Autumn!

When a season ends another begins and as always I want it to last a little longer.  But it wasn’t until I began compiling pictures for this post that I realized how ready I have been for the change in season. I’ve thought about soups, FOOTBALL, pumpkins, squash recipes, blankets, candles, and often times gravitated to orange things without much thought as to why {i.e pics above and below}.  The night before the above picture was taken, a big rain storm came through overnight and took down my beautiful large marigold plant. Not wanting to leave the broken stems scattered on the ground, I gathered them up and arranged the cut flowers into a large white bowl to be enjoyed for awhile longer. {thinking of autumn?!!}

.

{pumpkins:  Cinderella-bottom, Musquee de Provence-center, jack o lantern-top}

Wanting to welcome autumn, but keeping it simple and a little rustic by stacking a variety of pumpkins in a pot to greet visitors at the front door.  The green leaves on this freshly made wreath will slowly change to brown through the season.

.

The weather was gray and cloudy with rain on and off while vacationing with Bill and the kids.  Each vacation day was full of busy activities outside.  But when it was quiet time in the house, the kids got out their phones, iPad, watched a movie or played on the Xbox and checked out for awhile.  My quiet time was spent next to the gas fireplace on an ex-large and ex-comfortable sofa where I read, had coffee, listened to music and moistened my extremely dry lips.  Complete contentment …..until one of the kids yelled from upstairs for me to turn off the gas fire because they were roasting. .

Autumn Cottage Magazine

Anyway, here are some favorite pictures from the Autumn Cottage magazine to awaken the autumn spirit in you.

Autumn picnic.

Decorating the house/table in the colors orange, yellow, brown and red.

Simple packaging ideas using twine, jars and brown paper bags.

.

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, A Love Story

The thought of bringing a book and having time to sit and read it on vacation NEVER occurred to me because my time was often filled with entertaining the kids, feeding them and doing laundry {kinda like being back at home}.  This vacation was a turning point, they are older and didn’t need my help as much, “What am I to do with my time… me time?”. The house we stayed at had a small selection of books to read and the one that got my attention was {the orange book}, “The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels-A Love Story”.  I know who Ree Drummond is from having enjoyed making regular visites to her website, The Pioneer Woman.  I wanted something light-hearted and maybe funny too and this was perfect.  In the story, Ree took us into her first encounter then the “juicy” details of dating Marlboro Man as she often referred to Ladd Drummond and finished off the second half of the book chronicling their first year experiences of marriage and living out in the country.  A beautiful love story with twists and turns, unexpected events and sometimes funny would grab my attention and take my mind off to a different place and time. Other times her emotions would spark memories of young love and how it felt when Bill and I were dating {20+ years ago}. It was a joy to read this book.

For more information and excerpts from the book, click on the links below:

• The first time Ree cooked for Marboro Man. He later revealed to her and said,
  “I really hated it. But I really liked you.”  {continue Here…}
• Why Ree Drummond wrote “Black Heels to Tractor Wheels” {continue Here…}
• Ree mentioned Marbora Man’s house often in the book, see pictures
  {Then: continue Here…} {Now:continue Here…}
• Read a few chapters from the book or purchase it {continue Here… }

.

This Is Country Music, by Brad Paisley

To make my ‘quiet time’ a little sweeter, Brad Paisley’s songs were playing in the background.  Here are two songs from the CD I was listening to {music videos: This Is Country Music & Remind Me}.

Samples of other songs from Brad Paisley’s CD, “This is Country Music” {Here}.

.

Have a wonderful start to your autumn season!

images/sources:  The Pioneer Woman, HarperCollins Publishers  ⎜ Brad Paisley

………………………………………………………………………………………………..

posted by: Kay