Hello Girlfriends! I just want to say, your touching comments about our Dads (!), the Peter Rabbit Room, Domesticity City, and the newest recipes, plus all the connections we’ve been making with one another have made me so happy; I’ve been trying to think of a way to show you how much I’ve enjoyed reading them! This Fall Giveaway is the result! xo
Plus, October arrives this weekend! So let’s celebrate all us kindred spirit vagabonds and our wild gypsy blood with this . . .
. . . gorgeous quilt, which will soon be in the hands of some lucky winner! All you have to do to enter this giveaway is leave a comment at the bottom of this post, and answer one simple little question: What’s YOUR favorite thing about fall? ♣ Here are some hints and possibilities, to get your clock a tickin’ . . .
If you win, you could do this with your new, old, vintage quilt, and that might be your most favorite thing about fall this year. Putting the sweet in Home Sweet Home.♥
Or maybe you love outsmarting the first freeze and getting the last of the tomatoes in from your garden to ripen on the window sill… because they look so darn cute up there!
Or is it the cozy quiet back-to-school kind of morning when you’re alone in the kitchen with the cinnamon toast?
Or is it the way your house smells with your little dinners of acorn squash and homemade chicken and mushroom soup? That could definitely be it! ♣
You could eat that soup in front of this wonderful old movie, which if you haven’t seen, you would love. Have dinner with Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine. Bring your twelve-year-old daughter. ♥ ♥ ♥
Or maybe the change of season is so wonderful because we get to have more fires, turn off all the lights and pretend it’s 1840.
Or could it be the sound the leaves make when we crunch through them and kick them into the air? Don’t we just love it when they cartwheel down the road, tip to tip? Or, when we get to make wishes on the ones we catch in mid-air?
Or is it this, the smell of cedar, juniper trees, bayberry, musky rotting leaves, thick dampness in the air, salt and ocean; being swept along the dirt road by the wind filled with flying leaves; looking at Joe, cute in his black beret, the woodland around us laced with spider webs sparkling with dew on foggy mornings . . . could this be it? Yes, it could!
Or, it could be when we reach under the leaves to discover the freebies in the compost heap, volunteers we didn’t plant? We even got a spaghetti squash this year!
♣ ♣ ♣
It’s a season of the little things in life that make it so special. Let the fun begin! What do you love most about the sweetest season? And btw, not to forget, Hellooooo down there in Aussie Land and everyone south of the equator! Tell us all what it is about spring that makes you fall in love all over again??? Inquiring minds want to know! xoxo Have a wonderful Day! You have until midnight tomorrow night (Wednesday Sept. 28 est.) to comment and be entered!
With Love from the Heart of the Home and Me! ♥
I love to paint autumn folk art scenes and bake a variety of pumpkin desserts! Love the scent of pumpkin in the air.
Hugs,
Catherine
You’re the first reply I’m reading Catherine, and already I know I’m going to LOVE this! 🙂
Oh yes you are Miss Susan! Put on a kettle of tea for yourself, grab your reading glasses and a cozy quilt, plan bologna sandwiches for dinner because you are not going to want to get up from reading all these wonderful comments. I’m having a ball reading them. The “Girlfriends” are all loving it too, I’m sure! Just soooooo much fun! “We” really are fun aren’t “we”! “We” “Girlfriends” don’t even have to be in the same room and we can be enjoying each others company! Just gotta love it! 😉 FOSB 4~Ever! ~ Doreen ~ <3 XO
And I sure do! Thanks Doreen!
Fall is my favorite time of year. Its like a Winnie the Pooh Day. I am an artist and lived in the Great Smoky Mountains in an old log cabin also as my art shop. The Little Pigeon River was the back yard. The beauty of the mountains and the fall leaves and foliage was a beautiful backdrop for any painting.. home cooking and decorating with the pumpkins, quilts,county folk art….what a very special time and such great memories with my three girls.
Lovely word pictures.
I love the cool, crisp mornings….chunky sweaters….hot chocolate and a good book by the fire. This fall we’ll see it through the eyes of our first grandchild Teddy. Boston here we come!!!
The favorite fall sound is walking through our local apple orchard, hearing the snap of the apples being pulled from the trees. As the family piles back into the car, we all hurry to grab our favorite apple from the basket & ride home hearing the crunch crunch of everyone enjoying the fresh juicy apple & hearing everyone say how good it is & please pass the napkins to wipe their chins!
Thank you so much for a beautiful giveaway! I love the colors of fall the best, then it would be the weather of course.
Fall is my very favorite time of the year because every year I’m flying over from the Netherlands to Illinois, my home away from home, to visit my sweet friends and enjoy all the lovely autumn colours, the decorated houses for Halloween, the yummy country suppers, and especially the warmth and hospitality of my USA friends!
That’s so great Mieke, such a good place to spend the fall!
