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! ♥
One of the things I love about Fall is the amazing light! The sky will be a deep dark blue and the sunshine will be the brightest yet. It makes all the Fall colors intense! Love your Blog, Susan.
My dear Susan – Oh, how I love the fall. It’s like a gift after enduring the hot hot summer. Like God is saying – “here’s your prize for sticking with it thru all those dreadful days that the vegies and fruits need to grow with. Now enjoy the cool, sweet air that I have provided for you. You can enjoy more apple pies and the sweet aroma of it baking. So many benefits of autumn.” My favorite is walking in the beautiful leaves that have blown onto the streets. As I walk, I kick the leaves and they shower down like a colorful rain from above. Then, too chilled to go any further, I turn and head home knowing that a hot cuppa will soon be ready in my favorite tea pot. The table is right near the window, so I’m sipping while watching the rain as it starts to sprinkle down on the leaves. I’m snug inside and glad I am….it’s chilly out there. Afterall, it fall.
My dear, it’s the gift you give ‘US’ everyday with your blogs. I loved the train trip and visits with the family. We were right there with you. You’ll never know what a blessing you have been thru your blog. I never thought I could feel this way thru someone’s sharing – but I do. I look forward to it daily. As I sip my cuppa, I know you’re on the other end doing the same. Tea invites others to enjoy it at the same time….a shared love.
PS – I also share your love for Gladys Tabor. I’ve been to her home, so easy to find thru clues in her books. It as a joyful visit…..I’ll share more later. Much love, hugs and blessings. Marge Knapp
So nice Marge!
I love to light my fall scented candles in the early evening and sip orange tea with my husband.
Soups! Soups! Soups! I could eat them three times a day (and sometimes do). Thanks for the lovely giveaway and the lovely blog.
As a former Florida gal, retiring to Tennessee has given me the blessed gift of Fall. Where once I walked down the beach, stooping to inspect and pick up shells, I now take Miss Saydee for a walk while doing a similar stooping and bending motion for leaves. Each one is uniquely different and often brings to my mind special friends still in Florida. One year I sent boxes of leaves to each one of them because I felt so sorry that they were missing all this beauty. Driving the Tennessee mountain back roads, I am occasionally blessed to see the leaf dance when a driver ahead of me has stirred up the leaves on the road before me. Trips to Cades Cove provide last of the season pictures of deer, wild turkey and bear.
Foodwise, I now look forward to muscadines, pink lady apples and roadside stands overflowing with blue pumpkins, snakelike squashes and other goodies. The slow cooker is waiting to bubble and fill my kitchen with the welcome smells of fall produce and homemade soup.
Away goes the summer house decorations and out comes browns, reds, and coffee table autumn books. Maps lay around, tempting me to plot area weekend fall festivals while flannel sheets are patiently waiting in their boxes for the weather to cool.
Can you tell I love Fall?
Yes I can .. pink lady apples, love them too!
Hi Susan,
My favorite thing about fall is our annual October trek from San Juan Capistrano, CA to the coast of New Hampshire to visit my inlaws. This visit gets more special every year as my mother-in-law is 86 now.
Thank you for having a contest for all of us fans! BTW, I made your yummy corn chowder recipe over the weekend and pretended I was already in New England!
Pretending is such an important part of life! 🙂
Dear Susan,
Today I had to take my 86 year old mother for a neurological evaluation….that alone brings such mixed emotions. BUT, Fall is starting here in Colorado and for the past 24 years, Mom and I have traveled together every September 29-30 to Taos, New Mexico. No matter what the weather or how we feel, it is our very special time together. It is a “calling” we have had since our first visit in the early 80’s. We love the drive south, through the many passes and up into the mountains and down into the fall harvest fields. We see the glorious turning of our aspen trees from green to yellow to gold to red. We take a million pictures of the same spots, year after year. We have our favorite places to see, restaurants that only locals know about, shops that are hidden in little back alleys, and if we are lucky, we also get the added bonus of attending Wool Festival (and we are hitting it right this year!) before we head back home. We have American Indian in our family line and we always visit Taos Pueblo our first night in town to witness the coming together of both sides of the pueblo….men in white robes, hair braided, soft white moccasins on their feet, carrying boughs of aspens leaves in their brightest and most glorious color, chanting that haunts your very soul. It is the beginning of their sacred San Geronimo feast day and is quite stirring to behold. All of this is Fall to me….the change of the season, the special bond of mother and daughter, the glorious color, the solemn spiritual bonds at the Pueblo, the special color and light that is only found in Taos, and the belief that life renews itself by first showing us how glorious it is before it sheds itself to begin the process all over again.
