Mums Glorious Mums

The kids are now back in to the routine of school, the nights are getting cooler and the leaves in the mountains are transforming from shades of green to red, orange, and yellow. Not sure I am quite ready for the snow yet but the cooler weather does feel great. A lot of the plants are beginning to die but that doesn’t mean that you can’t have great Fall color in your yards and homes. The answer to your Fall color dilemma is MUMS! They come in so many great colors and they add life and color to your yard.

Can you believe the colors?

Greg’s parents lived in Pittsburgh for three years. They lived in a gorgeous neighborhood with traditional brick houses. Very picturesque! When we went to visit we loved going to this quaint nursery called Trax Farms. They have the world’s best apple cider and they do games and activities on holidays. It is a definite must see if you are ever out that way.

I literally could not believe my eyes when I saw this huge array of beautiful, colorful mums. It made me love Autumn even more than I already do!

We visited Greg’s parents in Pennsylvania twice during the Autumn months and it is truly breathtaking during this time of year. We instantly fell in love with the homes and neighborhoods. Everyone got really into decorating their homes for the season. They used pumpkins, corn stalks and mums! Lots of mums! They even take the time to decorate their sheds.

 Posted by Andrea

Harvest Dinner

One of my favorite events of the year is a Harvest Dinner that my neighbor Margaret hosts each Autumn. She invites everyone to come and bring a dish that incorporates something from their garden. I love to cook for the season so I start thinking well in advance of what I am going to cook. This year I chose a Spaghetti Squash with Lemon and Capers (by Jimmy Bradley from the Red Cat restaurant in NYC). It is a favorite Fall recipe of mine that I found a couple of years ago. I will post pictures at the end and a tutorial in the following post.

I went to Margaret’s house as she was setting up so I could take some pictures before it got dark. She is one of the most amazingly, artistic people I know. She is very detail oriented and everthing she touches becomes wonderful. She can create the most beautiful designs out of anything, literally anything!

This is the entrance to her backyard.

I love the rusted, iron medallions incorporated between the stones in the path leading to her backyard. Great touch!

She has this great vintage tea kettles and tea cups hanging throughout the yard.

Brightly colored glass bottles line the pathway as well. Brilliant!

This is one of my favorites because Margaret’s scare crow woman is wearing the boots of the season!

On her back porch she has this great nook of vintage treasures…

Gorgeous chandelier and candelabra…

Flower and fruit filled centerpieces…

The party began…

…and this is my dear friend Margaret that I admire so much!

We ate on pie tins…

Everyone brought such wonderful things like chocolate zucchini cake, caprese salad, bruschetta with heirloom tomatoes, butternut squash soup, roasted tomato soup, spaghetti squash with homemade tomato sauce, lemon curd and peach, apple and berry cobblers! It goes without saying but we were well fed.

My Spaghetti Squash with Lemon and Capers.

What ambience! Another wonderful Harvest Dinner!