My favorite thing about fall is the “coming home” feeling it seems to bring with the change of season……………..Everything seems close and homey and the sun setting earlier, the changes of leaves and smells just add to that cozy nostalgic feeling of family and home…
I love EVERYTHING Fall-ish! It’s been my favorite season from my earliest memories. The coziness of it; the lengthening shadows in the afternoon’s golden glow; the sight and smell and crunch of the leaves; the crisp apples (and the apple crisp!); the joys of hot tea and good reads … I could go on and on forevermore!
i love the fact that i can make all kinds of homemade soups and with a loaf of homemade bread have a complete meal! Potato is my favorite, but also love mushroom, 12 bean and ham and beef barley, to name a few. also love all the colors of fall, as they give off one final blast before all the whiteness of winter.
My most favorite thing about fall is the wonderful, musty smell of the fallen leaves as I walk through them at the local State Park. The clean, cooler air of autumn enhances the perfume of the woods as well as the palette of colors!
My fall favorite is first frost on the pumpkin (^ V ^)
Oh what is not to love about fall the leaves from all our maple trees the yummy things to bake and eat! But most of all my husband’s birthday! I am so grateful to have such a great sidekick to share my life with and raise our childern. i could have anyone better he works so hard to provide for us and thus i get to be a at home mommy which has been the biggest blessing so far. He really hates to draw attention to himself but here is my shout out. I am glad he had such great parents and had a surprise baby # 5 almost 38 years ago! For that I have him and he has me and together we make it work great!
My favorite things about fall are the memories of leaves burning; my Dad would rake them into large, colorful piles and burn them back when I was a little girl; to me this signaled the change of seasons. I also love socks and sweatshirts, the county fair and hot oatmeal for breakfast! Ah, fall… bring it!
I love warm sweaters, beautiful colors of the leaves, the wonderful smells in the air, pumpkin farms and the cooler temperatures.
Pumpkins, pumpkins, and more pumpkins! I love the look of them on the front porch, the smell of pumpkin pie in the oven, and of course eating pumpkin pie in front of a roaring fire.
Oh Susan, picking just one is hard, hard, hard – because I love it all. But I guess if I have to pick just one, it’s the light. The sun is set lower in the sky and casts such beautiful shadows that make the beautiful colors of the changing leaves magical. This season just works on all our senses so intensely, it just makes me feel happy to be alive.
Okay, I’m sorry, but I have to add one more thing. My husband Bob (my Joe) was born in October, and he lights up my life too.
Ah, it is so hard to choose just one favorite from so many pleasures. I guess what I love best is that cozy, tucked-in feeling of fall evenings, dark earlier, warm supper, good book evenings.
Fall holds special meaning to me, it takes me down memory lane when I was a child. My parents are both gone now and each Fall brings back a special reminder of the two of them. I am now blessed to have a Grandson born in Fall, October 4th, 2009 to be exact!
What a fun post! My favorite thing about fall is seeing all the eager little trick-or-treating faces show up for candy on Halloween. They’re all just so darn cute! (And sadly, now that I attend quilt markets, I don’t get to see them — apparently the Quilt Market Einsteins don’t share the small children love! ;-D)
Thank you for having the giveaway – I would love to be entered! 🙂
Fall is my very favorite season. I love it so much that a few years ago I made up a list of all my favorite things about fall and I keep adding to it. 🙂 You can see the list here – http://heritageschoolhouse.blogspot.com/2008/09/wonderful-things-of-autumn.html
Have a good day!
Autumn is my favourite season. From the rich colours of the leaves russet and crimson, the Michaelmas daisies in the borders and especially the blackberries from the hedgerow staining your hands as you collect them. Then the making of jams ,jellies and chutney to eat in the Winter.
I can’t just pick one thing I love about Fall! It’s my favorite season. I love the colors, all reds and oranges and burgundies and yellows, and the smell of burning leaves and rain and cinnamon and pumpkin and apples, the sounds of leaves falling and crunching. Drawing inwards – a warm, cozy home and making soup and sitting around a fire and reading a good book. Football season! Love watching football on a Sunday with my husband while doing laundry and having something yummy brewing in the crockpot. The cooler temps that begin in golden September and continue on to the first frost in October. Kinda fascinated in a creepy sort of way by those big spiders and their beautiful webs. I could go on and on – what’s not to love about Autumn?! 🙂
I love EVERYTHING about autumn and I get the itch around Labor Day. Rather than give friends small trinkets at Christmas and become the Fall Fairy and disperse candles, scents, fall dishes and fun goodies on the 23rd of September. They arrive in the mail, on doorsteps, in classrooms…wherever. I have John McCutcheon’s Autumn Songs on my Ipod and this year began the 5:05 AM arrival with his song, “It’s Fall” playing as coffee was being poured. I spend the weekend “fallin'” up the house with pumpkins on porch steps, patio, and on the buffet, banners flying, making the first batch of butternut squash soup while the Greatest Hits of Gordon Lightfoot play on the stereo. Yep, it’s fall!
