Carving the Pumpkin

It was a good weather day today, with warm temperatures in the mid-50's and no rain.  We carried our large pumpkin out to the picnic table in the pasture, and the carving began!  Kaila's job was to pull out all the pumpkins seeds so they could be roasted and eaten later.

Here is the process as it unfolded.  Even Nala the Dog was out there, cheering us on!

The Search for the Perfect Pumpkin

Well, today the search was on for the perfect Halloween pumpkin, with just three days until the big day!
Kaila and I always take this challenge seriously, and we spent much of the morning looking at literally hundreds of pumpkins--big ones, small ones, white ones, orange ones, and ones that weighed over 100 pounds! With her little shopping cart, Kai picked a great pumpkin that had plenty of room to carve a big, smiling face on it.

Here she is with her prized gourd, and we even had a few minutes to play in the corn stalks before getting our pumpkin in the car.  She named it "The Pouting Pumpkin".

A Saturday Morning in Snohomish

We took a break from household chores this morning and escaped to downtown Snohomish.  The shops are always work cruising through, and we saw quite a few new businesses that had sprung up since our last visit.

Here's a shot of stores on main street, and a shot of the Snohomish River.

The Hungry Pelican

We stumbled upon a new restaurant and gift shop in downtown historic Snohomish this morning, and it's called the Hungry Pelican.  The lunch was delicious, with artisan bread featuring a veggie sandwich and a turkey club on panini. The iced tea was brewed hot and 'poured over' a filter into an iced tea glass, then chilled with ice.

It was a fun place to try for lunch, and we'll go back again.

Beautiful Pumpkin Carving Art

One of my employees at work is a talented graphic artist, and he recently shared some photos of his current  pumpkin carvings. They are some of the best and most detailed I've ever seen.

My favorite is Stewie, the evil baby from the animated TV series, "Family Guy", and of course there is a pumpkin for all of the Seahawks fans!  The last one is quietly elegant in its dragon repose.  It's hard to believe these are real pumpkins.

Acorns

We found a lovely old stand of Oregon White Oak trees in Bothell recently, and they are the only thing left on a lot that has been razed for the new Bothell Landing development coming in 2013. The ground was literally covered with  these lovely tiny green acorns.  I gathered up a bag of them and brought them home for some Autumn decorating.

It's Apple Day!

We finally picked all of the Liberty apples last weekend, and we filled an entire box!  These are the prettiest apples I've seen, and they are an old variety that is resistant to pests.  Each apple is perfectly shaped and flawless.

We peeled about 12 cups of apples, enough to make a large 10 inch apple pie in my Yellowware pie plate, with enough apples left over for a large batch of brown sugar applesauce. The kitchen was buzzing  with activity and fragrant smells.

Autumn Tomato Harvest

With the cold weather in June and July, my tomatoes got a very late start. However, the September sun allowed these lovely Big Boy and Italian tomatoes to ripen, and I picked them last weekend.  Once they were peeled, I put them in the slow cooker for 10 hours to make a batch of marinara sauce.  When we cook our next batch of spaghetti, we will savor the lingering flavors of a summer in Maltby.

A Country Village Chicken

This cute little black chicken followed me to my car last weekend, and I was pretty sure he was trying to get in to see Nala!  I had to shoo him away, and he looked pretty disappointed.  There is quite a large population of country chickens at Country Village, and they love to interact with all of the visitors.  I tried to find Fluffy, but he must have been up a tree that day!

Autumn Leaves

The cool summer and the unusually warm beginning of fall conspired to create leaf colors not often seen in the Pacific Northwest, especially the brilliant reds.  The fall foliage truly lights up the day with the variegated hues of green, yellow-gold, and scarlet.

Here's the gravel road through our Maltby neighborhood.  It beckons you to come home to the country.

A Dog's October Day at the Park

Here's a shot of our long, lean Nala at the park today.  The sun came out.  I love this shot of her pulling the leash taut.  That's our girl.

Fun on a Saturday Night

On Saturday night, I took my granddaughter to dinner at a Japanese Restaurant, then out for ice cream, and then to Barnes and Noble to get some new books.  We made a brief stop at Target for some toys, then spent the rest of the evening reading and playing games.  Even a child can experience The Slow Life!

and with her new toy...

                                                   

Tiny Ghost Pumpkins on the Gate

Can you see the two small white ghost pumpkins on the fence posts on each side of the gate?

Overwintering Plants and Flowers in the Greenhouse

One of the things I've been looking forward to all summer was the chance to learn how to overwinter all of my lovely fuschias and petunias through the cold winter months.  I've moved my most prized baskets into my greenhouse, and am learning to control the temperature (must be above 40 degrees all year) and the humidity (need less watering).

Here is my current population, and as the weeks go by, I'll update you on their progress.

Sugar Pumpkins, Neighborhood Sentinels

I like to think of my 40 miniature pumpkins on the picket fence as sentinels in the neighborhood, covertly watching autumn descend in its slow dance toward the winter months, reminding us of the vivid colors we've enjoyed through the Spring, Summer and Fall.

Maltby Ghost Pumpkins

I stopped by the Maltby Market Sunday afternoon, and found three large Maltby Ghost pumpkins.  They didn't have many pumpkins that made it to harvest this year, so I was lucky to get these three before they were gone!

Chinese Lanterns

My Chinese Lanterns are looking lovely, and I still need to touch them to believe they are really real!  Nature is so much more ornate than anything we humans can create, and we can draw inspiration from nature in so many ways.

Halloween is Coming!

When this goes up on the front door, you know it's almost Halloween!  Caution to all who enter here!

Tomato Harvest

Here are the Big Boy tomatoes, and they finally ripened!  I wasn't sure the weather would hold long enough to get them to this size and color.  They are truly beautiful, and they have the sweetest taste.  They will be great for making salsa and marinara sauce.

Plum Pie

Plum pies are an old delicacy, and one that I can remember from my own childhood. They are also part of the English tradition, where plums are plentiful and used for pies and puddings.

Here's a pie made only from our own Italian Plums.  I've provided both a 'before' and 'after' picture!  Yum!

The Last of the Roses

Here are two Julia Child yellow roses and one Adobe Sunrise happily co-existing in a vase at home.  They are the last of many lovely blooms I had over the long summer days. 

With this justaposition, I imagine Julia presiding over a custom kitchen in a rental house in Arizona 30 years ago, cooking her French cuisine and filling the early morning desert air with delectable aromas.

Seabrook Autumn Sunsets

With this lingering warm and dry weather in Washingon State, there are lovely and brilliant sunsets along the Washington coast.  Here is a shot of the sunset as seen from Seabrook, WA on Tuesday evening.  Beautiful!

The Slow Life Just Got Better!

My new Canon digital camera arrived today, and the intent was to improve the quality of my blog photos.  Once I learn how to use it effectively, you should see a great improvement in my Slow Life "Kodak Moments"!

The Nose of a Dog

Did you know that a dog has over 200 million olfactories?  I had to get this shot of Nala's nose so I can ponder such a number.  It's mind boggling!

Waning Summer Flowers

Here is my lovely fuschia and begonia basket, which I moved from the back pasture (shade) to this location in the front yard at the arbor gate.  It gets some filtered sunlight in this location, and I'm hoping to keep this basket intact as long as possible.  It will eventually get moved to the greenhouse, where I will try to 'over-winter' it and see if it can survive.

It started out as a small basket, and I was amazed at the growth of the fuschia.