The Life of Mrs. Miles

A Golden Finale!

Ahh, this is a final look at fall in our neighborhood. We woke to -4C degrees this morning - brrrr!

This photo was taken late last week. The peach trees are shedding their leaves, soon there will only be bare branches as winter starts to leech away the warmth and colour. Right now, on these last sunny days of fall, when there is still a hint of heat in the sunshine, the backlit peach leaves look like slices of peach dripping from each branch. Such beauty!

Pink Ladies

These Pink Lady apples still hang on the trees near the roadway. I'll have to take another photo of them, for the trees are high density, so they are smaller, and with thier diminished size and all the wealth of apples upon them, they truly do look like little 'pink ladies' bedecked like a fall version of little Christmas trees. They almost form a little decorated 'dress' on each. Remind me to take a photo for you today!

These little ladies still have about one more week - they are a late apple, full of fizzly, sharp tartness! Just mention them and Mr. Miles' mouth puckers!

Oh, and speaking of Mr... I sent him for 20lb of tomatoes yesterday, thinking I might do ONE MORE BATCH of salsa or tomato sauce. He said he just kept putting nice looking ones into the box. How could he help it if they weighed out to 55 lb? Hmm. How will this work as they should be just perfect for canning on Thursday. His birthday.

Shaggy Manes

And within the orchard stands a grouping of shaggy mane mushrooms. These are delicious to eat. As a child I certainly would not have said so. They were nearly a staple in our household, with my Father eagerly visiting his special places to harvest them when the conditions were just right. He turned them into many dishes - in particular I recall he made 'mushroom pancakes'. Nowadays he would have been considered an adventurous gourmet cook - then I thought we were just plain weird.

Isn't it funny how we grow to like foods as an adult? Is there a food you've come to love as a grown up?

Shaggy Manes must be harvested and eaten in a short time, for they deteriorate into a black soft pulp if left. Do you have mushrooms you harvest and eat?

High Heel Galoshes

My sister lives in a city and when she got married she had some of her photos in bare feet. She lives in a coastal city, and was married in a park (really, she's not a hippie) To make it brief, the grass was damp so her high heels would have sunk into the soil if she hadn't removed them. I'm sure the groundskeepers would have liked it being aeriated for free, but still...

Anyways, as soon as I saw these little galoshes for high heels I thought of her. Who would have guessed there was such a thing?

By the way, THANK YOU all so very much for your many comments. I was bowled over!

Cicero's Bread

Mmmmm - ahhhh, can't you just SMELL IT from here?

What have I started? This is a photo of my friend E.'s bread, made from the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes day - the basic recipe. And this is her first attempt!

One slice or two?

Looks like she achieved great texture too! You can visit Cicero's blog by clicking HERE - I think she's going to attempt another batch soon, as she tells me. She's always got a ton of wonderful photos and facts about the flora and fauna in her beautiful corner of the world.

I've been making some naan and flatbreads from my dough. I also bought some rye and whole wheat flours on the weekend to play with. I'd love to know what you make too?

Speaking of cooking up STUFF, you can find some wonderful downloads today from the following designers blogs - well worth the clicking:

1. KimB - has a MILLION thank you's - she has hit ONE MILLION visits to her bloggy today. Congrats Kim! Just click HERE.

2. Linda - has links to two fabulous giveaways and a quickpage, and as always great music and chatter. Just click HERE.

3. Valinda - has a SWEET 8 x 8 inch qp download featuring a victorian doll. Perfect for those girly layouts! Just click HERE.

Thanks for baking me happy ladies!

With Thanks

It was communion yesterday in our church. We broke with tradition and simply gathered around to share the elements and share fellowship about what it meant to take communion together. I love that we can do this.

Because I've been baking bread, and giving loads away, it especially means to me the joy of SHARING the knowledge of Christ in my life. It occured to me that this bread, which we take as the body of Him is meant to be shared out from ourselves.

And I'm so thankful that because of this sacrifice I'm here to share with you. I'm so glad that the USA Thanksgiving is after our Canadian one, for it keeps me in the thankful thougths. As the following states:

Thanksgiving was never meant to be
limited to a single day.

"O Lord my God,
I will give thanks to Thee forever."

Psalm 30:12