Hi Susan
I love the smell of fall ,the leaves that crips under your feet and all lovely colours what nature give us…….I would love a sweater in chestnutbraun……..and the fairybanks on a tree , and the mushroomhouses for the gnome, I can’t help myself looking for them when am walking ;o)
I love the cool crisp air in the morning. It’s still warm here, but the mornings turn crispy good. Makes my time on the swing extra good with coffee and a quilt. I love the acorn squash photo. Is there any brown sugar in that? That’s how my mom would fix them, so that’s the way I fix them. I’d like one for dinner soon, when it cools off a bit. Happy Fall Sweet Susan. xo
Brown sugar and cinnamon. xoxo
Sadly, we don’t have change of the seasons like you who are blessed to live in areas where that is true. What I like about Autumn and Fall here in South Texas is the crispness of the air, that make you feel so alive, in contrast to the hot muggy days of summer and the wet cold that seems to seep into your body and chills you to the bone in winter. I lived for two years in Minnesota, and they were just fabulous. The first witner was rough, being from the south, we didn’t know how to dress properly until my cousins took us under their wing. The next winter was delightful and I even enjoyed shoveling snow!! LOL! While there we drove along the St. Croix river and I was just amazed at the blaze of color…the trees looked as if they were on fire with color! I do hope you who are blessed with the change of seasons really appreciate what you have. Enjoy for me!
I spent many autumns growing up in California. After years of living in New England, I spent a fall in California, and was able to find a bit of the seasonal change by driving through the Vineyards. The hills with the rows of vines turn colors, and the birds fly over just like in New England ….
I love the things to be done together — gathering walnuts, raking leaves, building corn shocks, harvesting crops, riding along admiring the leaf show…. Now that I have kids in band, I love the sights and sounds of their marching competitions, the tailgates, and warm blankets (and quilts) spectators wrap up in. 🙂 Best of all, the cooler weather brings happier faces and more reasons to enjoy every second outdoors — before seeking warmth indoors!
I did not see your comment before I wrote mine.. from Marching band parent to another have a great Fall!
too cute!
Go Buhler Crusaders! (and your band, too!!)
Just *one* thing? Oh, so hard:)
I’d have to say the cool, crisp weather and wearing sweaters!
Oops, that was two things, wasn’t it?
You noticed I wasn’t able to only do one either . . . I should have said “wax poetic” if you want to! Only fair!
My favorite thing about fall is going apple picking with my kids…my littlest loves it so much that we go every weekend. Then we go home and make lots of pies to give away, apple sauce, apple crumble, etc etc. 🙂 When I was little my mom would use the leftover pie crust dough to make cinnamon spirals….they always remind me of fall. And my kids love them now as well.
Oooooh. My mom used to make those cinnamon spirals out of leftover pie crust, too! The BEST! 🙂
Sarah
At this point in my life, my favorite thing about fall is going to my daughter’s Marching Band Competitions. She is a Senior and a Drum Major. She plays the flute and piccolo. We know that every Saturday will be devoted to all day competitions, breakfast made by moms to eat at school, lunches packed for later in the day, and parents out in the stands with their warm coats and blankets cheering for their school. This is my last year to enjoy it and enjoying I am..
I love the leaves blowing in the wind and the cooler temperatures. I live in North Texas and Fall is my favorite time of the year.
I love that the HOT Florida Summer starts to give way to the slightly not so hot days of Autumn. We have only been in this house for less then a year but one of the things we love about it is the fireplace. We love it when it cools off enough to start a fire and curl up with a loved one and chill out.
Cooler weather brings a giddiness to our home. We’ve been cooped up all Summer and we know that fun times outside are coming soon. Bonfires, camping, cooking out etc.
Thanks for the chance to win Susan. What a great gift!
HUGS!
This time of the year has always been my favorite time for so many reasons! I love bottling tomato soup and freezing peaches with my daughters and watching the Canadian Geese flying over the house and land in the fields behind my daughter’s house as we’re watching out her kitchen window. I love the incredible colors of fall. I have loved reading your blog …. I truly feel like you’re one of my best friends and I’ve never even met you …. you have the ability to make people feel happy and like we personally know you!
Fall has always been my favorite season. The golden light from the sun seems to put a glow into all the changing colors of reds, yellows, oranges, and browns. Here in Arkansas, we finally have nice, temperate days and cool evenings to enjoy the out-of-doors again. A nice fire outside in the outdoor fireplace while enjoying an evening meal with a billion stars shining overhead. Can’t help be feel a little closer to heaven. Sunflowers and scare-crows, pumpkins and guords, these are some of my favorite things!
We are sooooo blessed!
Truly blessed indeed.
I enjoy every single minute of fall here in upstate NY – – – our next color is White – – – and it stays for a long long time – – – so I am soaking up every fallen leaf, every fat happy pumpkin, watching the chipmunks scurry and carry seeds and treasures to the den. The whole of the kitchen countertops are covered with pears to can, honey crisp apples in baskets and ALL the fall cookbooks and soup recipes waiting patiently to be conjured – – – yep, fall is my favorite and I am making this nest cozy and thinking contented thoughts.
My favorite fall thing is my anniversary! My husband and I take our old car out and drive along the Mississippi River looking at the beautiful foliage. We always wear big warm sweatshirts or sweaters and always try to find a pumpkin stand to buy our first pumpkin and some apples and some squash (you get the picture)! We get home and build a fire in the fire pit and enjoy the crisp evening outside! This weekend is our anniversary, and I can’t wait! 🙂
I love that I want to be in the kitchen baking or sitting out on my front porch in the evening enjoying a cup of hot cocoa.