Fall is my favorite season for so many reasons: college football season starts up again (Go Gamecocks!), hot weather and high humidity are replaced with cooler temps and bright clear days, we can anticipate the coming holidays and the inaugural first fire in the fireplace, not to mention all the hearty soups, stews and other Fall fare to enjoy. Plus, my sister, girlfriends and I have started a fall tradition of an annual girls’ trip. This year we are going to Washington, DC. But past trips include Paris, Chicago, Asheville, Savannah, a beach weekend at the Isle of Palms. Join us! The more the merrier, and everybody knows that the FOSBs are nothing if not merry!
Merry is just the right word! Next to Wonderful!
Most everything you listed would fit the bill. But tonight it was making the first batch of chili for the season. And this past weekend being able to spend more time in the house, sewing, crocheting, knitting, rearranging the furniture in a more cozier fashion and just enjoying our home. Watched Muriel’s Wedding while hand sewing binding on a quilt. Thank you for suggesting it, I really enjoyed it.
Yay! So glad you did! A little bit of a sleeper movie!
What a lovely vintage quilt Susan. How can you bear to give it away? Thanks for being so generous.
Spring and summer are certainly lovely, and I wouldn’t want to miss them. But fall is really something different altogether. The air is fresh and invigorating, and I love the strong winds that blow the leaves all around. I live on the south end of Vancouver Island and we don’t have as much fall colour here as you do in the east, but there are pumpkins growing in the fields and Canada geese flying overhead. It’s also wonderful to put on a sweater, take a walk along the beach and come home to steaming bowls of leftover vegetable-garden soup. And the really great thing about fall is that Christmas is just around the corner!
I love everything about fall but especially my Pecan Pie candles, cooler weather so I can be outdoors and soups bubbling on the stove!
My favorite Fall thing is homemade apple pie, which is baking right now! My husband is watching closely! We are in my hometown in Iowa because my mother has Stage III breast cancer and we are in our motor home ‘camped’ in the rv section of the city park so I can be here for her to take her to her various medical appointments and radiation treatments…which are in a town 45 minutes away. Anyway, after one medical outing we stopped at the orchard where she purchased apples for her loved ones!! My husband will stay here with the motor home as long as the weather permits. Found you through “The Country Register” while here and I am so grateful!!
The cooler weather is my favorite thing about fall. (We’re not having cooler weather yet, though.) I also love pumpkins and football. Thanks for the great giveaway!
Mother Nature’s last fling before settling down for winter. The trees in all their vibrant colors are like fireworks as the leaves come swirling down in the wind. The crunching of leaves underfoot and the smell of woodsmoke send me over the moon with giddiness and I get that deep down sense of well-being that all is right with the world.
Choosing just one favorite thing about Fall is so hard! But I would have to say that it’s the taste of the cider after we pick apples at a nearby farm and then watch them being turned into one of my favorite beverages…the farm uses an antique press that probably has the flavors of a hundred-years-worth of apples clinging to it…it smells so delicious in the barn, I wish I could bottle the air and bring it home with me.
Oh boy! Picking one is going to be so difficult :).
Having a September birthday means I absolutely love fall, everything about it!
One of my favorite things is raking leaves into huge piles and watching my grand-daughter giggling as she jumps into them. Makes my heart sing.
Thanks for the chance at your beautiful vintage quilt.
As a new quilter, I can appreciate the love and warmth that is in every little stitch.
Happy Fall!
All the joys of Autumn in the Western Washington have returned. The delightful smell of wet dog, damp spots on the floors, the chasing of the picnic table cover. water running over the gutters, branches hitting the side of the house, soggy leaves and needles sticking to paws and shoes, hooded coats, porch lights coming on by 7 pm, our first rain and windstorm and homemade soup…it’s Fall.
My favorite thing about Fall in Maine is going to the UNH (University of New Hampshire) football games and watching my two sons who are in the Wildcat Marching Band! It is such a special time for my husband and I and the kids have us sit in the student section close to the band. Empty nesting is hard so I do look forward to these games!
My Dearest Susan, my heart goes out to you having to read all 536 comments. (At least that’s what number it makes when I’m posting this.) For years I’ve lived on a dirt road up on a moutain. My favorite thing to do in the fall is to wait until around 7:30 or so on a cool fall night and take a walk down the same road I just mentioned. The smell of freshly lit woodfires would be adrift in the evening air. You just can’t sniff in enough of that wonderful smell in breeze as it blows, as you ambled along the path the night sky aluminates before you. The shadows it creates in the woods bring to mind the shadows of “Falls” from years gone by. The memories of hayrides, pumpkin picking, making applesauce, racking leaves, baking pumpkin bread, snuggling under the quilt Grammy made, hiding in the piles of leaves in the backyard, listening for the geese flying overhead, looking closely to see if the scargrow really did move or what that my imagination, eating candy apples, sticking candy corn between you lips and your gums to make believe you have candy corn teeth, running around the corn fields that were not yet plowed under, dunking for apples, hiding in the barn under the hay that was bailed and brought in for the winter months ahead, drinking hot mulled cider, being able to wear your bestest cozy sweater, enjoying the tears the cool air of the season would bring as the wind blew….I could go on and on…so I guess maybe you could call this entire experience “Reminiscing” yet at the same time, as I’m walking, I’m making yet another wonderful memory for myself because of the joy I am experiencing as I let my heart delight in those wonderful memories of “Falls” gone by during these walks. I just love it. It brings a sense of peace to my soul. Yes, for every thing there is a season…and this season…is FALL ! FOSB 4~Ever!
