Autumn

Autumn is finally here! Now if only it would actually start to cool down.

Signs of the Time

Here we are again. Summer is winding down. It has been relatively uneventful. We took no trips any were. Well, I did have a girl friend weekend Back in May. I got to see some of my old friends and made some new ones. We mostly played games, shopped, and got our nails done. My first pedicure! It was really fun. I can't wait for our next weekend. Still, the summer was uneventful none the less.

I know there's still a little over a month left until it is officially Autumn. I can't help it. I can already feel it in the air. I can see it in the trees. In fact, I noticed a couple of weeks ago that the small maple in the front yard has already began to change. The art included in this entry is from that very tree. I had actually made this a year or two ago. The colors were good then. I'm hoping for good color this year as I won't be going the mountains this year. The weather has been hot with hardly any afternoon thunderstorms this summer. But I know when it's getting close to Fall. The rain chances start to pick up and it rains for hours. Where as with summer afternoon thunderstorms it doesn't usually last very long. You can just tell by the gloom it's the weather preparing the world for the seasonal change. It seems that every season as its own gloom as far as rain goes. Winter has a gray gloom. Spring, a clean and bright gloom. Summer has a dark and chaotic gloom. And Autumn has a dark and somber gloom. Another thing about the Autumnal rains, good movie watching weather(or book reading weather). Just this past Sunday, it rained all day and most of the evening. I watched BBC's 2006 production of Jane Eyre. It's about a four hour movie, perfect for rainy weather. Even the tones of Jane's life at Gateshead and Lowood school match the tone of the rainy weather. Perhaps even her life at Thornfield Hall has it's gloomy tones, but they are much brighter than the former.

The days are getting shorter. They actually start getting shorter at the summer equinox. I have been tracking it ever since I downloaded an app on my smartphone that tells me when dawn, sunrise, the solar noon, sunset, and dusk is. I can go forward and see the times. You can see that dawn and sunrise are getting later, almost minute by minute. Sunset and dusk are getting earlier just the same. I personally can't wait for it get closer to my time to get up. Even though I have thick curtains, I tell when it's morning due to the light that manages to come in and wake me up sometimes over an hour before I need to get up. Sometimes I just need that hour of sleep even if go to bed at my usual time. Speaking of which, I'm thinking that I'm going to head to bed here in a bit. It's actually about an hour early for me. So goodnight world.


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Now playing: Sarah McLachlan - U Want Me 2
via FoxyTunes

So Many Things....

It's been too long. I had intended on posting a happy Autumn post back on the first day of Autumn. But I didn't get to. My laptop died last week after weeks of having it looked at. The special banner I had made in Photoshop was on it. It's not lost though. My brother was able to gleam my files from my hard drive and store them until I can get a new laptop. Which may not be until after Windows 7 becomes available. I liked the look and layout of Vista, but it was otherwise a pain. But anyway.....

















This past weekend I went up to Clayton, Georgia for the Anita Conley Area fall retreat for Mary Kay. You could see the hint of changing leaves in the trees. It was cloudy from Friday to Sunday morning. Which was not good weather for taking pictures of fall foliage. On the way home, we stopped by Tallulah Falls Gorge State Park, which isn't all that far from Clayton. The sun came out for some good picture taking. In between Clayton and Tallulah Falls in one of those "blink and you'll miss it" towns called Tiger. In this small town of Tiger is a roadside attraction called "Goats on the Roof." I couldn't resist stopping and taking a picture. And yes, there are real goats on the roof. There are little goat houses and with grass and a rooster on the roof. You can send goat feed in a tin can up a conveyor belt to feed the goats. It was the most hilarious sight to see.



















Back tracking a bit though. My mom and I stayed an extra night. And after an all day cloudy day Saturday, the day was closed out by a pink (how appropriate for a Mary Kay weekend!), gold, and purple sunset. The picture to the left is the view from our balcony. We weren't so lucky Friday night. It rained off and on that night. But in some ways I feel like that sunset was the best part of the trip. Out of the photographic opportunities, this was one that had to the most color. I tend to like rainy days, but I do like a splash brilliant--but not bright--color. I like my colors rich and deep. I found that in this Autumn sunset in the mountains of North Georgia.