Definitely the cooler weather. I live in Florida so that means 80 degrees. We have to wait until December for our crisp, autumn air.
I love the smells of autumn…pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, soup simmering on the stovetop, bread baking in the oven, and wood burning in the woodstove! It makes everything seem so warm & cozy…it is my favorite season!
Blessings!
~Nadine
Decorating (I call it “fall-inating”)! Bringing out the fall colors, table linens, pumpkins, scarecrows and skeletons (or “scary-tons” as my oldest called them when she was little). We have a wonderful collection of Department 56 Halloween village pieces and get all goose-prickly when we set it up. And we settle in every weekend in October to watch all of our favorite scary movies. Ok, I’m off to fallinate the front porch–thanks again Susan for keeping me cheery! 🙂 <3
PS – One more thing (!) … I love Fall for the sight and sounds of the migrating geese. What could be lovelier set amidst the autumn sky??
PSS – I’m loving reading today’s posting and all the comments. xo
Me too, always my favorite thing!
Having grown up on a family farm in eastern Canada, my favourite thing about fall is the generous feeling of plenty. In Fall there is more baking, more jams, jellies, pies and homemade goodness. It means new coats and scarves and boots. It means dragging out the couch blankets and bringing in wood for the fireplace. Its about cozy evenings at home watching Bonanza or Littlest Hobo while Mom knits and Dad reads the Herald. Its the growing anticipation that Christmas preparations are about to begin and a new school year full of possibility. It also signals the most beautiful season with extraordinary colour and sweater-wearing-fine-weather 😉
It’s the perfect season for Thanksgiving to be in! Gratitude for all that generous feeling of plenty!
What an amazing give away. How kind of you. Your art, your blog, your insight are all lovely gifts you give us regularly.
Thank you.
My favorite thing about this time of year is watching my husband. Something magical comes over him with the cooler days and nippy night. The turning of the colors. He stands on the deck and breathes deep, sniffing the air. He smiles. He invites me on more walks. I love seeing what it is to him – through his eyes. ( I like it also…but my love of this season, pales when compared to the delight it brings into his life.)
Oh, and yes, we love the return of warm satisfying soups. Winter squash. Homemade bread.
Just beautiful Arlene!
I have to second that Arlene…how beautiful! 🙂
My favorite thing in fall is the crisp air and being able to snuggle up under quilts!
I love the crisp weather. It makes me feel more energetic!
Yes!!!!! 🙂
Fall is my favorite season…unfortunately, we don’t have crisp, cool fall-like days until Thanksgiving here, but nothing beats a fire in the fireplace, pumpkins on the hearth, and candles (pumpkin scented) on the mantle…somehow, even when it is still warm outside, it still works to make it FEEL like fall. With the drought and stifling heat for the last three months, most of the leaves on the trees are already brown 🙁 We are so ready for that first cold front and the smells of Autumn.xo
Here in So. California we almost have to create our own fall but we do our best 🙂 The pumpkins and sunflowers we planted are participating and are in glorious show as we anticipate cooler temperatures and the holidays!
Oh my, I love the crisp air and sweaters and the beautiful colors and the homey way it makes me want to cook…. The quilt is beautiful I wonder who made it….? Love it all and more…… Thanks for the chance of the giveaway Susan…. Have fun in Cali, I miss it there, but love the seasons up north… xox I bought my first Susan Branch Book when I lived on the Central Coast 20 years ago, have been a fan ever since!
xoxo Rebekah!
Blue skies with puffy white clouds… the beautiful reds, oranges, russets, yellows of the leaves and the mums. Apple pies, pumpkin bread, apple butter, cranberry/orange nut bread… pumpkins & scarecrows… a big dough bowl filled with gourds in the center of the table… a basket of apples … warm spiced cider enjoyed in front of a roaring fire… long walks in a favorite sweater … open windows and fresh crisp air. Fall ~ what’s not to love. As a menopausal woman 😉 living in the humid south, I think my favorite thing of all is the return of that fresh cool air. The comfy, cozy fun of fall can be enjoyed so much more when there’s a nip in the air.
Love this post and the wonderful comments. So sweet of you, Susan, to be thinking of the girlfriends while you are away. Happy Fall.
I love everything about fall! Living in New England, the leaves changing colors are so beautiful. I love the cooler weather too- it seems to bring on a new energy in me every fall- love decorating my house at this time of year!
My favourite thing about fall? Gee. Why don’t you ask a simple question like “What’s the meaning of life?” ~wink~
Seriously… The thing I adore most about the season is that electric feeling in the air. The feeling is a mixture of joy, excitement and anticipation. Humanity seems thrilled that the exhausting heat of summer is a memory and the unbridled exuberance of Christmas is around the corner. “Fall” is not just a season. It’s a state of mind. 🙂
That was my next question, Trish! Can’t wait for those answers! 🙂
Autumn is my favourite season for so many reasons, the beautiful colours, the late sunshine but with a freshness you don’t get in summer, the nights drawing in so it’s cosy sitting in front of the fire with candles burning, the lovely warming stews, pies and casseroles for dinner, the preparations starting for Christmas handmade cards and gifts and finally it’s when my daughter was born, (the best gift ever).