~ Doreen ~
Love all the things you posted about autumn!! For me, Autumn is being able to make my first Pumpkin Pie of the year with my granddaughter, Acacia. Also, putting a pan of water with spices on the stove to make the home smell GREAT.
Many HUG
Carole
Fall always stirs the cooking gene I inherited from my Grammie. Seeing the days shorten, the golden color in sky reflecting from changing leaves inspires our annual apple gathering trip. Up to Greenbluff we go to buy boxes of Jonagolds, Honey Crisp and Ambrosia fresh apples for Apple Pie, Apple Pear Crisp, Applesauce to accompany a pot roast and veggies simmering in the oven while we are gone. The sweet crunchy Sugar Carrots are brought back for crunching raw, and for saving for our Roasted Veggies at Thanksgiving, And then I get excited knowing Halloween is not far away and I can decorate my porch with my blinking, screaming, cackling witches, pumpkins and a steaming cauldron. The trick or treaters come by the van loads to get their treats and charm us with their costumes. It’s still a fun event for children and all of us!
Ah, yes, the cooking gene! 🙂 The gift that keeps on giving!
Cool air, warm colors, harvests abundant bounty, and all the rich memories they evoke in me are what I appreciate most about fall:)
My favorite thing about Fall is Making apple butter. When we run out during the year my family panics and wonders “what are we going to do?” The grocery store is not an option.
I love the cooler weather and opening my windows to the fresh crisp breeze.
Living in a high-humidity area we tend to wear our air all summer long – when Fall comes creaping in with the lower temperatures, morning and night, the feel of Fall is crisp on my skin is pure heaven. I start baking pumpkin bread in a coffee can, which I did this past weekend, and I start mixing my mums with the last-of-the-season gardenias in every little vase I have – thanks to you. Kinda like summer ushering fall into the house. The camelias are loaded with buds and will burst wide open with the cooler temperatures. Rosy cheeks, sweaters, and raking up leaves and making soup and the corn chowder will be this week after we make a run to the farmer’s market for those last ears of corn. Reading all the replys has been really wonderful – kinda like topping off a really great day. Judy C
Love everything about fall, the color, the brisk breezes, the crunchy sweet leaves, the smell of it all after a day of rain, candles burning in the evenings, pumpkins everywhere, cinnamon flavored everything…. In fact the only thing I don’t like is knowing that Winter follows hard on Fall’s heels.
I live on the central coast of California and I just love the sunsets this time of year. Most of you all have trees that change color and cooling days. Well, here we have our warmest weather and the sunsets are bright red and orange. Just beautiful. And I love to decorate my home with my favorite autumn goodies, and especially putting out my collection of scarry vintage books. I hope I win that gorgeous quilt.
Like so many of you, fall is my favorite season. There’s so much excitement in this change; so much drama. Crisp, cool air; clear blue, blue sky; college football games; tailgating with friends; apple and pumpkin picking; farmers’ markets’ fall bounty; the cider mill and freshly made donuts; the colors; the fallen leaves; pumpkin muffins, apple cake & plum crisp; the wind and rain sometimes; s’mores from the last fires in the firepit; a pot of soup simmering on the stove; wood-smoke in the night air; the mums; the cozy warmth of the down comforter just brought out for this favorite season – and because we know what’s coming next! Brrrrr.
Homemade apple butter, bubbling in big copper kettles set over wood fires in the tiny churchyard, as the faithful 1st Methodist ladies took turns churning the spicy mixture with long wooden paddles. As a child, my 5th grade teacher permitted our class to watch the apple butter-making from the third floor windows of the old schoolhouse that overlooked the churchyard. When one of the kids asked, “Why are they doing that?”, my wise teacher replied, “because they are good women”. My Mom was one of those women. Fall does stir some wonderful memories.
I was just talking about this very subject with my second graders. Some of them didn’t think you could smell fall! My favorite thing about autumn is the first smell of a fireplace while I’m taking a walk on a crisp October day with my husband…the sound of geese honking as they fly over looking for warmer weather….and a cool breeze coming through the windows blowing my sheer white curtains. Ahhhh, now if it will just arrive and take the humidity away. 🙂
My favorite thing about fall is waiting for the first harvest of rich, orange-berried bittersweet and the sweet nostalgia of remembering my father trudging out of the woods, carrying those luscious vines home for our vases and wreaths. His ability to find the most beautiful berries was as predictable as the falling leaves.
