Saturday Snapshot

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme, post a photo that you (or a friend of family member) have taken. Then leave a direct link to your post on West Metro Mommy. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online

This was such a glorious  morning that I wanted to share it with you. I was torn between photos of the beautiful colored leaves and the show-stopping blue sky with contrails across the sky. 

Here's a mix of both.

Some of the red leaves are truly beautiful. The yellow ones are too but they are harder to capture on my iPhone camera.

Some round bushes have gone an amazing red. I don't know if they do this every year and I just never noticed before, or if this is an especially good year for these bushes.

Also this week I am announcing the winner of a giveaway for Mike Dixon's book Wolf Wood. Thanks to everyone who entered. I entered the names of everyone to a Random Name Selector on my phone then pushed the button and Valentina came up as the winner. So Mike will be sending her a copy of his book.

Dreaming of France -- Fall in France

Please join this weekly meme. Grab a copy of the photo above and link back to An Accidental Blog. Share with the rest of us your passion for France. Did you read a good book set in France? See a movie? Take a photo in France? Have an adventure? Eat a fabulous meal or even just a pastry? Or if you're in France now, go ahead and lord it over the rest of us. We can take it.
The autumn is really kicking in here. Some of our best trips to France have been in the fall, so the weather makes me long for France.

Look, some empty chairs are waiting there for us in the Jardins des Tuileries.
What are you dreaming of today?

Pumpkin Cornucopia

That's it. Pumpkin products have "jumped the shark."
I mean, there was a time when pumpkin could be bought in just a few forms, the whole pumpkin for jack o lantern carving or the pre-made pie. Sure, you could get pumpkin in a can to make your own pie or pumpkin bread, but then somewhere along the line the products exploded.
I'll admit that a few weeks ago at Trader Joe's I did buy Grace some pumpkin spice coffee along with a box of pumpkin fruit and grain bars. I thought they were both rather exotic.
The next week, Earl and I sampled the pumpkin risotto. That was tasty too.
But when I went to Trader Joe's on Saturday, my senses exploded with pumpkin.

• Pumpkin cream cheese
• Pumpkin macarons
• Pumpkin and cranberry crisps
• Pumpkin Croissants
• Pumpkin Soup
• Pumpkin body butter (I wonder if you can eat it too?)
• Pita crisps with cranberries and pumpkin seeds
• Pumpkin biscotti
• Pumpkin butter (in a jar like peanut butter)
• Pumpkin chocolate mousse cake

The guy at the check out lane admitted they had about 16 new pumpkin products this week.
Yes, I did buy the pumpkin croissants, but only because Grace is home this weekend on mid-semester break.
I found a blog post where the writer taste tested many pumpkin products from Trader Joe's last year and graphed them according to most pumpkin-y to least pumpkin-y. You can find her blog at Serious Eats. This year, she would have even more products to sample.
I feel strongly that pumpkin has gone too far.
Gotten  too big for its britches, if you will.
It's like the former pep squad member who is suddenly crowned homecoming queen. This can only end in disappointment.
Meanwhile, the pumpkin croissants are rising on the stove and I'll let you know how those taste -- later.

Saturday Snapshot -- The Autumn Leaves

To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post on Alyce's blog At Home With Books. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.
I bet I'm not the only one in the northern hemisphere who decided it's time for an autumn leaves photo. Some of these I took early in the week, before wind and rain swept many away.

This little red-leafed tree stood guard over a pumpkin.

This little yellow-leafed tree nestled in the corner of a church wall, right under the steeple.

It may be hard to tell how brilliant the colors of this tree were.
But other people stopped to take pictures too.
 

Thanks for stopping by.



A Glimpse of Fall

I'm sitting on my front porch in my running clothes. I had a nice run this morning and now I'm grading papers. I love to sit with my computer on the front porch to hear the birds singing and watch the leaves flutter in the wind and reflect the sunshine.
But after I had settled, I had to go back inside for my fleece. Then I added some fuzzy socks on my bare feet and warmed up a cup of hot cocoa.
It's 59 degrees and is only supposed to reach 76 degrees today.
I love this perfect weather.

College Football

I know this is a strange confession to make, but I love college football. As a matter of fact, when Earl and I began talking about moving to France, one of the first things I wondered was whether I'll be able to watch college football on Saturday afternoons in France. I know! So stupid. Why would a person in France want to sit around and watch American boys hit each other and try to get the football to the end zone.
I grew up with two brothers and a dad who are sports fanatics. Football was always on during the weekends in the fall. When I went to college, first Eastern Kentucky then Wilmington, they both had good football teams and I went to the games on crisp afternoons to cheer on the teams.
Somewhere along the line, it became nearly an obsession. I root for Ohio State now. That's where Earl went and almost everyone in Ohio, including my two brothers, root for OSU. But I watch all the other games as well, calculating how a loss by the number five team could boost OSU's chance and move it up in the polls.
My boys love to watch too and Grace will come into the living room with a book so she can share the junk food snacks we munch. Inevitably, swim meets begin to interfere with college football Saturdays, and I'll find myself standing in an exercise room watching the game while my children swim in the nearby pool.
Then the season draws to a close much too soon and I have to wait another nine months before it comes around again.
Maybe it isn't just college football. Maybe it's the season. The fall is my favorite. The leaves start turning and the sky becomes the clearest blue ever. We walk through crunchy leaves and cook chili. We nestle under throw blankets on the couch and we all sit together rooting for our favorite team. Maybe I'm not obsessed with football but with those sights and sounds.
Even when I'm alone on a Saturday afternoon though, I turn on football, so I don't think I can claim it's merely family togetherness.
The first week of January brings the college football bowl games. After that, I look across the cold months of February and March then the entire spring and summer before football begins again.