In a later post, I will share a little bit more about Goats on the Roof and Tallulah Falls Gorge State Park with pictures. Meanwhile, I'll add one more picture. I can't resist it.

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Now playing: U2 - Magnificent
via FoxyTunes

Baking Day!

Happy Labor Day!

After coming home from working half a day today I did some baking. While it wasn't from scratch, it was still good. I had bought a cookie mix at Hobby Lobby over the weekend. The cookie mix was Pumpkin Spice Cookies. The mix came with cinnamon icing which tastes like a cinnamon roll. It's a really simple recipe, great for someone who doesn't have a whole lot of time for baking from scratch. All it requires is 5 tablespoons of room temperature butter or margarine and 2 tablespoons of water. I added a third tablespoon. It just seemed a little too dry without it.

The actual baking doesn't take long....but I guess cookies don't take long anyway. I'm more familiar with cake baking rather than cookie baking. These take 10-11 minutes according to package directions. After going the 11 minutes, I left them in for another 5 minutes. I wasn't pleased with the doneness at just the 11 minutes. But adding the extra minutes seemed perfect! Beware though, this particular mix doesn't make a whole. Especially if you're wanting to make big cookies. Normally, how I dip the dough on the sheet is with a ice cream scoop or a cookie dough scoop. You can make decently good circles instead of ragged irregular cookies by using a scoop. Particularly ones that have a scrapper in the scoop to help get the contents out on the cookie sheet. I have two different sizes, which the smallest one I could've used had I found it. I did find it only after I put the cookies in the oven. When I used the bigger scoop, it made only eight cookies. So ended up halving it, making 16 cookies. The package says 12-24 can be made. If you were needing to make a lot, get more than one mix package.

The icing is no effort icing. It comes already made. All you have to do is knead it in it's package before using it. The best way to ice the cookies is to use a small icing spatula(see the above picture). And of course with any cookie icing you need to let it harden before stacking on a plate. If know anything about icing, you know that to have smooth layer is to use warm water on your spatula. I forgot to do that on my cookies. I was just so eager to photograph my finished product. A you can probably tell in the photo to the left. My cookies never stood a chance. I took several to my brother and sister-in-law and nephew. The rest my mom, dad, grandmother, and myself ate after supper as a dessert. They are no more.

For an idea of how they tasted. The cookie was spicy like what's in the name. But it also had hint of honey, even though the ingredients didn't have that as one. The icing still tasted like a cinnamon roll. So, it was a delicious combination of tastes, if you can imagine it on your tongue.

Mix Info:
In the Mix Cookie Company Pumpkin Spice Cookie Mix can be found at Brand Castle.

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Now playing: Loreena McKennitt - The Lady of Shalott
via FoxyTunes

Winding down

I feel as though I'm coming to you at the end of the story. But of course, it's not the case. It seems as thought my beginnings start as the weather prepares the earth--at least north of the equator--for the cold seasons. Already, I can feel Autumn in the air. I seem to be in touch with the season early on. It is my favorite season. A lot things, both good and bad have started in these months. I was born in the middle of Autumn. It was unusually cold that year for this part of the south--I've been told. Anyway, this year as been an exception.....

Over a year ago, I took a photography class. I didn't think I had much of an eye for it, but come to find out I did. Ever since then, I've refined my eye and I've become a better photographer just by shear practice. This summer a lot of the objects I've wanted to photograph, I've done. But I've also gained some new desires. I'm interested in weather photography. I live in the wrong part of the country for it. I still have some old desires. I have vintage and antiqued items I'd like photograph. It drives me crazy! I lack the space to properly do it. But I guess I'll have to improvise. I've still to capture a lighthouse and an old oak tree within the realm of my aperture.

As the Autumn approaches, I am in the mood for fall-ish projects, scents, and sights. I live too far south for a whole of color. Hopefully, when I take a trip to North Georgia in early October for a Mary Kay retreat, I'll see and photograph those elusive colors. Oh, yes! Be looking for some Autumn inspired post in the future!



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Now playing: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Free Fallin'
via FoxyTunes