My birthday arrives in the Autumn so I’ve always been partial to this season. I love, love, love the colors of Autumn — the bright oranges, golds, browns, reds, even purples of plants, flowers and leaves.
Happy Birthday dear Kristi!
It is so hard to pick one reason why I love fall! It probably dates back to childhood because my birthday is Sept 23, which usually is the beginning of fall. I had my first child in the fall too, so that is special. I love that I live in Ct so i have easy access to a beautiful fall setting 🙂 I just spent my 50th birthday in Vt with the hubby last weekend. We were at a lovely inn in Jamaica Vt called the Three Mountain Inn -was a perfect way to usher in the fall! I also love when my 3 kids come home from college and tell me the house smells like fall and that they always remember that from growing up. Fall baking helps, but I confess I get a little help from Yankee Candle pumpkin spice candles. but this will be our secret. Another favorite is that I get to bring out my Susan Branch Autumn book!
I have always loved fall, but I must say my favorite things are the memories of the fall when my husband and I fell in love 27 years ago. I know it sounds corny but it’s true! Something about when the weather turns to fall makes me feel like I’m young and falling in love. Susan, I am LOVING your blog. Everything about it makes me so happy. It’s one of the first things I check everytime I’m online. Thank you! P.S. I would hang the quilt in my stairway where I would enjoy it every day!!
P.P.S. I think we will have dinner in front of an old movie tonight and I am definitely having cinnamon toast soon–I almost forgot about cinnamon toast!! Thanks for reminding me!! I just wish we had a fireplace.
I love the crisp air and the shorter days and lots of dinners of soups!
Mostly I value the grace of one season’s emergence from another. This natural rhythm renews me over and over. Even as I wish for a few more days of summer’s ease, I’m eager for the renewed energy in my step as the crisp fall air releases me from late summer torpor. After the magic of summer vacation, the busy industry of school settles gently back into my grandchildren’s schedules. After summer provides, in fall I bake my renowned pumpkin bread and collect acorns with my grandson to make long garlands for the welcoming fireplace. Only after the riotous color spread of summer does the earth show off its subtle golden hues, reminding me (as I age 🙂 to value the soft shimmer of wisdom harvested from living fully and out loud.
The colors (purples, orange, brown), the amazing blue of the autumn sky, the crisp mornings and warm afternoons, pears and apples at the farmer’s market. . .these are only a few of my favorite things that are part of my favorite time of the year! Aaah autumn! ;}
There are so many things I love about fall, but one favorite is the way my garden looks. Things are dying back, but the mums and asters are blooming, the grass is still green, and the leaves are turning on the burning bush. So lovely in the afternoon light!
Walking through crisp newly fallen leaves while admiring all the beautiful golds and reds. The wonderful smell of the outdoors mingling with smoke from chimneys. Unpacking fall sweaters and boots to wear. Apple picking and then baking pies, breads, muffins & cinnamon applesauce. Spicy pumpkin candles and hot tea with honey. Friday night high school football games, homecoming parades and creating a fun Halloween costume. Fall is wonderful here in Virginia!
I love fall when the leaves start turning those gorgeous colors, and there is a crispness to the air. I love a pumpkin pie baking in the oven and there is always that first big pot of vegetable soup I have waited for since last winter. It’s the best when you can toss the quilts back on the bed and snuggle under them with the windows open and listen to the crickets singing in the night. I love having all the windows and doors open again to let the fresh crisp air waft through. Washing all the linens and have them hanging on the line and that wonderful fragrance of freshly washed sheets that have been dried in the sun. Oh Yum! Plus it is the kick off to all those wonderful holidays yet to come, celebrated with family and friends. That is what I love about Fall. It should last for 6 months.
For me the thought of fall is a mixed emotion… Sad to see the summer go, BUT excitment as well. Fall is magical in many ways… the color changes, the “busyness” of the worker ants (im sometimes the grasshopper)in prep of the soon to follow winter, the beautiful birds who are migrating South, the crispness in the air, SCHOOL SUPPLIES… the Fall holidays, the baking, the cozy quilts to cuddle under. Just really too many “Likes” BUT I guess if I have to narrow it down I would say, sitting out on the paitio wrapped in a quilt, enjoying a cup of tea w/ the little fire pit all a blaze with dancing flames taking just enough of the chill off to enjoy the out of doors during the season.