Fall is my favorite time of year. I love that earthy musty smell of the leaves falling, the pumpkin lattes and hot apple cider, the kids getting excited about the thought of what to dress up as for Halloween, and hay rides in the field to find the perfect pumpkin to sit by the front door.
Can’t forget cozy sweaters, fuzzy striped socks, and cuddles by the fireplace 🙂
Happy Autumn to you.
Fall is my favorite time of the year! I’ve always thought I have a “fall” house, with the light coming through, sugar maples outdoors just make my home GLOW!
So I think it might just be my view outside my kitchen window when the fall leaves change color and put on a glowing show!
This is so easy I love fall hands down for the beauty that falls down on us from our friends the trees as we take our autumn walk. its a magical time I like to think theres a fairy going around with her special wand touching the leaves to so many splended colors.
wow what beautiful post and a give away to boot! Whooo hooo!
What I love most about fall? That would have to be the color change. From the trees of red and gold, to the burning bushes from green to red, the crunchy leaves as I take my beloved dog for a long walk on the trails of her favorite spot. The apples and pears that are ripened to perfection for my pies. The Halloween decorations. The cider mills. What’s NOT to love about fall? (Oh, I remember, the shorter days.)
My favourite thing about your fall – is it is our spring down here in the southern hemisphere – Which is soo nice to know just coming out of winter.
Love Leanne
Don’t think I’m buttering you up or anything, but what I love is pulling out one of my many Susan Branch cookbooks and settling in for a good read on a darkening evening. There’s something so cozy and heart-warming about your lovely pictures and yummy recipes. I love that about Fall.
Oh I do love that butter! 🙂 Thank you Jodi!
Fall is the promise of all my best childhood memories returning to my heart.
I love digging into the closet and getting all my sweaters and jackets out. I pair them up with my heels and jeans and away I go. Love sweaters and jackets. layers and scarves. Such fun!
For me, since I live in Washington State is apple harvest. When I’m our and about early enough, I can hear the musical voices of the pickers in the orchard near my house. I especially love the huge crates piled amazingly high with apples–especially, Goldens my personal favorite–awaiting the the arrival of the trucks. And a love a fresh apple which has been left by the pickers.
My favorite is when the real apple cider hits the shelves here in Florida…let the mulled cider with wine flow! Yummy, along with the change in temp from 90’s to 80’s to ahhhhhh 70’s 🙂
Looking into my crystal ball, I see a trip through New England in the fall in your future Jacqui!
Oh yes… and I will take the train too:)
Yes, you should make the dream complete. What will you wear?
Way, way in the back of my closet I have my “winter” coat from the old days. It’s a beautiful coat, adorned with a flowered pattern of warm colors of burgundy, brown, black and a hint of burnt orange. It’s also velvety and soft…I couldn’t bear to part with it when I made the move. So I will dig it out, grab a scarf or 2, find my cute low leather boots and buy a pair of gloves at the train stop! (sigh)
Beauty-full quilt! Want! 😉
It’s REALLY hard to choose just one thing I love about Fall, as Fall has been my favorite time of year ever since I can remember. I will go with… sweatshirts and jeans!
Yum! Just out of the dryer!
I love the memory of sitting on my grandparents wide front porch in Stringtown, OK. Looking back over the hillside, seeing and smelling the smoke rising from a little brick chimney. I made a memory of that scene so many years ago thinking how lucky I was to be “their” granddaughter, and how lucky I was to just be alive at that very time. Love to all from the Oklahoma hills, Becky
Gorgeous!
And love back to you from another Oklahoman!
Another Okie “Hello!” I’ve been through your part of the state and it is indeed beautiful there in the fall.
I love everything about fall – the colors, the smell, the intense blueness of the sky, and most of all – Halloween! My favorite holiday.
There are so many things to love about autumn. The colours… the SMELLS (I love the smell of bonfires)… but if I were to pick just ONE thing. Homemade soup with fresh bread. It always seems like such an autumny thing to do, but I LOVE homemade soups and homemade breads.
Autumn is my favorite time of year, it’s Mother Nature’s way of telling us to slow down. Cool, crisp, morning’s and the aroma of fresh baked pumpkin pie are two of my favorite things.
I love everything about fall, it seems my house is so much cozier when the weather turns chilly. I would cozy up in that quilt, watch a movie and enjoy a warm cup of tea!
How can I choose any one thing that is my favorite of Fall?? It’s my absolute favorite time of year!! I guess I’d have to say it’s the changing colors of foliage–the smell, the crunch as you walk through those fallen, the views practically ablaze! What a gift from God. Blessings to you, Susan, and thank you for ALL of your joyful inspiration 🙂
The colors, oh the colors!!
Living in Florida, I look forward to a little cooler weather!
It’s the memorys of being back in Michigan as a child when we all would rake up the big colorful leaves and my Dad would put them into the metal trash can and burn them… oh the smell of that on a cool crisp afternoon.
My Mom’s homemade potato soup!!!
