Apples & Pumpkins!

Apples & Pumpkins! Picked fresh! Our family headed to upstate New York on Sunday to the town of Warwick in Orange County for a lovely day of apple and pumpkin picking. We visited Masker Orchards, and I have to say I was unsure of what we would find since Hurricane Irene had done a lot of destruction. We found trees that had Empire, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, and Cortlandts. the macs (what was left of 'em) were on the ground so I assume they collect them and sell them for horses. My husband said they probably gather them, cut off the damage and salvage what they can to make their famous Masker Apple pies......could be. I was happy my Mom was able to join us and she enjoyed her time picking some. She has been suffering with herniated disks so a nice day out was good medicine. We picked two bushels. Now it'll be time for apple sauce, apple dips and apple crisp and whatever else apple I feel like making. Caitlin loves making applesauce, and we all love eating it! After we picked the apples, we had hot dogs at their stand. I don't know but hot dogs taste sooooo good when you've been working hard outside! Really good. Billy and I took Billy and Caitlin into the corn maze and yours truly was the first to find her way out....thank you very much! I'm usually the last.

After apples we drove the short distance to our pumpkin farm. I won't go on and on about my love for the pumpkin farm we go to. Read last October's post for that! The Manno Farm...love it love it love it. CLOSED. Yes, I said CLOSED. With a big sign that read "See ya next year. No pumpkins due to Irene." ..........sadness throughout the car. Then my Bill saves the day with a great suggestion. Let's head towards home and hit exit 9 Sleepy Hollow and get our pumpkins there! And that's what we did. We went to Sleepy Hollow (another of our FAVORITE places) and don't you know there was a festival going on and right at the famous bridge where the headless horseman galloped across were pumpkins for sale! I told Caitlin these pumpkins were grown from the earth that the horseman himself probably rode through so these were amazingly special Halloween pumpkins.....I believe they are. No, really I do. Then we saw the headless horseman, and he rode around waving to us all and then came off his horse for pictures. Such a beloved story. Historic Hudson Valley in upstate New york is filled with stories and tales such as those. If you don't know, Washington Irving, the author, lived right there and that's where we went. Fun day and then it was home and don't you know that as soon as we deposited our pumpkins on the floor of the kitchen, Robin and Mommy Cat had to check them out. Nosy kitties!

I wanted to show you a couple of the things I got in PA....I got this adorable pot to hang over my stove that says "Country Cooking" from Yoders. I also got this tin sign from Almost Paradise on Rte 30. Love it. More photos in future posts!

The telephone with the birds I had purchased a while back from a catalog but just hung it recently. I collect resin birds and wildlife stuff like that. I want to thank Laurie from My Home For the Holidays blog who so sweetly offered to meet up with my family next time we visit Amish country. That's so generous of you. You are a lucky gal to live there. That's what I tell my cousin Jo from Bittersweet Cottage all the time too.

I started making my witch's broom bags and vampire lollipops for the Halloween party. I'll post pictures when they're done. They are cute!

I was in Walmart the other day and I was thrilled to see they are bringing back their craft and fabric department. I was shocked. Years ago they had such great stuff and I had made a bunch of cool Halloween pillows from fabric I bought from them and many other craft items. Then they closed up the craft section!!! At the time they said not enough people were making crafts and they preferred to buy them :( I was sad. I'm crafty. I like to make 'em.......So I was surprised when I went last week, and I saw a man putting out big reams of fabric and he had rows of shelves and hooks for craft items and sewing machines. I asked what was going on, and he said there had been a calling for the crafts to be returned in all their Long Island stores! It seems because of the economy more people stay home and look to occupy their time so Walmart had been hearing from it's customer base to BRING IT BACK! Hurray!

Well, time for me to get rolling here! Have a great day!