I love so many things about fall. But if I were to distill everything, I think it’s that in the fall my thoughts turn inward and focus on my home and those I love most. It’s at this time of year that I begin making my Christmas gift lists, I celebrate my birthday, and Thanksgiving. As the days shorten and night falls early, I light candles, morning and evening, simmer soups and stews, bake harvest treats, and cozy up my home. After being outside, in the rain, wind or chill, I love walking into my fall home where warmth greets me at every turn.
Susan, I get to enjoy the sweetness of Spring in Australia and Fall in Indiana this year. This will be my third year living Down Under and although the seasons aren’t as dramatic here, it is a joy when Spring arrives. Taking that extra blanket off the bed and keeping windows open all though the night now and just the beauty of the blue sky. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced! And this year, my husband is sending me back to Indiana for my favorite month – November! An entire month of family birthdays, snuggling under old quilts and smelling that special smell that is only Indiana in the fall. Plus I get to have Thanksgiving with my family! My absolute favorite holiday because it is all about the love (and food). Thank you for reminding me to really embrace this beautiful time of year.
It’s very early before daylight, open the front door, in my jammies, to go out and get the paper, go about 20 feet, stop, take a deep breath for a big whiff of the wonderful smell of the fall air, check out the beautiful stars in the sky (some days), and say “thank you” for another day!
Thank you Susan for your generosity (& I do love old red quilts), and for sharing all the wonderful, beautiful comments your “girlfriends” have made! Many blessings to you all!
I love the senses of Fall– The sight: colors of the leaves, skies (both gray and blue), the trees, twigs, acorns, fruit, and frost. The sounds: the rustle of leaves, wind, a crackling fire, and birds in migration. The tastes: apples, pumpkins, cider, a brothy soup, warm bread and butter, and hot coffee. The feel: being wrapped in a cozy quilt, the chill of a frosty morning, the cold rain, fall breeze, a sweater or hoodie, and flannel sheets. The smells: wet leaves, a crackling fire, warm soup/bread, a clean quilt, the fruit, and frosty chill.
Autumn is the applause of Creation! It’s when the earth glows with painted hues; the trees whirl and dance; and, the leaves turn confetti colors, blowing kisses to the wind. Autumn is a party for the earth, a crescendo, a lullaby of soft cricket chirps, honking geese and hushing wind whispering through the branches.
Autumn is a yearning for hearth and for home, and a longing for family and friends. Autumn is God’s deep yawn in Creation before Winter’s long slumber.
Fall = School…earlier this month I had my 50th “first day of the new school year”…actually, now that I think of it, it is only my 49th because of my maternity leave one year! Everything about fall is special; the leaves, being able to use the oven without getting roasted yourself, pumpkins, cider, the hushed stillness of the mornings until the crows awake. This morning there was an eerie glow to the world here in my corner of the Northeast…it was beautiful and made for a wonderful view until the rains came pouring down. Fall is change in the BEST sense of the word!
Fall means canning sugar pumpkins for me. My son, a trained chef, loves the pumpkin puree (unseasoned to allow him to do his “magic”) I make for him … this translates to delicious pumpkin baked goods, etc., for me! The kitchen is nice and cool with salt air breezes from an open window. The best time of year.
Hello fellow Seattleite! My mom lives on Bainbridge- Im over there all the time. LOVE it! Happy Fall to you 🙂
Really this list could go on forever but I really love football and tailgating. Some of the best food and company!!!!!
These are a few of my favorite things…about Fall: crisp air, quilts, cozy fireplace, apple picking, apple pie,apple cider, apple anything, pumpkin spice candles, beautiful colors of the leaves, and most of all…hot tea on a cool night with my best girlfriends!
Chilly nights, cozy under the down puffa, with my nose peaking out — just a bit cold!!!
mmmmm down puffa and cold nose!
Susan…..please don’t pick me (and I mean it) the quilt is beautiful but,….I really must tell you, I so enjoyed reading these posts from all the “Girlfriends”. This in itself, was a wonderful gift! Just being able to enjoy the stories and hearing all the things that make the “Girlfriends” hearts flutter with delight made the “inner” me sigh with contentment. Now that feeling my friend…..is what makes the “outer” me smile! It also gave me such joy being able to share with all of you, my “Girlfriends”, what makes my soul sing in praise….. the season which we now are in the midst of “FALL” ! If this earth is so beautiful during this glorious season….can you just imagine what Heaven will look like during the same. FOSB 4~Ever! ~ Doreen ~
WELL SAID DOREEN…
Thank You…..
🙂
Just picked some apples and now a yummy apple crisp (recipe compliments of Susan Branch) is in the oven. The wreath on the door has been changed and the yard is getting it’s annual fall haircut in preparation of cooler weather and rain. I have the blocks for a new quilt laying on the floor – decisions, decisions!
