My Favorite Things

Ask me to write a list of my favorite things, and I am afraid it would be heavily weighted in autumnal items!  Right now, life feels like a hot cup of tea with a pumpkin spice scone on the side. 

 Days are wrapped in warm woolen sweaters and nights pass beneath the weight of soft and cozy blankets. 

   We enjoyed a chilly weekend of clouds and intermittent showers... leftovers from the hurricane.

Sadly, so many did not get to enjoy the weekend in this manner.  For as kind and loving as Mother Nature can be, she has a ferocious side as well.  We were lucky, here in the Northeast, to not have to feel her wrath.

It was a quiet weekend, spent mostly here at home.  

My only trip away from home was a quick visit to my favorite local yarn shop for wool for a new project.  Driving at this time of year requires a lot of extra care.  It's mating season for the deer and they are quite active.  For some reason, they are always attracted to the roads!

Along the way home, I spied this huge mushroom alongside the road...

and then noticed that somebody was busy eating the mushroom.

Hello, slimy little fellow!  You can see he has two sets of tentacles.  The upper ones are for seeing and smelling - while the short, lower ones are for taste and touch.  His mouth is face-down on the fungus.

Did you know that slugs are able to reproduce without a partner?  They have both male and female (functioning) reproductive organs.  Pretty amazing!  Perhaps this is why they are so unappealing.  They don't need to be appealing to anyone!

 The rest of the weekend followed the ebb and flow of daily farm life - animal chores, meals and a few household chores.

On Sunday, Hubbs drove to Pittsburgh (his hometown) to go to a Steelers game.  I stayed home and took care of the farm.  It rained quite a bit, so much of my day was spent inside.  The weather made me long for a fire in the fireplace, but with temperatures in the 50's I was afraid that the chimney wouldn't draft well enough.  So, instead, I spent some time working on my new knitting project with candles burning instead.  

While, they lacked the warmth of a fireplace fire, they did give me the ambiance for which I longed!

The current knitting project is this vest... in a slightly muted version of the colors pictured.  It is called the "Timbo Vest." and is available as a free download.


I also painted and carved this pumpkin.  I painted an eyeball on a small white pumpkin and placed it inside... 

I had seen the idea somewhere online.  This might be my favorite Jack-o-Lantern yet!




The chickens enjoyed the seeds and fiber from the pumpkin carving.

Every morning we are greeted by a growing flock of pond ducks...


awaiting their breakfast.  It quickly becomes a feeding frenzy.

With bellies full, the flock settles back onto the pond for a quiet day of bathing and floating.  Our numbers have risen above 30 recently.  More will come for sure.  Word spreads quickly!

Comments

I am with you on loving Autumn. It goes much to quickly for my liking though.
Is the small shed by the duck pond a place for them to shelter?
We have not had any rain for a few weeks now.
Ian was a terror for some. My family made it through with only a short power outage,thankfully. I know many others were not so fortunate.
What a cute vest.
daisy g said…
We have a lot of woods where we live too. Hubby installed these "whistles" on the front grill of our Elements. It's supposed to make a whistling sound that warns the deer that a car is nearby. So far, so good!

That vest is adorable! The slug is not. ;0D

Autumn is such a magical season. Just the feeling one gets when outdoors in the crisp, cool air. Aaaah, I'm so glad we live where there are four seasons. And thankful that we needn't prepare too much for hurricane season anymore. The coverage of Ian brought back so many memories. God bless those who are dealing with the aftermath.

Hope your week goes swimmingly!
colleen said…
Do you happen to have a pumpkin scone recipe? As we are on the subject of fall we had our first hard frost last night...In the low 20's.
I remember back in the 80's when I worked at a nursing home vests similar to the one you are working on was all the rave. I made several of them. Of course I don't still have the pattern. And now speaking of knitting I got my needles and yarn out and have a pair of cottage socks in the making. Now you make me wonder why I didn't light the oil lamp.
Your Jack-o-Lantern came out perfect. xoxox
Marcia LaRue said…
I love seeing Moonie and the ponies jumping for joy in the cooler weather!
We always have to be on the lookout for the deer here ... they just wander all over town!
I love the pumpkins! LOL
This N That said…
Love the picture of Moonie...What a happy horse!!
Interesting mushroom..How did you have room to stop on those narrow roads??I used to have a lot of slugs by my back door...Haven't seen any this year...and no Japanese Beetles..
Love, love, love that vest..How perfect!!
Fun eyeball/pumpkin..What kind of paint did you use?? Acrylics??
I heard this AM that we may get another inch of rain by Thursday..I guess by then we will be caught up..
Happy Monday..
jaz@octoberfarm said…
jack had a long time to cry on his way home! i LOVE that vest. i've never seen one like that before. i think i heard some ducks flying overhead telling the others that they were on their way to bev's. i believe one of them said something about a cushy place to spend the winter.
THE BEARDED ONE said…
AUTUM IS A SUPER TIME OF YEAR..WE WERE AT 42 DEGREE'S THIS MORNING..BUT IT WARMED UP TO A NICE 70+ DAY..WE GOT A LOT OF OUTSIDE WORK DONE...CLEANED AROUND THE SPRING...CLEARED THE ROAD UP TO THE FIELDS AND EQUIPTMENT BUILDING..WE WORKED OUTSIDE ALL DAY...GOT A LOT DONE...MY BEAUTIFUL PRECIOUS WIFE OF 59+ YEARS IS A GREAT PARTNER AND HELPER...OUR GRASS IS NOT GROWING...SOOOOOOOOO THERE WILL BE NO MOWING THIS WEEK..I ALSO MOW HER OLDEST LIING SISTERS HUGE YARD AS WELL AS HER NEIGHBOR'S YARD..PLUS MOWINT AOUT 40 ACRES W/THE TRACTOR AND BUSH HOG...I SURE LOVE THESE GREAT POST AND THE PICS...YOU ARE A VERY SPECIAL LADY W/GREAT TALENT AND THE ABILITY TO SAY JUST WHAT MAKES THE PICS EXTRA SPECIAL...ME RECEENTLY DECEASED SISTER WAS A BIG KNITTER AND CROCHER...THAT IS MISPELLED I AM SURE...LIFE IS GOOD AND WE MUST SURE BE THANKFUL THAT THE BAD WEATHER DID NOT COME OUR WAY...SO SAD ABOUT THE DESTRUCTION IN FLA AND SOUTH CAROLINA...HAVE A SUPER EVENING AND ALL OF US ARE ANXIOUSLY LOOKING FORWARD TO THE TUESDAY POSTS !!!! KEEP SMILING !!!!!!
Leanne said…
Great capture of the slug eating. No wonder I have so many slugs if they do not need a partner LOL.
Lynne said…
Love the vest . . . and the
knitting candle ambiance.