Back Where I Belong

 

Welcome Back to my Happy Home, dear blog friends.

  To make a long story short..

I thought I could close my blog door.

I was Wrong (with a capital W).

I learned a lot from this and have now decided that this is where I belong, for better or worse.

I've also learned that each of you belong here too.  

During this process a few of you shared that you, too, have had thoughts of giving up blogging.  I'm here to say...don't do it.  I would miss you too much.  :D.

Okay, now that that is cleared up, let's get on with the beautiful fall season.

Before we go too much further I wanted to point out the little facelift we gave to the outdoor lights since I've been gone.

See them up there?

 This is last year.

The lights had faded greatly since the house was built in 1999.

In fact we were having trouble remembering their original color.

We think it was a charcoal gray type of a color.

We talked about replacing all (7) of them and quickly decided we still liked the shape and structurally they were still sound.

So, my job was to clean all of the glass and clear the spiderwebs and wasp nests from them.  Ugh!

Meanwhile, Brett spray painted them with this:

 The cost of a few cans of spray paint and a little elbow grease was preferable to the cost of replacing them and it was amazing how much better they look.

Come on into the kitchen.

 My friend and neighbor recently went to an estate sale and kindly thought of me when she saw this little orange toy stove.

It came with the little percolator and the pan too.

The turkey is on loan from my sister-in-law for blogging photo purposes.  Ha! Now I am on the hunt for my own turkey at the thrift shops.  Hoping to find a little pumpkin pie too ;-).

 ~ Old Gurley candle from my mother-in-law ~

I'm sitting here in my sweater determined not to turn on the furnace.  We're just now getting the chilly weather, although the sun is shining brightly.  Peanut and I have scoped out the sunny spots to sit in.  

Have you had to turn on your furnace yet?

 

The cooler weather turns my thoughts to making soup.

A few days ago I had some kale from the farmer's market that needed to be used.  I found a recipe for White Bean, Kale, Potato & Ham Soup on one of my favorite cooking blogs.  The recipe can be found here.  We really enjoyed it.

 Do you have anything fun planned for the weekend?

We're going to be test driving cars tomorrow.  How's that for rip-roaring fun?  I'm hoping we can squeeze in a fall drive after the test drive.  Our trees are in the process of putting on their autumn finery.  Love this time of year.  So much beauty to be found all around us.

Make it a good weekend.

 Sip cider, read under a cozy blanket, take a walk with camera in hand, make a big pot of soup or an apple crisp, rake leaves, sleep in, plan what your jack-o-lantern will look like, or even... test drive a car ;-).

Whatever you do, have fun and enjoy.