But mostly it was the antisipation of what was to come.. Halloween!!! (getting to go to the store and pick out a costume “In A Box.”.. and…..the CANDY!) Thanksgiveing…getting together with my Cousins, Aunts & Uncles and Grams- the aroma of walking into her house…Ahh if I could only be there one more time! And oh my…. CHRISTMAS!!!….SNOW.!!!. SANTA CLAUS AND….. PRESENTS!!!
Thank you Susan for reminding me to think about the “Sweetest Season ”
” you see, it is still in the 90’s here and until now havnt had a chance to go there”
This is a fun post, Susan, and thank you for such a great give-away. I like the smell of the crisp Autumn air in the mornings and after a sticky summer like we just had, I like being able to get reacquainted with my kitchen and oven again and start baking yummy things like pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!
We would like the recipe for those cookies!!!
What do I love about Fall???? The colors(red, burgundy,orange), the smells(cinnamon, pumpkin,spice), the coolness in the air, taking out the warm throws, lighting a fire….etc, etc,etc. Happy Fall Susan. Thanks for being you and sharing you with us! Love ya!
You have the cutest name!
Autumn is my favorite season; I am not sure I can pick just ONE favorite thing! I think I will start with last Saturday. I made my fall excursion just across the county line to a little Amish farm, past the fork in the road and way back from the mailbox. We waded through the mud tracks left by the wagons over to the field of mums. I was the brave one who trudged through the puddles and held up the pots, perched on the black fabric, waiting to go to the auction next Monday, while my daughter and daughter-in-law nodded yes and no (more yes’s than no’s!). We filled the back of the pick up with yellow, lavendar, rust, orange and red flowers and then I spotted corn stalks bound with baling twine. How much? A dollar a bunch said the sweet proprietress. Well, I took four for the posts on my porch! My front porch has instantly changed from spent summer to gorgeous fall; the perfect spot to sit in my rocker and enjoy a cup of hot tea.
I love going to the local fall festivals and looking at the handmade crafts in the cool crisp air!
The first cool morning I dig out my late father’s flannel shirt…..take a big deep whiff hoping to get just a hint of his cherry tobacco he used in his pipe, put it on, rolling up the worn red/black/white plaid sleeves…then I go out to my garden and search for tomatoes that might still be clinging to the yellowed vines…
I love fall….the crisp mornings, dew on the grass, hearing the geese and watching their formations as they fly overhead to their winter homes.
What’s not to love?
Beautiful Martha!
I love listening to the leaves as they dance in the wind. <3
We live thirty miles east of Seattle. When Fall arrives, there’s a “snap” in the air that wasn’t present even a week before. I wait for it each year; there’s nothing quite like it. Each breath is a reminder that the calendar is changing. There is a tree outside my office window that bursts into a thousand shades of orange and red as the days pass, too. Of course, it’s time to put another quilt on the bed!
Then this giveaway is coming along in the nick of time!
The quilt is beautiful! My favourite thing about fall is picking cranberries in the swamp – these are the low bush kind that are also called Lingonberries and it’s just such a beautiful place to be, cool and crisp and colourful, with the softness of moss underfoot and the risk of a bear or moose encounter just adds to the atmosphere. Last year it was too dry and there were no berries, so I enjoyed it especially this year.
Wonderful post and photos.
What we love about fall is : The fresh cool air, sounds of crickets, the smell of fireplaces and bonfires, walking in the woods amongst all the colourful leaves, home made soups, stews and pies, taking photos of the trees as they change, decorating for fall orange,yellow, gold and reds, Halloween with the kids and family, pumpkins , gords , raking leaves and jumping in them ,hay rides and fall fairs these are a few of things we love about fall.
mmmmm hay rides and bonfires!
My favorite thing about fall is the cool air and the beautiful colors of the leaves and wrapping up in cozy blankets!
Love the Fall season in Salem, MA, the Witch City, where everybody celebrates Halloween here.So many festivities going on at all hourse of the day: costume balls and parades, eerie events and trolley rides, ghost tours and witches everywhere.The best place to be in the world.!..Just walking down the street is magical.
I couldn’t agree with you more…we were there a couple of years ago, the town is wonderful in the fall!
Picking apples and eating them right on the spot. Wearing hand made wool sweaters and socks. The smells of crunchy leaves and wood smoke. Knitting next to the fire. Watching the leaves change from green to glory. The slower pace with everyone gathered together for a dinner of homemade bread and SOUP at the end of the work and school day.
I love to knit in the fall, in front of old movies, with my girlfriends, and just the pop from the fire. Add it to the list!
Can I join you girls? I’ve been wanting to learn to knit for the longest time. I have needles and yarn! 🙂
We should figure out how to have a group knitting lesson!
Wouldn’t that just be the “funnest” thing ever!?
Fall brings cooler temps and an increased vigor for quilting! The smell of leaves burning evokes childhood memories of running and jumping in big piles of raked leaves before my Dad would burn them 🙂 Pumpkin smells and baked goods abound, too.
Oh my goodness, this is so good!
