Slow Day

 

Phone Wallpaper Freebie!

I've had this idea of living for an audience of One on my mind for months, maybe even a year or more! This last week, I was thinking of it again and decided to take a fun Fall photo and make a little wallpaper for my phone - maybe you will enjoy using it too?!

Homey Moments at the Apple Cottage

 

We enjoyed the cooler weather and some yummy coffee cake bread that Rachel made for our breakfast one morning! I know this may sound crazy but it was a joy to be able to wear a sweatshirt! There was a lovely neighborhood lake that we walked around many times as well and the last night, we hosted our friends for our traditional apple picking dinner of applesauce pancakes, hot cinnamon apples and bacon/sausage. It was just as yummy as ever!

Rachel made a cute Happy Fall banner!

I loved this little table with an enamel top - so cute! We are so grateful for the time that we had to get away for a short time last week - it always goes too fast, but then we start looking forward to next year!

This year, I was able to get 60 lbs of seconds - apples that are bruised or imperfect and were also half price! Saturday was a full day of work getting those all taken care of and everyone in our house helped at some points throughout the day. We made two quarts of apple butter and have another two quarts ready to start, an apple pie, 8 bags of apple pie filling and 50 cups of diced apples for muffins, oatmeal, etc. Everything except the apple butter went into the freezer! It feels so good to have all of that done and such an accomplishment for one day!

We still have apples in the fridge for eating and whatever else we decide to make, but they will last longer as they were not seconds and some were the ones we picked right from the trees!

What are your favorite things to make with apples?

At the Orchard

Last year, I wrote a fun post all about visiting the orchard and our senses! It is actually the first essay that I ever submitted to Bella Grace magazine, and while not accepted for publication, it is still a great descriptive of our orchard visits!

Of course things were different this year, I mean just about every sentence of 2020 could begin this way, right?! There were not cute baskets to pick our apples in, but we went with sweet friends and I am just so grateful that we were able to go and this was not one more cancellation.

I took the fewest photos I've ever taken on one of our visits to the orchard this year. I'm not really sure what happened, but I can only explain how I felt there as feeling car-sick with a bit of a delayed reaction. Would you believe I did not pick a single apple? After taking a few photos, I actually found a bench in the orchard and laid down until our sweet friends and Rachel went back to our car for water and Dramamine. I haven't felt car-sick since I was a little girl so it was very strange - but either way, I am grateful for how God provided even in such an unsettling situation. 

The girls took these next photos:

After some medicine and resting, we slowly walked back to the farm stand and had our picnic lunch! With help, we still had our beauty picnic as I knew that would perk me up to do something beauty-making! It was simple and sweet.

After lunch, we got everyone's annual photo by the How Tall This Fall sign! This always makes me think of my Dad because he used to look forward to seeing these -

Then we rode on the hayride and headed back to our cabin where I took a nap! Thanks for joining me on our trip to the orchard!