Pumpkins Anyone?

I’m starting to decorate already because we were out driving in the country and look what I spotted. There were lots and lots of pumpkins in every size and colour. Naturally I had to check them all out and give them a though inspection before I chose two (for now). Since that drive I now have 4 pumpkins, they just multiply I tell Hubby.



While we were driving around we stopped a nursery to see their fall mums and we found these goats and their climbing tower. They were more interested in eating their hay than climbing up to see the sights, though. Anyway, I thought you might enjoy some pictures of our little day trip and where I have placed my pumpkins.







I’m sure there will be lots more to come in future posts because Fall (it starts Sept 23) is my favorite time of the year and on that’s the day I start to decorate the inside of our house. Traditions are hard to break on Witch’s Island.

Pictures of The Witch's Island For Mrs. Nakamura

Recently, one of my most faithful commenters requested that we post up some more pictures of the Witch's Island. We've been busy painting the front hallway and I have to say that Hubby is extremely fussy about painting. It has taken two weeks, so far, just to paint four small walls and the mouldings. And there are still two walls to go (trim included)!

So, we haven't been able to get out to take any new pictures and, feeling a bit guilty, I went trolling through our picture files to see just what we had on hand. It turns out that we take a LOT of pictures of our neighbourhod and the most difficult thing is picking out the best and most represntative shots. Most of these were taken in the fall of 2008 or the summer of 2007.

Mrs Nakamura, you asked and we are happy to oblige...

Putting the Garden to Rest.

It has been a busy weekend around the acreage. We pulled out all the bigger varieties of tomatoes, leaving only the smaller Sweet Cluster cherry ones still in the ground. Any green fruit that was on the vines we pulled are now ripening in the house or the garage. For months now, Hubby has been bringing tubs of produce to work. Everyone there just raves about it, especially the tomatoes and the carrots, so he feels very pleased about his (our!) green thumb(s).

We had a great crop of green and cayenne peppers and we are stringing up the latter into garlands so they can dry out. This is a terrific way to save these peppers for use later in the year. In fact, we still have one string left from last year's garden.

I also grew some funky looking gourds that I'm going to dry so I can make them into birdhouses next year. The onions are drying in the shed but they are no way near as good as last year's crop. They seemed to be way too wet and as a result a lot of them rotted. Overall I would say the garden this year was a great success except for the cucumbers. They just didn't produce much and the plants themselves died off early. This really sucked because I had to actually buy cukes from the store to make some of our pickles.



Today we cleaned the house top to bottom, which is our regular Sunday routine. Hubby always helps because we both work full time and the faster we get it done the more time we have to be together. After the housework I made some Bran and Blueberry Muffins with yoghurt and molasses as the main liquid ingredients. Then we put together an Apple Crisp for dessert after our roast chicken is done. Sometimes it feels like I'm running a restaurant!



I think I have finally finished decorating the inside of the house for fall. Oh, who am I kidding, it looks more like Halloween than anything! Right down to the towels. I warned you I was a Halloween freak.



It’s back to work tomorrow again and I’m already thinking about next weekend. It’s Thanksgiving and that means we have three days off. There’ll be turkey and pumpkin pie and all kinds of other goodies. Oh, and the place down the road is having their giant pumpkin weighoff on Saturday. It should be lots of fun as long as the weather cooperates!

Vacation time

Well it may be vacation time but we're sure not lazying around. It's pickling season and we have been going like crazy because friends of my sister may be able to take a few cases back to T.O. for us. We've made two batches of my Grandmother's Dutch Salad Pickles (we call them mustard pickles and they are a family favourite) and now we have made a second batch of the Hot Curry Relish that I wrote about before.We're still going to make some more of the relish later on when our tomatoes have gotten really ripe. It seems to make a difference, at least in the colour, as the second batch which was made with tomatoes that were very ripe, is a much nicer darker red. Later, we're also going make some jelly from the grapes we have growing on the potting shed and who knows, maybe some pickled beets, too.

I've enclosed some pictures of our handy work. I'm really glad that Hubby loves to help out because it really is a lot of work chopping all the veggies.

I'm also planning my annual dinner party. Rib Fest, yeah! Always seems to be a big hit. I'm planning on decorating the table up with a Fall theme and maybe a few Halloween items thrown in for added fun. I'm just not quite sure about what kind of dessert to make, yet. I'm leaning towards Pumpkin Cheesecake, but chocolate cupcakes with a orange cream cheese icing is calling out to me. I love cupcakes. Hubby just loves icing no matter what it's attached to.

We also have to split up some of the flower beds and rearrange some of the perriennials. The veggie garden needs weeding. I want to also give my leather couch and chair a treatment, I think it may be a little dry looking. The list can go on and on but I really don't what to pile too much on our plates, after all it is supposed to be a VACATION!!!!!

It's Almost Fall Here On Witch's Island

You can almost smell fall just around the corner, can't you? It makes a girl just want to go out and hug a sunflower or a pumpkin or something!

I didn't have much to say right now but I did want to thank An Ostrich Named Sam for adding me to her web links. I was amazed to see my site linked there. It was a first for me!

My vacation has finally arrived and I am so looking forward to all the things that I have planned. I'm sure you will hear all about it later, but for now I'm just going to leave you with a few pictures. The first one is the note that greeted me when I got home from work on Friday. The rest are just happy pictures. I hope you enjoy them!


Holiday Greeting

Sunflowers