I have to say, living in Minnesota,fall is the most beautiful time of year. Yes, we love our summers,but fall represents the beginning of a quiet,reflective time of year. The kids are tucked back in school, the mosquitoes have taken a vacation, and the trees…oh the trees are so glorious! If you ask most Minnesotans they will tell you that fall is their most favorite time of year!
Being from Houston, Texas where we get so little fall, my favorite thing about fall is perusing my Autumn book by Susan Branch and pouring over my fall magazines dreaming of what it would really be like to enjoy the crisp air, the crunch of colorful leaves, a cozy fire with a nice cup of tea,… Oh it goes on and on!!!!!!! I <3 fall!
I love the coziness of fall – breathing in the crisp, cool air in the early evening, slipping into my soft sweats at night when I get home from work, watching the leaves turn to fire and fall all around my yard. It’s the best!
I love ALL things Fall, but one of my favorites is getting back to making all kinds of wonderful soups in my crock pot. Add to it a loaf of freshly baked bread and call in the rosey-cheeked, fresh-air smelling kids for dinner. Ahhhh…
I love your Corn Chowder recipe too, Susan. Here’s a little tip to get the corn off the cob—Get out your Bundt pan (I can never say that without laughing–I always think of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”). Stand the corn upright in the center and slice downward with your knife. The corn comes off cleanly and drops right into the pan. No mess!
Hi Susan,
Autumn is my favorite time of year – I especially love the colors! All the warm golds, rusts, oranges, etc. I am a quilter and look forward to the warmth of a quilt on my lap as I stitch. The coolness of the air lifts my spirits and I have so much more energy. It makes me want to bake again after a hot summer. All the cinnamon smells and the warm breads and soups again. Thank goodness for Fall!
Fall has recently become one of my favorite seasons. I love all the change of colors. The bright yellow and orange hues…all so beautiful! The begin of all the wonderful spices…cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves… Beautiful giveaway.
One of my favorite things to do come Fall is to visit apple orchards around Minnesota. I start off the season with Honey Crisp apples for that special crunch and juiciness, followed by some Cortlands for sauce or apple crisp, and after the first frost of the season I find the Haralson for it’s tart taste and firm texture (wonderful keeper) and a must for the yummy apple pie!
I LOVE every thing about fall, but if I have to pick one, do I have to pick JUST one? …. It would be the smell of woodsmoke in the air on a frosty moonlit night, clouds scudding across the sky, sitting on the porch with a cup of hot tea bundled up in a warm sweater and watching my pumpkins.
No, more more!
What’s not to love about fall! I love the cool crisp air and loads of pumpkins.
….THE COLORS……….I LOVE THE COLORS OF FALL!
….walking down the hill in the cool, crisp air while the little wooly bear caterpillers inch across the road, all orange and black striped. It’s like Halloween saying, “Here I come!”
Yes, thank you indeed for the wonderful give-away, Miss Susan 🙂
My favourite thing about Fall…hmmmm, well, I love the way sound starts to carry long distances so when the Fair comes into town, I can hear all the rides and people ,even tho’ they’re miles away, and I can hear the high school bands at the football games…and even the announcer when he gets excited by a Very Good Play [VBG]….
and I love that people “relax” a little…down here Summers are long, hot and hard…but when that first bit of morning coolness creeps back into the air, people start to smile a little bit more…get a little more patient…laugh a little easier…
and then I love all the Traditional Fall Things! Pumpkins, Gingerbread, mums, goldenrod…did I say Pumpkins & Gingerbread?! freshening up the planters…coffee on the back deck on the weekends…chili! love that it is Chili Season again 🙂 there is so much to love about Autumn…
But I guess what I love most is that little bit of wanderlust my heart gets…I’m a True Homebody but when fall comes on, I start to think about Around the Corner and Up the Road…
Thanks again for the lovely give-away and the lovely blog 🙂
The scents of autumn! The air has turned crisp and the leaves are turning, cozy fires burning in the hearth.
I love the sound of Canada Geese flying south. I grew up on the prairies and in one of the main wild goose flyways of the continent, so come October the geese would start heading south. (So much for being bird-brained! That sounds like a good plan to me.)
When I hear the sound of those V formations of geese it always makes me homesick for the prairies, the farm and those incomparable prairie sunsets.
My favourite season of all is Autumn
There are many reasons why
To hear the crackle of the fire
And to watch the leaves blow by
But to tuck into bed on a nippy morn’
With coffee and with toast
And to snuggle with my three young children
Is the thing I love the most …
Jeanne L. Murray
You’re making me love it most too!
When my grown daughter told me that every fall, when she sees mums, pumpkins and pansies, or smells pumpkin pies baking, that she thinks of her momma and is thankful that I introduced her to these things. I had always wondered if all those years, going to the open air market for each child to pick out a pumpkin, loading up on pretty mums and pansies…had ever made an impression on 3 kids, fussing over who was going to sit in the front seat… Melted my heart to realize it had. Fall is now the best season of all, for me.
