Not too long ago, the house looked like this. Spring and Summer here were wonderful. The second year for perennials is always a beautiful show and we weren’t disappointed. We enjoyed the front porch with rocking chairs and an indoor/outdoor rug. Granted, there were lots of days when the temperature and humidity were too high to even think about sitting on the front porch but it was nice on cooler days.
All the plants on the front porch are gone after the freeze but the pumpkins made it. Inside, it is definitely Autumn…at least until the weekend after Thanksgiving when the Autumn decorations are put away and the Christmas decorations come out. Autumn is my favorite season. Everything about it – from the colors to the clothes to the food!
Doug was working in the garage one day this week and the next thing I see outside are these poles lining the driveway. For my friends and family in the deep South, just in case you haven’t seen these down there, these snow poles mark the depth of snow. When the snow is a foot deep, it helps to know where your drive and walkway are. When I asked him about them, he mentioned that the ground is soft enough right now to get the poles in the ground. So in they went.
I’m a very happy camper with the first snow. I get downright excited. Watching the snowflakes fall with a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows is the perfect way to spend an afternoon. I even get excited for the second and third and fourth snow. Eventually, however, there are piles of snow eight feet high left by the snowplows everywhere. The roads and parking lots turn into a black, dirty mess. Snow boots track in sand and dirt. This goes on for weeks sometimes. I haven’t even mentioned the well below freezing temperatures and the windchill.
There is something to be said, however, for living in Iowa where there are four distinct seasons. You can count on it: the green of Summer, the beauty of Fall, pristine white snowfalls in Winter and the new birth of Spring. One after the other. The circle of life. I’ll take it.
It’s 59 degrees with a light rain today. I love days like this. I have a Crockpot and an Instant Pot (on the slow cooker setting) full of apple butter cooking. The house smells wonderful! There are two more large pots on the stove with apples cooking to make more apple butter. As you know, you start out with a large pot of sliced apples and they cook down…way down. As the apple butter cooks, it will simmer down to a spicy goodness. I still have to prepare the jars, fill them and process them. A lot of time and work, but the apple butter will taste so good on hot biscuits this winter! 