Fall is my favorite time of the year, always has been even going to school, the new notebook, clean paper and new pencils & pens. Now I love the change of sunlight from white to yellow it’s so much softer. The cooler nights (even here in so cal.). I get to start making stews and bread, curl up and knit while the football game is on. My men are in such a better mood during the football season. Thanksgiving is coming up and it’s my favorite holiday. Oh dear, I could go on and on. I know when I close this post I will think of more that I should have posted. Oh yes, wearing more clothes!!
Oh Susan, I can’t choose just one! Fall is my favorite season! I LOVE LOVE LOVE everything about it! Last night, after our dinner of chicken and wild rice salad and sautee’d apple cider swiss chard, I made baked cinnamon apples. We listened to Celtic music (which feels very Autumnal to me) and I sewed by candlelight. My little one cozied up in last years flannel nightie and begged for more bedtime stories.
I have been collecting soup bones in my freezer all summer for the variety of Fall soups I love to cook for my family usually have a pot bubbling away during the day. Soon we will head to the Pumpkin patch for just the right pumpkin. And there are many wild and imaginative discussions regarding the designing of the perfect Halloween costume. I think both of my girls want to be Rapunzel this year, so the fabrics on the cutting board are all pinks and purples.
Oh this is getting long. I should probably blog about it!
Thank you for the chance at that quilt. It looks perfect for reading and hot cider and candles while wearing flannel nighties. Happy Fall!
Cinnamon apples and Celtic music! Wonderful images.
My favorite thing about fall is celebrating my birthday by visiting a cabin in the woods with my husband and sons. We walk in the woods and enjoy the great smells that we can only smell the rest of the year in the scent of a candle. The changing of the leaves, picking apples, visiting the pumpkin patch, dressing for halloween, baking pies and a slow cooker simmering in the kitchen are all close seconds to my favorite memories and activities.
My favorite part of Fall is decorating my home, baking pumpkin treats and visiting Apple Hill.
OK, tell us about Apple Hill!
Apple Hill is located in the foothills, about and hour east of Sacramento, CA. It consists of more than 50 apple ranches, plus Christmas tree farms, vineyards, and a few small wineries. My children and I go every year and hit all of our favorite spots. We purchase apples fresh off the tree, Apple Raspberry Cream Cheese pie, Apple Sour Cream pie, hot apple cider donuts (yum!), apple cider, and sometimes pumpkins and gourds. We also take pictures in front of a hill covered with beautiful fall colored mums. Apple Hill is our favorite Fall tradition!
Must smell like heaven! Thank you!!! If I’m ever in Sacramento in the fall . . . I’ll be going to Apple Hill!
Even better….give me a call and I will give you personalized tour! Hee Hee
🙂
Russel Orchards in Ipswich, MA is wonderful, too..We were there in November ’10…very magical….delicious treats like apple cider donuts…yum!
I know Apple Hill! Not too far from where we used to live in Grass Valley! But now, we are in Sonoma County and all the gorgeous vineyards and pumpkin patches run into the apple orchards in Sebastopol. But we may need to take another trip to Apple Hill this year as well. Ah Fall…
Karen, You’re close by me. I’m up in Placerville just 5 minutes from Apple Hill and we have enjoyed our short drives there for 20 years. I end up going during the week to avoid all of the crowds. I know just the mum covered hill you’re talking about. Isn’t it gorgeous? Happy fall to you!
You’ve captured much of what I love about this season. I’m loving the change in smells that I notice while walking my golden, and we’re both noticing the change in animal activity – the birds, squirrels, chipmunks, …. all seem to be extremely busy. I also love the way the leaves dance with gusts of wind.
The thing I look forward to the most each year when fall is coming is putting our plastic electric jack-o-lantern ontop of the fridge. his face is spooky-cutie, like a sweet mischievious kid jack-o-lantern. our house is tiny and you can see the fridge from everywhere but the bedrooms. depending on their age at the time, our four kids all have different reactions to “Happy Jack”.
I have to hold myself back from the first day of fall until Oct, 1st when i feel like it’s ok for me to put Halloween up. Putting our cheap store-bought vintage-ie jack-o -lantern up is the kick off to the whole slew of fun holidays.
Halloween has it’s own fun magical child-like feeling that i adore.
seems like i got a late start to this…… all the comments above cover all my favorite things about fall! (and some of them say it so much better than i can 🙂
the way the light changes, all the colors, being able to turn the oven on and bake ~ i am so glad its fall!
Turning the oven on, what a good expectant thing that is!
I love the energy from the cooler temperatures. Putting up the scarecrows. The lady scarcrow always sits on a lawn chair and my calico kitty has her afternoon nap in her lap. Pumpkins everywhere. And coon hunting with my Dad. We build a giant bondfire to roast hotdogs and marshmellows and listen to the dogs run. Football and marching bands. I could go on and on…chile and corn bread
Corn bread and honey butter — pancakes and bacon!
Yum. And homemade sausage and I’m up to my elbows fixin pear preserves.. the floor is so sticky my kitties don’t walk through the kitchen. My heart is singing
Lovely.
