Fall beauty, babies, and applesauce

It's November!  And not only that, it's 7:15 pm as I begin this post, and it's been dark for a couple of hours already.  It totally feels like it should be time to hit the sack!

Gradually the colors around here are fading.  There is one view I've been admiring for months as I travel from the grocery store to Anthony and Lori's house.  All summer I thought I would wait to snap a picture until the leaves are in color.  Finally on Monday I did just that. (This picture really needs to be clicked on to get the full effect.)

This is what I see when I stand at my bathroom sink doing my hair.  Sadly, it will soon be brown.

We have had lots of wind this week.  One morning I noticed that all the leaves on the tree outside our side porch had blown away!

But this is a nice surprise!  Jenn and Sam gave me a potted mum for Easter,  of which all the flowers soon died.  Dick planted it and all summer long it gradually grew bigger and bigger, but without flowers.  Recently he even trimmed it back because it was falling all over the place.  Then I noticed buds on it, and today we discovered flowers!

My favorite hanging geranium is once again taking up residence in my bathroom.  There are so many more buds on it.

One day last week I saw a recipe on FB for Caramel Apple Roses.  It looked so easy on the video, so I decided on a whim to try it.  Here's one of the pictures on the recipe.

WELL.  First of all, I did not have all the exact things it called for, so I tried a few substitutions.  But second of all, I think there were things that should have been more clearly explained.   What a disaster!

This was the only one that even remotely resembled a rose.

But let me tell you, looks aren't everything!  They were scrumptious!

Dick has been so excited about having his "own" hunting grounds this year.   Archery season started a few weeks ago and he has gone out into Anthony and Lori's woods many times after work and on Saturdays.  Only one time has he even seen a deer!  But there ARE deer!  We often see them.  I snapped this picture on Friday and sent it to him.  But they're obviously avoiding him!

I gotta show you this pic of my sister Rose's newest grandson.  I kid you not, this was taken the day he was born this week!!  He weighed over ten pounds and was actually four days before due date!!  Unfortunately, he lives all the way in Hawaii where his daddy is stationed, so none of us, even his grandma, can get our hands on his delicious chubbiness!

Yesterday morning I had an eye appointment that was cancelled on my way there.  GRRRR.  So I took the opportunity to go to nearby Sam's Club, which we just joined.  I got some great deals on health and beauty items that made me really happy.

In the afternoon I helped with "work day" at Houserville House of Hope.  It's fun when there are lots of people working together.

We spent the evening at Anthony and Lori's.  Austin had a new game that he'd gotten with his meal at Chik Fil A.   I had fun playing it with him, as well as another matching/memory game he had.  He's too smart for me though.

Notice his storm trooper costume?  He loves it!  He was home from school on Friday with a slight fever, so he got to go along with Anthony and Lori for her ultrasound.  Guess what he wore?

We got to see all the pictures from the ultrasound last evening.  They said he (did I tell you it IS another "he"?) was sucking his thumb.  One time he moved his hand away and then brought it back toward his mouth and they could see his little tongue!!  

I told Austin that his little brother was showing him his strong arm on this picture - getting ready to defend himself, hahaha!

We enjoyed putting our tired feet up and relaxing by the fireplace. 

We had good worship services at both Fillmore and Houserville this morning, then met Anthony and Lori afterward to pick up Austin.  We had a mission today - to show him some old fashioned applesauce making!   Back in my heyday I used to make enough applesauce to last us a whole year.  I would put most of it in glass jars.  Long ago I bought this dandy press.  That box looks a bit worn, ha!

I really didn't think I had it anymore.  I remembered using it six years ago when we lived in Anthony and Lori's basement, and I made some applesauce when Destiny was visiting one weekend.   But I had never seen it since then.  I figured we must have thrown it away when we moved here.  But lo and behold, Dick had it out in his shed!  Once in a while I'm glad he's a pack rat, hahahaha!!

My favorite apples for sauce years ago were Golden Delicious or Golden Grimes.   Waiting until they were really ripe meant no need to add sugar!  So about a month ago my friend Kris was going to Belleville, our local "Amish Country," and wondered if there was anything I wanted her to get for me.  I asked her to get me a basket of Golden Delicious apples.   They have been ripening in the "basement" under our house.  

So today was the day.  I showed Austin each step of the process - first the apples cut into quarters.

Then the cooked apples. 

The cooked apples went into the hopper, Grandpa turned the crank, and Austin was amazed to see real applesauce go down the chute. 

He was also intrigued by the "apple poop" (peels and cores) that came out the other side into the pan!!  

Yummy homemade applesauce!  And plenty of apples for fresh eating as well.   I no longer have a canner for preserving things in glass jars, so this applesauce is now in the freezer.  Dick eats applesauce on his Raisin Bran every single morning, so it won't last long!

Have a good week!