Fall always feels like a cuddle up, hunker-down, snuggle- in kinda time! I love the crisp air. The blustery winds. The early evenings! I love putting on a sweater to get the mail in the mornings and adding an extra quilt to the bed at night! Making pumpkin cookies for my boys. Drinking spiced cider. Bonfire nights and hayrides around my childhood home. The colors orange, brown, and rusty red falling from the trees. I just love fall!!
The variety of beautiful fall colors was a favorite of mine when I lived out east. A favorite fall memory of my hometown, was going to a local ice cream shop that made the best pumpkin ice cream…..available only in the fall…..served in a sugar cone, of course!! Fall is delicious and delightful in soooooo many ways!!
Living in Upstate NY, I am lucky to be able to experience a beautiful New England autumn every year. Growing up as the oldest of 4 sisters, I was my Dad’s “sports buddy” and grew up watching football every weekend. I’m still a huge fan, and cheering on my teams (high school and Pro) is my favorite part of the Fall season.
Fall is my Favorite season…I Love Decorating my Home starting with the Orange Pumpkin Curtains that were my Mother’s that she bought in 1971 🙂 Bringing out My Fall quilts and decorating the house with all the colors of the season. The bright oranges and reds and browns just Make you want to smile.The colors ,the smells and the crisp New England air is wonderful. There is No Place I want to be but Home ..in the Fall!
The sweet fresh snap of a ripe apple fresh from the tree! Yum!
The things I love about fall are cool, crisp air; beautifully painted leaves; having to wear a sweater; and biting into caramel apples!
I love everything about fall and it’s connection to the women of many generations. I love the hand-painted plate (with the quail) I hang in the kitchen…it once graced the dining room of my great grandmother, Annabelle. I love the hand-woven wool baby blanket with the ring of orange and red leaves…which wrapped my grandmother, Lempe, as a baby. I love the tin cookie cutters my daughters and I use to cut out spicy, gingerbread cookies in the shapes of leaves and pumpkins…as my grandmother, Margaret, did with her young daughter. I love the carnival glass pitcher I fill with bright autumn flowers…maybe my great grandmother, Elizabeth, did the same. I love that one of my daughters now takes all the leftover pumpkins (after Halloween) and roasts all the seeds. I love this connection between women of all ages who share this time with those they love…preparing comfort foods, adding warmth and color to their homes (to guard against the coming chill) and sharing in natures bounty. This is what I love about fall.
One of my favorite things about Fall… is Fall Cleaning!
Open windows, nippy breezes blowing the curtains, and shiny windows, fresh woodwork, scrubbed floors, lemony-smelling furniture. I enjoy the tired feeling at the end of the day of a job well and thoroughly done! (Plus… Fall Cleaning means we’re heading to Winter Holidays..)
I have a red maple outside my bedroom window & I love its colors as fall arrives. I love planning for family visits & planting bulbs to bloom in spring. Apple cider, pumpkin pie, beef stew in the crock pot, sweatshirts & blue jeans…and I really NEED that quilt…how my kids always described their wants when they were younger 😉
I love fall because it means knowing we’ll be having a fire in the fireplace before too long, putting flannel sheets on the bed to snuggle up in, a thick comforter to follow the sheets, baking “anything” in the oven, making a dozen apple pies to freeze for the next 12 months, and the cozy feeling you get just knowing the temperatures are going to dip and snowflakes are right around the corner.
I love the beautiful colors of the leaves on the maple trees we have planted in front of our house. Last year, my neighbor that lives across the street told me that she was sitting in her dining room just staring out the window at our beautiful trees. Love that they make other people happy too!
i love going to the river and following it up into the mountains. the water is low in alot of places and the salmon are spawning. what a trasformation to see. there are so many amazing things to see, bear prints in the mud, great blue herons wading, tree stumps chewed by the beavers, the sun sparkling on the water and the mountains all around with leaves turning color. wow, so much beauty and to add to all that…………i was inspired by your article about your studio and watercolors so i have been taking my journal and filling it! i think i look more closely at every.thing now. thanks so much for all of your writing. it has really opened my eyes.
Thank you for saying that! xo
My favorite part of Fall is all the bright colors. I love when all the trees turn colors and when pumpkin lots turn up on every corner. I love to decorate my front porch and inside my house. I love to bake all my favorite Fall recipes.
A fire in the fireplace, knitting in my favorite chair, a pot of chili on the stove.
My favorite thing about fall is not being so darn hot!! I love the cold.
Fall has always been my favorite time of year. I love the colors of the leaves and the autumn vegetables, the long walks and then coming home to a nice warm fire and drink. I could go on but you only asked for my favorite.
How the nights get cooler and sleeping is much deeper and you get to dig out the flannel sheets.
