Arnold Arboretum in Fall

We enjoyed a Fall stroll with friends on Sunday. The leaves were beautiful and weather crisp. It's raining now, so I bet we got the ideal day for leaf watching this weekend. Isn't Jackson so happy in our picture on the stone wall? He's loves being loose amongst the trees.

A call to prayer

It's ironic that during Breast Cancer Awareness month my mom is diagnosed with breast cancer again. She dealt with breast cancer the first time almost 7 years ago with surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation. Today Mama found out that her breast cancer has shown up in other places. She won't have surgery, chemo or radiation at this point. She'll take 8 weeks of a hormone-suppression drug (daily pill) to hopefully stop what's there. In December they'll evaluate her progress and decide what else may be necessary. 

This all scares me and yet I know that worry won't make her better. Please pray that these pills will do their job and eliminate the need for more treatments or intervention. God's a miracle worker. I've seen many examples. Mama needs a miracle. I want my friend to be here, healthy, a LOT longer. She's blogging her updates at www.mstegall.blogspot.com 

U2 concert from September

The night after Mama's birthday weekend I went to see U2 in concert. Sadly, Mark had to go out of town for work and couldn't come. I went with my friend Sarah Nell and we had a fun time. They played great old songs that reminded me of my sister's days driving carpool listening to Joshua Tree on tape. There were new songs and others that we could all sing along with. I loved being there! She took awesome pictures and I'm just getting to the blog post. I had a great, great time!

Campton NH weekend

This weekend Mark and I rented a house with some friends about 2 hours north of Boston in Campton, NH. It felt a lot like Sky Valley--great mountains, heated swimming pools, hiking, streams, ponds and skiing in the winter. We took a 4 mile hike along a loop that had amazing views about 70% of the time. We saw the Franconian ridge, Waterville ski area, Presidential Mountain range and more. There was a very interesting 70 year old man who joined our group, knew the terrain well and had fun stories to make the steep granite rock faces less noticable. 



On the way back this afternoon is snowed and snowed. This is the second time in October I've seen snow. I hope this doesn't foreshadow our winter season!

Pear Upside-down Spice Cake

pear up-side down spice cake:

Cake:

3 c sliced peeled Bosc pears (about 3 - can also use Bartlett or Anjou)

cooking spray

2 c all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp instant coffee granules

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 c granulated sugar

5 tbs butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg, lightly beaten

3/4 c butter milk

Glaze:

2 tbs butter

1 tbs water

1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

3/4 c packed dark brown sugar

1 1/2 c tbs buttermilk

Preheat to 350 - Bake for 1 hour

Arrange pear slices on bottom of 9-in cake pan coated with cooking spray. Combine flour through cinnamon in a bowl. Combine sugar and butter in a separate large bowl, beat until fluffy. Add vanilla and egg and beat well. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternatively ending with flour mixture. Spoon over pears.

To prepare glaze, combine butter, water, and juice in saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until butter melts. Stir in brown sugar; bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add buttermilk. Let stand 2 mins then pour over top of cake.

Yields 12 servings

Enjoy!

I love Fall

My favorite Fall trees show all the glorious colors at once!

John Chapman, aka Johnny Appleseed, was born and raised about an hour west of our house. He intentionally planted apples as food and cash crop for settlers to use. We drove along the Johnny Appleseed trail on Saturday to enjoy the foliage, sunshine and apples.

Mark caught 6 fish in this lake on Saturday. He was pretty happy about it.

we lost a friend

Mark and I lost a friend this week, Mr. Mellin Huff. Old Huffy turned 94 in September and was a wonderful neighbor at our first house. He loved his bride Evelyn so much and I'm sure he's thrilled to join her in heaven. He brought Jackson and Lucy a fried-egg and bacon sandwich every morning for months because he couldn't break his morning ritual after so many years. Our pups got Evelyn's breakfast.

I hope that Mark and I have as many fun memories together through our lifetime as they did. They met on Spring Break in Panama City in their 20s. They started taking a 3 week car trip in Europe when the were 60. They went 26 times and were even awarded an honorary key to the city in France they visited every year. They raised three boys and were very involved in the church on Sycamore. 

Huffy was also very funny. We moved in and Mark decided that the front yard got the best light to grow a garden. We looked like hillbillies, really. Huffy didn't think our soil was cut out for it and always teased us on his afternoon walks. One day Mark and I came home and I pointed out two red tomatoes on the vine that I hadn't noticed before. Mark was shocked. He found they were tied to our tomato plant with green twine so it looked like they really grew there. I'm sure Huffy was peeking out of his window to see our reaction. He didn't admit to it until weeks later :). He had an amazing garden and shared his bounty with us and other neighbors on his walking route. Mellin also gossiped like a schoolgirl. He'd been in the neighborhood so long he knew all the history and readily spread it over the picket fence. I was even on his joke email list, getting 6-8 jokes a day. He had a MySpace page to keep up with his great-grandkids. He slipped in his driveway shoveling mud from the flooding in Atlanta 2 weeks ago and never woke up.

We'll miss Mellin. 

Quilting days are here again

Fall weather hasn't cooperated with our adventurous spirit the last two weekends. It's rainy. I've wanted to make a dress-shirt based quilt this year and now it's actually coming together. I really like the way it's taking shape after buying a few colorful shirts. I'm doing strips in different patterns and then I'll put them all together to make a double-bed sized quilt. Garment District (on Broadway, by my house) has an area of clothes that cost $1.50 per pound. I got dress shirts and two pink sweaters for a craft project my nieces will see in December.

Don't worry. Mark's not too bored, even with the rain. The Gator Nation is going strong and QB Tim Tebow keeps life interesting during Saturday football games. Our sad tomatoes are pictured above. It never got hot enough for full production of our potted tomato farm. It's in the 40s a few nights a week so I doubt we'll get much more out of them.