Christmas Notebook

Last Sunday, DH and I took an afternoon drive through the country. The first time I’ve been outside in a little while. I love the change fall brings to the woods, the leaves, the roadside grasses and plants, even the smell of the air.

The trees at the country cemetery were beautiful. Hickories and oaks. The hickories were a blaze of yellow. The oaks more subdued but beautiful.

The ground was covered in large hickory nuts. I didn’t get a picture Sunday, but it looked just like this picture from two years ago.

We stopped at the family farm and picked up apples. The tree was planted years ago by DH’s father from the seed of a Red Delicious apple. The tree has never been sprayed or treated, or even pruned on a regular basis, and it still produces large, crisp and juicy apples. They are great for eating fresh, baking into pies, or making applesauce for canning.

DH started to pick up apples and friends from across the street brought us some they had just picked up, as well. They’ve been harvesting the apples for a few weeks and were happy to give some of the surplus to us. It was nice to take time for a chat on such a beautiful Sunday afternoon. We brought home about two bushels.

We immediately made apple crisp. SO good!

I can’t believe how big these apples are. Tomorrow we plan to can spiced applesauce and spiced apple slices.

In our own back yard, autumn is settling in with beautiful color.

The garlic chives are going to seed. All over the yard…once you have a clump, you’ll never want for this plant. I would like to be rid of it, but that seems like an impossible project. It does look pretty in the autumn light, though.

As the sun fell toward the horizon, it spotlighted the Virginia Creeper growing on the garage. A pretty contrast. Autumn is such a beautiful time of year.

I hope you take some time to get out-of-doors before it gets too cold to enjoy.

~~Rhonda