The best part of Fall is the leaves changing colors for me. A cup of hot cocoa or a bowl of Chili with a fresh hot homemade roll slathered with real butter. Fall is Soup Weather and my Crockpot is used a lot. I like to add that extra quilt to the bed and change to the Fall-colored ones too. Thanks for a chance to WIN a Quilt. What a treasure it would be to have one from you.
I love the color of the leaves and the rustle they make when stepped on.
Dear Susan,
My favorite thing about Fall is a memory- of my dear, sweet Gramma Stanhope coming up for visits in the Fall with bags full of fresh apples to make apple pie after apple pie for us, letting me make cinnamon sugar “cookies” out of the leftover crust. Mmmmm. I even get an aroma memory with it. 🙂
Though I am pretty new to your blog, it feels cozy and comfy already. Fits like my favorite pair of slippers and I enjoy it immensely. Especially right now, while we wait to find out what surgery my husband will need to fix his heart. Your blog is a happy diversion I look forward to. Your words and images help fix MY heart. Thank you so much.
Yours very truly, Susan (Elizabeth)
Sending a little prayer out for you and yours …
It is about the air. Growing up in Arizona and having lived in Miami, Florida for 20 years..Charlotte, NC does a wonderful fall…beautiful colors, but it is the crispness of the air and the change in the sky. I love it. Now, you have over 500 comments. I have never seen anything like this!! The comfort of quilts binds us all together. You have a lovely blog.
What do I like about Fall? I guess you could say I am in the “Fall” of my life. I’ve enjoyed my childhood of Spring, crazy Summer of youth and now the slowing down of Fall, with Winter right around the corner. Makes Fall all the more sweet, enjoying my Grandchildren and children….and life. Throw in burning leaves , cozy fire and a cup of tea with my cat on my lap and I’m good.
Sweeeet Karen, who could ask for more!
What’s not to love about the fall and we have it PERFECT here in New England. Apple orchards galore, the bright bold colors of the leaves that change. That crisp nip in the air that makes us bundle up with big bulky sweaters and warm fluffy scarves. Crackle of a roaring fire, walking through the house with big fuzzy slippers and cutie patootie pajamas. Soups and stews cooking on the stove with apple crisp in the oven, heaven pure heaven.
All perfect Patricia!
Fall is roasted butternut squash, putting the flip flops away and grabing ugg slippers and a cozy sweater for your morning walk and of course cinnamon toast!!!
I love watching the mountains turn from a lush green to a beautiful, vibrant,
yellow, orange, red and rust absolutely breath taking!
And, our 40th anniversary is tomorrow!
I LOVE Autumn. Every Sunday afternoon I make a pot of soup, I love decorating the house with bittersweet and pumpkins. I love putting my quilts back on the beds. But my favorite thing is being out in the crisp air with the azure sky overhead, and raking leaves with the neighbor kids “helping”. I live in a Norman Rockwell neighborhood and everyone is out in their yards. Usually we decide to get together later around someone’s firepit and make somemores. Love it!
You are so lucky!
My favorite thing about fall is watching the leaves turn color on the Palisades across the Hudson River during my morning commute. The colors are gorgeous as the sun rises and shines on them.
I love Fall because it is so easy to decorate with the warm fall colors, pumpkins, bittersweet, pull out my amber glass, Johnson Brothers Harvest time dinnerware, dried hydrangeas, etc. etc. plus it is cool and time to start quilting and rug hooking!
Fall has always been my favorite season because of the cool, crisp weather and cozy evenings. But I love it even more since I’ve had my boys. Now my favorite part of fall is going with my husband and sons (5 and 7) to the pumpkin farm. It’s a day filled with hayrides, picking out pumpkins, snacking on donuts and apple cider, playing with the animals on the farm, and enjoying being together and making memories. There’s just nothing else quite like it.
I live in So. Calif. so we don’t experience the fall leaves too often but I love the way my walks at the beach change in the fall. The air is cooler and crisper, the sea a little wilder, and occasionally new and different treasures to be found along the shore.
I’m a September baby, too, so Fall was always exciting; the first day of school was sometimes on my birthday! But this year is sooo extra-special. My son was married last weekend 🙂 so from now on, Fall is definitely my favorite season…I gained a daughter-in-law whom I Love Dearly and I have their wedding, now, to reflect upon Yearly. I’m one happy camper this Fall!!!!!
And Happy Birthday dear Lori!
My one favorite thing about fall is COMFORT– the comfort of warm—– soup, baked goods, sweatshirts and sweaters, quilts, fall colors, fires in the fireplace, friendship, –Yes, Comfort is my favorite thing about fall! (((Warm hugs))) to you Susan, and thank you for the COMFORT your blog holds each day for so many of us.
xoxo Anita!