well. Stir in pineapple and oranges. I save a few orange slices to decorate the top of the salad. Chill at least 4 hours or overnight.

Dreamsicle Fudge
If you like "dreamsicle" ice cream bars you will love this fudge!
3 c. sugar
1 1/2 sticks of butter (not margarine!)
2/3 c. evaporated milk
1- 7oz. jar marshmallow cream
1 - 12 oz. pkg vanilla chips
3 tea. orange flavoring
orange food coloring

Mix sugar, butter and milk in large saucepan. Boil to softball stage, about 5 minutes stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add marshmallow cream and vanilla chips. Mix well until all is melted and smooth. Remove 1 cup of the mixture and set aside. To the remaining mixture add the orange flavoring and food color, mix well. Pour into a greased 9x113 pan. Pour the reserved mixture over the top and swirl with a knife. Cool completely and cut in squares.

This next recipe came from a Southern Living Magazine probably 15 or 20 years ago.

Santas Hats
Using Santa Face mugs, put 1-2 scoops of vanilla ice cream into each mug. Then pour Sprite over the ice cream. Using the canned whipped cream, squirt on top of the ice cream to make a pointed hat shape. Sprinkle whipped cream with mutil-colored sprinkles.

Happy cooking!

Linda

Friday Show and Tell

Good Morning! Each Friday, Kelli at http://kellishouse.blogspot.com/ hosts Show and Tell! It's lots of fun.

This week I am showing some of my Halloween and Fall decorations.

These cones that I made are just hanging in my craft room for the time being. They are waiting be filled with candy, mini flashlights, pencils, and a handmade Halloween bracelet, to give to my co-workers.
These little spooks sit in my kitchen.
Mr. Jackolantern adorns my dining room table. He is pretty special as he is the very first Halloween decoration that I bought after I got married. 27 years ago.

Frankie here, has to sit in the corner of the front porch! He is quite gruesome. Yngwie saw him at the store when he was about 4 years old and had to have him! He carried him around with him for weeks, this thing was taller than he was! Every year when I start putting out fall and Halloween decorations, he reminds me to get our Frankie!
And lastly, while this really isn't a "fall decoration", I love the way my house looks with the flowers blooming in the fall. I know most people don't really like marigolds, but I do. I love their beautiful fall colors and their pungent smell reminds me of fall.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week-end!

Blessings

Linda

End of the Garden :(

It's that time of the year when I must put my vegetable garden to rest until spring.

We had a wonderful garden this year! The only thing that didn't grow was the pumpkins. I'm not sure what I'm going wrong, someone said it may be cucumber beetles. I have made alot of notes about what I want to do different next year. I want to plant fewer of the same things and add more variety. I don't like pickles so what can you do with 8 bushels of cucumbers! I am also going to plant more varieties of flowers. I have already bought a few seed packs online and I have a plant starting shelf that my husband built for me, so I'm already getting excited for next years gardens!

The above photo is one thing I will not plant again! Gourds!!!! They took over almost half of the garden space. I had no idea that these things run like they do.

These peppers are something that I will plant again. They are called chocolate peppers! Who doesn't like chocolate! Actually they are just a dark burgundy or brown in color and they taste just a little sweeter than your average green bell pepper. I love the color and the taste!

My poor little pear tree! Every year this scrawney little pear tree, who thinks it's larger than it really is, produces so many pears that I spend quite a bit of time pulling pears off so that the branches don't break. It is also a struggle to beat the wasps and bees to the pears. They seem to love them.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Linda

And the winner is.....

Into the basket went 20 names for the fall themed giveaway.

Yngwie reached in and selected........

amy- lifes small treasures!!!!!!!

Thanks to everyone for signing up! Amy, I hope you enjoy your prize!

Have a wonderful Sabbath.

Linda

Friday Show and Tell & A Give Away!

Each Friday Kelli ihttp://kellishouse.blogspot.com/ host Show and Tell. Wonderful things can be found so head on over and join in.

Today is honor of my 100th post (how on earth did I find that much to talk about?) I am giving away an Autumn themed gift!

A wonderful apple cook book, a quilted fabric pumpkin, some scarecrows, and lots of other things. If you would like to sign up for the give away, just say so in your comments! I will draw the name of Sunday.

Now for my Show and Tell. One of the many reason that I love fall is the second blooming of my roses. The nights are getting cooler and the roses love it!

I wish everyone a wonderful and blessed week-end!

Linda

Happy Birthday Mom

Today would have been my mothers 67th Birthday.