I love fall because it is such a feast for all the senses. Everywhere you look, the warm, brilliant colors of fall. The smells of soups, fires, bread baking and the spicy, cinnamony smells of autumn baking. The sounds of leaves crunching underfoot on your morning walk and the sound of the high school band practicing after school, drifts over the town. Cold rainy days curled up under a soft “quilt” : ) The tastes of juicy apples and pumpkin bread. I love the feel of the nip in the morning air. Itbwould be easier to name one thing I don’t like about Fall..nothing!
“Autumn From the Heart of the Home” Susan Branch, beautiful leaves in my hometown (Hancock, NY), pumpkins, Halloween, My Birthday (October 19), corn mazes, football, back to school, wearing jeans and a sweater, Yankee Candle’s Autumn Wreath candles, apples and all the yummy things to make with them, the list goes on……. Love Autumn!
xoxo!
I love the colors of Fall and the sweaters without the bulkiness of winter coats.
Now, it just so happens that I am on Susan Branch’s site 😉 BUT one of my favorite things about Fall and Any season is putting out my Susan Branch book to match that particular season 🙂 The kids are getting used to mama doing this now lol it’s cute.
Fall and Spring are my favorite seasons. I won’t go on about Spring until… well.. spring lol! Fall… It means the end of the summer! I do not like summer… it’s just too hot, but thankfully this summer on PEI was NOT hot! yay! and because it wasn’t hot, it means for one smack dab in your face delicious fall for us! :p sunny days, warmish nights, and if they aren’t warm, that’s ok, because you come inside to a cozy blanket and the fireplace too (although it’s propane,… ugh, but it’s a fireplace, eh?)
when we moved into my Ingleside, there wasn’t a flower but one… and 3 little trees. My husband and I worked hard to get this property to what it is today, and I made sure that every window had a tree in front of it 🙂 I adore trees, they are true kindred spirits, welcoming and able to make you feel happy and calm. the front living room has 2 trees in front of it, and they fill up the window quite nicely. I can still see the ocean and the field across the road framed in deliciously by the trees on either side of the window. I love sitting here, esp in the fall and watching the leaves falling softly.
One fun things for the kids that my 6 year old, Rilla, found out this morning as i walked her out to the bus… where we’d normally have rain puddles, there were fallen leaf puddles… she happily jumped through the leaf puddles all the way to the bus 🙂
ok, i went way long 😉 … one more thing! The Fall smells DELICIOUS! :p
ok, i’m done lol
Love,
Denise of Ingleside, PEI
We hugged trees before it was even cool!
oh we must hug them! and touching them gently just to let them know they are loved back as you walk by the darlings <3
You live on PEI (on my bucket list!) and have a daughter named Rilla. You MUST be an Anne of Green Gables fan! I discovered Anne when I was about 13 and thought PEI sounded like the closest thing to heaven.
Bittersweet…I just cannot get enough of it. I feel so desolate when in November when all the leaves have fallen, I see great hanging tangles of it in the trees…oh, what might have been 🙂
I love when the trees are at their peak of color – yellow, gold, orange, rust, red, purple – with the blue sky as the background and the scents of the season filling the air. It’s so spectacular. I make sure my camera battery is fully charged as I shoot oh so many photos. Then warm up with a bowl of soup and fresh apple pie… makes for a delightful day.
My favorite thing is the cool, crisp air. Even better if someone has a fire going and that camp smell is in the air. It puts a pep in my step. It’s like taking a big gulp of cold water after a long season of hot and humid. (Thank you for the generous drawing!)
I love all things autumn. Just returned from a weekend trip in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains where the crisp air was fresh and cool, the leaves on the verge of exploding into vibrant color and the pumpkin & pecan pies were freshly baked with plenty of spice!
Love autumn…now I’m hungry for something hearty and spicy…some chili and cornbread! Yum!
Thanks for your posts, I love following you across the country!
We still have a couple more weeks, and another train ride to go! Glad you could come along!
with the very essence of Fall in my Heart, I regret that I cannot give “just one” reason why I am head over heels in love with Fall . . . to pick one reason why I love Fall the best would be like asking me to pick my favourite ted from the Hideaway Hug, or to pick my favourite recipe for Hot Chocolate, or ask me the best way to cook (or carve) a Pumpkin . . Fall brings the seasons, with friends old and new, together to celebrate the slowly fading year, the harvest and Thanksgiving, and prepares us for the end of the old and the heralding in of the new . . and in the middle of it all Hallowe’en lets us, with kind permission, be the biggest children of all . . I love Fall simply because of everything that Fall is . . except that this week, in (usually) wild, wet, and windy west Wales we are basking in sunshine and warmth of an exceptional level usually only seen in mid Summer . . . Bring Back Fall!
Coming soon to a town near yours! xoxo
Dear Susan, I so wish you could, and I do wish your books and other lovely products were available in the UK . .
Me too! Someday!
I love everything about fall, but what really get’s me in the mood is the smell of the fallen leaves. It brings me back to the fall memories of my childhood. All those huge piles of leaves we raked in our yard, and the days and days we spend hiding in them… jumping in them. No one yelled at us to stop or pick them up. They just let us play and enjoy our time being kids. It was the best time of our lives!