Burning Bush

I thought I would share a few more pictures of the burning bush before all its leaves are completely gone. It really is quite stunning, the only bright red thing in the yard!

Hazelnuts

Our hazelnut tree is ready for harvesting. I noticed this a couple days ago when I found several nuts on the ground. I collected the good ones and tried to pick a few loose ones from the tree. Now I just need to figure out what to do with them :)

If you haven’t already noticed, hazelnut trees are pretty unique looking. Their branches twist and curl into beautiful formations. Winter shows these formations at their best, without leaves to hide the tangled twigs.

Golden Girl

I have a few more pictures to share that I took for class. These were taken of a sweet Golden Retriever that Todd & I spent a weekend with. We were at a house with our Christ Group friends for a couples retreat. The doggie ended up being a perfect subject for shutter speed experimentation.

Light Show

I played with a slow shutter speed for my photography class (which is now over) and these are a few examples of what I got. The blue pictures are from a small LED keychain and the white is from a flashlight. Todd drew most of them which is hard to do. He is very talented, don’t you think? :D

 

Colors of Fall

I have a few decorations up for fall. The wheat is from our yard that had fallen over a few months ago…hopefully you can can’t see the dirt :) The bottom leaf pictures are of my burning bush, it is almost completely red.

Endangered Species

Sad news indeed, our favorite animal cookies will soon be extinct! Mother’s Cookies recently went bankrupt and will be no more :( Not that I have ever bought them before, but I do remember eating them every now and then (mostly at church). Todd bought a couple bags for fun since this may be the last time…boohoo...sniff…sniff :)

Applesauce

This is what Jessica & I did with the 130 pounds of apples we picked last Saturday. We canned applesauce, lots and lots of applesauce. It only took 8 1/2 hours, a second degree burn, some nicks & cuts, and a little bit of sweat (from all the steam) to make! It really was a fun experience, despite the long process! The applesauce is really good too :)

  

Apple Picking

On Saturday Todd & I picked apples with our friends Peter & Jessica & their son Jimmy. We drove to Sm’Apples in Ferndale on the recommendation of my friend Julie (thanks!). The apples were only 30 cents a pound and the trees were the perfect height for Jimmy to help pick a few. It took less than an hour to pick 130 pounds of Jonagolds, pretty quick when you have five sets of hands.  Jessica & I are splitting the amount to make applesauce and pie filling which I am looking forward to making this week sometime.

Tea Time

It’s that time of year again when I desire to drink something hot just to stay warm! Since I don’t know how to make coffee at home (I’m pretty sure Woods Coffee & Starbucks do) I make tea. I am a little bit (but only a little bit) embarrassed to say I use tea bags. I know I know, tea bags from the grocery store, what am I thinking. Someday when I have used them all up I will buy loose leaf. Until then, I will enjoy my leaf powder that comes in such neat little bags … and … some even have strings ;)