My mother passed away in 1977 after a hard battle with Leukemia. She was only 37 years old.

The last year of her life was spent in the University of Virginia medical center. Back then, they did not have the ability to do chemotherapy in our area hospitals. If was so hard having our mother 4 hours away. I was 16 years year old and my sister was 11.

They say "time heals all wounds". I say it doesn't heal them. It just dulls them.

I still miss her every day.

Linda

Its Apple Butter Season!

Every year about this time, my thoughts return to when I was growing up and the family across the road from me always made apple butter.

I loved apple butter time. The night before many of the ladies in our neighborhood would head over to the Patsell's house to cut and peel the apples. The men would sit out on the porch while Mr. Patsell peeled the apples with an old cast iron apple peeler. Then the dishpans of apples would be brought into the house for the women to cut up. Let me tell you, if you have never cut up bushels of apples you can't imagine what your hands look like the next day! They are brown, like an apple gets when it's cut and left out.

Us kids would play "Ghost in the Graveyard" a sort of cross between "Tag" and"Hide and Seek", or sit out in the yard and tell ghost stories, then dare each other to walk to the barn at night! Or sometimes we would climb the apple tree (yes in the dark) and just sit and talk.

The next day was really fun. Even before I woke up Mr. Patsell had made the fire and set the huge copper kettle out. A penny was always place in the bottom of the kettle before the apples and sugar were added. I have no idea why? By the time I got over there the apple butter was well under way. The ladies of the neighborhood would be in the kitchen washing and sterilizing canning jars and fixing lunch. Outside, we would beg to stir the kettle with the huge wooden stirrer. We would always sing a song Aunt Carrie taught us. "Once around the pot, twice through the middle, If you hit the rim, you have to kiss the kettle". Us kids always added "while its hot!) to the end of the song. I can clearly remember Aunt Carrie standing over the kettle, dipper in hand to scoop out any leaves or ash that would go into the pot.

Everyone took turns stirring the apple butter all day long and we ate lunch in shifts, with the women eating last and sitting around talking. then Mr. Patsell would call for a small plate, he would dip out the apple butter and check for consistancy and taste. We would watch anxiously while he tasted. Then he would make the decision whether to cook it longer or call for the jars.

We were so glad when the call for the jars came! That meant that our first taste of the apple butter was soon! Once all the apple butter was poured into the jars, Mr. Patsell would dip out a little and put it in a bowl and hand it to us. We would either eat it with a spoon right on the spot or run in the house and get some bread to eat it on. Nothing ever tasted as good as that hot apple butter.

I really miss those days. Many years later I watched as the applebutter kettle was auctioned off, after Mr. and Mrs. Patsell had died. An antique dealer bought it for $250.00. Yes, I cried.

Now days I still make apple butter, but on a much smaller scale. This is the recipe I got from my Aunt Nadene. It's quick and very good. Not as good as the applebutter from my childhood, but very close.

Aunt Nadene's Quick Apple Butter

8 cups applesauce

5 cups sugar

1/2 cup cinnamon red hots

1/2 cup vinegar.

5 teaspoons cinnamon powder

2-3 drops of Oil of Cloves

Bring applesauce, sugar, red hots, vingegar, and cinnamon powder to a boil in a large pot, (use a large pot because this mixture "pops" really bad). Boil for 15 minutes or until red hots dissolve. Add Oil of Cloves and boil for another 5 minutes. Fill hot, sterilized jars (I use pint) with mixture. Seal and turn upside down to cool. Serve with hot homemade biscuits on a cold winter day! Yum!

Linda

Some Fall Decor

Even with our record high temps this week, I decided to go ahead and put out some of my fall decorations.

This crock is one of my favorites and I use it all year round, just changing out the silk flowers as the seasons change. It always sits on the island in our kitchen.

I ordered this for my husband for Christmas from L.L. Bean one year. The house on the front is ours! (the smudge over the house is our last name, smudged for privacy!)

The year I got it for him he was having major cravings for filberts. I filled this crock with filberts. He had mentioned to his brother how much he loved filberts, and his brother got him 5 pounds of filberts for Christmas! We ended up with 10 pounds of filberts! LOL!

Have a wonderful day

Linda

It's Fall! Or is it?

Yesterday was the first day of fall according to the calendar. You know, fall with it's cool temperatures, foggy morning air, crisp evenings. Well apparently someone forgot to tell Mother Nature because yesterday it was 92 degrees and humid! It is 70 degrees this morning with an expected high of 87 today.

