Cozy Nights

As viewed through the dining room mirror...

Popcorn and Puzzles....

......what we do on afternoons when it's "too wet to go out and too cold to play ball."

;)

Thrifted Mirror

for above my laundry room sink.

And only a dollar-and-a-half.

Just right.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

These have long been a family favorite ~my mother made them every autumn when I was growing up.

Moist and delicious.......really a dessert muffin. And while I wouldn't blame you one bit for trying one fresh-from-the-oven, I must say that they are at their very best when allowed to cool completely.

The recipe is as follows:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Then, in a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together

3 cups of flour

(I use two cups of white and one of whole wheat),

2 tsp. of baking soda,

2 tsp. of baking powder,

1 tsp. ground cinnamon,

and

1 tsp. of salt.

Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together till smooth

4 eggs

and

2 cups of brown sugar

 Then beat in

1 16 oz. can of pumpkin

and

1 1/2 cups of vegetable oil.

Once the pumpkin and oil have been thoroughly beaten in, add the four mixture, and stir until completely combined. Then fold gently into the batter

2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Fill standard-sized greased muffin tins 3/4ths full, and bake for 16-18 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Pansies, Mums, and Pumpkins

More Fallen Leaves...

"....and before them they could see the stream leaping down to the trough of the valley, and then running on and away into the lower lands, until it was lost in a golden haze.

'There lies the woods of Lothlorien!' said Legolas. 'That is the fairest of all the dwellings of my people. There are no trees like the trees of that land. For in the autumn their leaves fall not, but turn to gold. Not till the spring comes and the new green comes do they fall, and then the boughs are laden with yellow flowers; and the floor of the wood is golden, and golden is the roof, and its pillars are of silver, for the bark of the trees is smooth and grey. So still our songs in Mirkwood say. My heart would be glad if I were beneath the eaves of that wood, and it were springtime!'"

~J.R.R. Tolkien

in The Fellowship of the Ring

Autumn Rain...

A Bit of Now.....

Feast Day Quote

"Virtue does not consist in making good resolutions, nor in saying fine words, but in keeping one's resolutions and carrying out one's good intentions."

~St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Leaves

Feast Day Quote

"Learn to suffer something for Jesus Christ without letting others perceive it."

~St. Teresa of Avila

A Bit of Red...

Blue, After His Nap

Sausage Potato Soup....

Happy Birthday to my Dear Knight!

....And now I must go and make his cake! :)

"It Was a Pretty Room....

"...and had a flavor about it 'just like Rose', Katy declared. No one else would have hung the pictures or looped back the curtains in exactly that way, or have hit upon the happy device of filling the grate with a great bunch of marigolds, pale brown, golden and orange, to simulate the fire which would have been quite too warm on so mild an evening.

.......She had also begged from an old aunt at Beverly Farms a couple of droll little armchairs in white painted wood, with covers of antique needlework. One had 'Chit' embroidered on the middle of its cushion, the other, 'Chat'. These stood suggestively at the corners of the hearth."

~from What Katy Did Next,

by Susan Coolidge

Frost

Tonight....

Snickerdoodles and candlelight.

(I had to redeem myself after making homemade pizza....

.....without any cheese.

Cheeseless pizza....

...Have you ever heard of such a thing?

Is it still considered pizza?

You see, I was absolutely positive I had another bag of cheese in the freezer

~even though I really have to go grocery shopping this week.  

Positively positive.

And there was nothing.

No cheese. 

Of any shape or form.

 And everyone was starving.

It was too late to run into town.

So yes, we had cheeseless pizza for dinner.

But it was good, in a strange and unnatural sort of way.

What a way to end the week..

But it was a good week.

Just a very very busy one;)

Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels...

Miss Posy and Blue are recovering from nasty colds/fevers, and for lunch we all enjoyed the last of the homemade chicken noodle soup I made yesterday. It is so good to see their appetites coming back, and a sparkle in their eyes again!

And even though today has been quite overcast, all I have to do is look outside at my yellow pansies to get the dose of sunshine I need....

I love the bright yellow. And I wish I could manage to take a picture of the wood to the north and east of our house that would do adequate justice to the trees. They are absolutely gorgeous! So many shades of red, orange, yellow, and (bits of) green. I just stand at my kitchen window and gape.... 

Hope you all have a happy feast day!

(~I didn't know that I'd be able to fit it in, but somehow or other I managed to make an angel food cake this morning, which is currently cooling on the counter. Now all I need to do is make up a batch of lemon curd to go with it. The children can hardly wait to enjoy it, and neither can I. We were discussing at lunch how it's really too bad that we can't share it with our guardian angels...;) Mmmm! )