FO Friday - Autumn Crochet Bunting

I'm so in love with the Half Lotus Bunting pattern that I found on Ravelry!  I've made three of them so far.  I posted one of them last week that I'd made for my daughter.  When I was making panels for that one, I was also making panels for an Autumn colored bunting.  I waited to post it because I thought it might look cute with crocheted acorns hanging from the ends of the strings.  I tried making some but they just don't look good with this thick yarn.  That's ok.  I love my Fall bunting anyway.  Here it is on my family room fireplace mantel...

I love it!

It's not Autumn yet but Fall is my favorite season.

So, why not enjoy it a little early and a little longer?!  : )

This project accomplished a little de-stashing.

But, have to admit that I bought a few colors for a better Fall look.  ;-) 

Excited for Fall

The extreme heat of this summer has stayed way too long.

I'm excited for Fall!  So, over the past few weeks, I've been doing some 

Fall-ish things in hopes of hurrying it along.

I bought some adorable Halloween decorations.

I'd like to find a spooky tree to decorate with these and others that I have.

And, wouldn't you know...usually I'm wondering why holiday things are out

so early...this year I'm wondering why they're so slow to show up.

I found these at Pier One (the cute characters) and Hobby Lobby (the glass balls).

When we saw New Belgium Brewery's Pumpkick beer we had to get some.

We visited their impressive brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado a few years ago.

We love trying their limited edition "Lips of Faith" series and their other seasonal brews.

My favorite, so far, was "Kick" a couple of years ago.  So, when I saw this had the word

"kick" in the name, I had to try it.  I'm glad I did!  It's yummy!

The label says it's brewed with pumpkin and cranberry juices and spices.

Sounds weird but it works!  Oh...and I had to find a football game a couple of

weeks ago to watch while I drank it.  Even though it was about 110 outside, I tried

to imagine cooler temps and my favorite season, Autumn.  Ahhhh!

Who knows?  Maybe it worked.  It finally cooled down this week and we haven't needed

to use the air conditioning for a couple of days now.  It's even cool enough to have the windows open!

Wooo hooo!  Yippee!

Sunday Escape

Last Sunday, hubby and I packed a picnic lunch and headed out for a Sunday Escape.  We drove up to Oak Glen.  It's a beautiful area nestled in the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California.  The weather was wonderful, the skies were brilliant blue and the trees were popping with color.  Finding fall color in Southern California can take some effort.  When we find it, it's an extra special treat. I was soaking it up as much as I possible could.  So gorgeous!

Oak Glen is famous for it's apple farms.  We stopped at two that day.  One was Snow-Line.  The little store that sells apples, cider, fresh made donuts and other fun stuff had a line coming out the door.  But, we were perfectly content just sitting under the beautiful trees.  It felt so peaceful up there.  Ahhhhh!

We brought Salsa with us and she seemed to be soaking up every precious moment of the day too...and every smell.  Notice the little sticks and dirt on her nose and tongue.  Such a cutie!  She managed to stay awake the entire day.  She only laid down in the back of the car for a few minutes on the way home but quickly popped back up to keep taking in the views through the windows.

Another apple farm we stopped at was Los Rios Ranch.  I've been going there since I was a kid!  I love that place.  It has wide open spaces, a cider mill with a big window to watch them pressing cider, an area to press your own cider, a great little store, and something we never realized they had until Sunday...hiking trails.  We had to check those out...

There were a lot of people there that day but it was beautiful.  I was lucky to get this shot with no one in it.  We'd like to go back on a weekday when it's not quite so crowded and enjoy the peaceful surroundings.

We saw some fuzzy seeds...

There was a little pond with a floating dock.  Pretty.

Oak leaves...my favorite...floating on the water.

There's a type of tree that grows teenie, tiny pine cones but it doesn't have pine needles...it has leaves! I wish I knew what it was called.  It grows where it snows and in the more deserty area like where I live.  There was one of these trees along a trail that was the biggest one I've ever seen.  It must have been pretty old because it was huge!  Check out the big clumps of baby pine cones...

Here's what they look like when they're all grown up.  So cute!

What a wonderful day we had!  It was so relaxing and I found myself letting out big breaths of stress the whole day.  I think it was just what I needed!  

We came home with three, big, one gallon jugs of fresh squeezed cider.  One for my dad for his birthday, one for us to drink, and one to make hard cider.  It's fermenting now!  Can't wait!  Yum!

I had a few more pictures I wanted to share, including some of a huge, wonderful, old chestnut tree.  However, Blogger keeps posting them sideways for some reason.  Hmmm?!  I guess I'll try to post those pics another day when Blogger is more cooperative.  

Fall in Zion

The vibrant colors in Zion National Park during Thanksgiving week were incredible and one of the highlights of our visit. We weren't sure if we were going to miss the colors since we were going so late in the Autumn season. So, imagine our surprise and delight after our night time arrival and waking up in the morning to colors like these...


As the breezes blew, the trees whispered those peaceful whoooshing sounds and leaves gently fell to the ground like giant snowflakes. They decorated the landscape, in the trees and on the ground. Zion was even more beautiful with all the extra color and magic of the leaves.


The bright yellows were so pretty with splashes of other colors...like orange! I love this scene at the visitor center with the colorful trees and the American Flag...






Breathtakingly, vibrant and beautiful color! I love, love, love it!




We just couldn't stop taking photos. I took over 550 and I think my daughter took at least that many.


A lemony yellow tree with a black, water stained, sandstone wall behind it...


Intense oranges...


Even the lichen was getting in on the fun...


Every step along the trails was filled with color and beauty. Check out the pinks...


How about some yellow lace?!...


The color combinations were fun to see and I imagined them in yarn! The greens, golds and tans on this part of the trail were pretty...


Oooohh....more red!...


Soo pretty!...


The colors weren't the only star of the show. The textures and shapes are beautiful too! Like these oak leaves on super fine, soft sand...


There were even a few flowers here and there. I saw some tiny purple ones and these little yellow ones...


There was even a little greenery like these ferns tucked into moist little crevices of the rocks...


Living in Southern California doesn't provide the huge amount of Fall color that Zion and other parts of the country usually see. So, this was a real treat. We have more color this Fall than usual but nothing like what we saw in Zion.

I think it's interesting that as much of the country's leaves are turning colors, dropping off and the landscapes are turning brown...and white with snow, my part of the country is turning green as the rains water the brown landscape and seeds begin to sprout. In the Spring, as our green landscape will die back to brown, much of the country will turn from brown to green. I love how nature gives us constantly changing beauty and such wonderful surprises when we take the time to look. Nature is AWESOME!