Saturday morning I planted some giant allium and some daffodils like these:

I can hardly wait till spring so that I can see them bloom. It takes a great faith to plant an ugly bulb in the ground and know that in the spring it will produce such a beautiful bloom!

Yesterday, we decided to go out of the lake for the afternoon. Yngwie and his friend "tubed" almost the entire time we were boating.

They learned that it is almost impossible to stand on a tube when it is in motion and that it is quite possible to make one fly!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Blessings

Linda

Friday Show and Tell

Kelli at http://kellishouse.blogspot.com/ hosts Show and Tell on Fridays. Click over there and join the fun!

Today my show and tell is about my flow blue collection. It started when my great aunts cousin (whatever kin that makes me to her, I don't know) gave me a few pieces when I was in my early 20's. I was hooked. Over the years we have collected several pieces, though now they are becoming too expensive to buy :(.

Flow Blue dinnerware is called that because the cobalt blue in the paint leeches into the white porcelain, all the way through to the back of the piece.

This is the plate that started it all. I really love how the blue seeps into the white on this piece.
These two pieces are very blue (though this photo makes them appear "bluer" than they really are). I use the pitcher mostly for flower arrangments as it has a small chip on the spout.
This isn't a very good photo of this plate, but this is my very favorite because it belonged to my great grandmother. I have 6 plates, the creamer and sugar, a covered vegetable dish and a gravy boat. My grandmother gave me this set of dishes about 20 years ago. I actually use them on very special occasions.

This is a shot inside my corner cabinet that shows the vegetable dish, sugar and creamer and gravy boat. (gravy boat, that's just a weird combination of words, don't you think?)

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Blessings

Linda

Recipe Thursday!

Pumpkin Swirl Bread

Filling:

1 cup Land O Lakes Sour Cream

1/4 c. sugar

4 ozs. cream cheese, softened

1 egg

Bread:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teas. baking soda

2 tea. ground cinnamon

1 tea. ground ginger

1 tea. ground nutmeg

1/2 tea. salt

2 cups sugar

1 cup Land o Lakes butter, melted

1/3 c. water

1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin

4 eggs

Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour 2 (9x5) loaf pans. Set aside.

Combine all filling ingredients in small bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed. Set aside.

Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl, set aside.

Combine 2 cups of sugar, melted butter, water, pumpkin and 4 eggs in a large bowl. Beat at low speed, scrapping bowl oftem, until smooth. Continue beating, gradually adding flour mixture and scrapping bowl often, until well blended.

Spoon 1/4 (about 2 cups) pumpkin batter into each prepared loaf pan. Carefully spread half of filling mixture over batter in each pan. Top each evenly with remaining pumpkin batter. Carefully spread pumpkin batter to edge of pans.

Bake for 65-70 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minute; remove from pans. Cool completely.

This was soooo good! Great for a fall morning treat with a cup of spiced apple cider!

Blessings!

Linda

Memories Monday

Revee at http://olderthanthecheese.blogspot.com/ is hosting Memories Monday. Pop in over there and take a peek!

This somewhat grainy photo of my family was taken at my Grandmothers house on Christmas morning in 1969. I am the one standing holding the big walker doll.

I remember this Christmas because this was the year that we went to my grandparents house instead of them coming to our house. See the little Charlie Brown tree in the background. My Grandfather had cut it the day before and since Grandma had given my parents all their ornaments, Grandma cut up Christmas cards and punched holes in them and put them on the tree.

But this memory isn't about the tree or Christmas, it's about the doll.

Her name was Lori Walker and I absolutely loved her! She went with me everywhere. She could wear childrens clothing and I would go to the Goodwill or rummage sales and get her "new" outfits.

One day I decided she needed a new hair style. So I washed her hair and then I did something that would change her appearance forever, I rolled it up with curlers and stuck her under the hair dryer. She had nylon hair, guess what happened? It burned up! It was a frizzled mess! I was so upset!

I worked and worked with her hair to try and get it looking better, after much styling, I had her hair looking a little better. My dad worked 2nd shift so he wasn't home during the day when I was, so I left Lori sitting on the kitchen table with a note attached to her asking my Dad how he liked her new hairstyle, still apprehensive about the "frizzled" look. The next morning when I got up, he had put a grocery bag over her head!

I cried and cried about her hair, but there was nothing that could be done.

I still have Lori Walker, she now resides in my attic, without the paper bag.

Blessings

Linda