Fall Leaves - Free Images

 Leaves 1 (direct link to Dropbox file)

How's it going, fabulous peeps? I went for a walk yesterday as it was finally decent enough to do so. I saw so many beautiful leaves and I just couldn’t help picking some up along the way. I wondered how they would scan, and the answer is, they look AWESOME! I just had to share them with you. I’ve made them transparent PNG files, so you can layer them on othe backgrounds, or if you want to get fancy, you can pull individual leaves out using Photoshop or equivalent.

Leaves 2 (direct link to Dropbox file)

Use these however you want. GO NUTS. And feel free to put links in the comments so we can see your fab creations. Just be forewarned - these are large images (about 11MB each).

Happy Fall!

p.s. Check out Flickr for a few individual images.

Extra Hour!

 Here it is. Best day of the year (kinda). DST ends and we get an extra hour. Super awesome. So what did you do with yours? Here's a glance at what Casa Luna did on this beautiful Sunday, November 3rd.



I made some red beans and rice. It was go-ooood. I forgot that we didn't have regular rice, but I did have sushi rice (don't ask me why - I've never made sushi). So technically we had red beans and sticky rice. Still go-ooood.

The kitties' day looked something like this. Floyd was outside most of the day, enjoying the sunshine. Can't blame him. He came to say hi, then headed towards the tree…



...where he got "that look" on his face.



I knew what was coming next.



Yep. Climbing the tree. He's gotten WAY farther up that that before. I saw him chase a squirrel up a tree the other day. Crazy kitty.


Gir was on the couch taking a bath between naps.





Malcom was napping in the super special kitty bed/box.





"Hey."


 Kaylee was also napping (shocker) but she was in the front room on "her" couch.



She did get up though. Had to say hi and also see what was going on outside.




This was.



Dwight, with his extra hour, spent most of it outside cleaning up the leaves. It's a job and a half!


Then Kaylee spotted the tie on my hoodie and just had to play.



"Gr-RRR." She's vicious!


Caught up with Floyd again, still outside, this time taking a bath while sitting on the hot tub (remind me to tell you about the time he took a bath IN the hot tub).





And behind him, Dwight was finishing up the leaves…three hours later.



That man is dedicated. Hey, I helped some. Honest.

Bee Butts

So the hummingbirds have left for the winter, but there are still critters taking advantage of the sugar water. These bees have been gorging themselves on the last of the nectar.

Butts in the ay-yair, like they just don't ca-yair.

And there's some stupid bug languidly swimming INSIDE the feeder. It somehow managed to get all the way inside the drink holes and swim up into the main reservoir. Death by sugar, very slowly. Poor bastard.

Wordless Wednesday — More Fall Color

From my walk on Sunday.

Fall Colors

I just had to take photos of these beautiful leaves after I acquired them on a walk last Thursday. I couldn't help but pick up a leaf that caught my eye.



Then one turned into five, which turned into 15.



They were so pretty I just couldn't help myself. Leaves are changing fast and furious around here, and falling will equal vigor.



I hate to see them go, knowing that means winter is whispering in the background.



By my goodness, it certainly is breathtaking while it happens. Isn't fall wonderful?

p.s. I saw some leaves move in our sad looking flower garden and knew it wasn't the wind. I went to investigate and found this little tree frog and his buddy. And by "buddy" I mean "dinner," at least that's what I assume Mr. Frog wanted with Mr. Bug. I got too close for Mr. Frog's comfort so he hopped off just after I took this photo.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

As much as I hate to admit it, summer is coming to a close. Some might say it's over. I say, "Shut up" because even though I do love fall, it's far, far too short. And then it's winter. But I'm going to go all Scarlett O'Hara and not think about that right now. Let's focus on the joy that is fall.

Cooler temps, no more A/C, windows open, and fall flavors. They are my favorites. Warm, spicy, inviting. So with that in mind, I did some baking last weekend and had some leftover cinnamon cream cheese buttercream frosting. What's a girl to do? Make caramel apple cupcakes, of course.

While these were very good — I had some really nice complements from my co-workers — I will be tweaking the recipe, mostly having to do with the caramel. I used Werther's soft caramels, and while they melted nicely in the oven, they set back up once cooled creating a much more solid caramel experience that I would have liked. Even so, they were super tasty, so here's the recipe.




Yellow Cake
This is basically 1-2-3-4 cake cut in half. I didn't have lots of frosting left over 
and didn't need a ton of cupcakes just lying around.

Ingredients
1 stick (1/2 cup/4 oz) butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsps baking powder
1/2 cup milk

Filling
Apple preserves
Caramels

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cupcake pans with liners.
2. In separate bowl, whisk flour and baking powder together.
3. In large mixing bowl or bowl of stand mixer, beat butter until smooth. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, scraping sides of bowl as necessary. This will take a few minutes.
4. Add eggs one at a time, beating for at least 1 minute between, scraping bowl before adding each egg. Add vanilla and beat until combined.
5. Add milk and beat well. Ditto for the flour. Beat until light and fluffy.
6. Scoop into prepared cupcake tins, filling 2/3 to 3/4 full.
7. Place 1 heaping teaspoon of preserves in the center of each cupcake. Place 1 caramel on top of the preserves pressing lightly to flatten the batter slightly.
8. Bake for 15-20 minutes until tops are lightly brown.
9. Cool in pans on racks for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks before frosting.


Cinnamon Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
This recipe made enough to generously frost approx 24 cupcakes. If you find yourself with leftovers, I was thinking it would be amazing on cinnamon rolls or pancakes.

Ingredients
4 oz (1/2 block) cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick (4 oz) butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp Penzey’s Cake Spice (or just add more cinnamon)
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions
Beat butter thoroughly until smooth. Scrape bowl and add 1 cup sugar beating thoroughly. Add vanilla; beat. Add remaining 2 more cups sugar and mix until combined. Add cream and beat on high until light and fluffy. This will take a few minutes and you’ll need to scrape the bowl a few times during the process. If the mix seems too thin, add more sugar a little at a time until it reaches piping consistency. If it’s too thick, add more cream (or milk).


Printable recipe here.

The Down Side of Fall

You know why they call autumn "fall"? Because of this:


The leaves fall. And this year, they all decided to fall at once. One day, the trees were full of brightly colored leaves. The next—bare, or nearly so. Not only does that make the landscape instantly bleak and barren, it also means we have a lot a work to do.

Dwight did the front yard yesterday, and the two of us worked on the back yard today.




After I repeatedly took his picture, Dwight said it was my turn, and he had a request. He wanted me to pose like Edgar in Men in Black. You know the picture Will Smith picks up from the table at Edgar's house? The one of Edgar posed in hunting clothes with a gun on his hip? Yeah, that's the one. So I struck a pose:


I think I did a pretty good job. Although, for authenticity's sake, I probably should have removed the ear buds.

We piled it up to burn, but the leaves were so wet, we mostly produced smoke.


It did create some cool effects with the sun streaming through it.


We made good progress, leaving just a few piles to dump tomorrow. We decided to ditch the attempt at burning and pile them up in the wooded area behind the yard.


Now about this lamp post:

We call it our "Narnia light," a tribute to the C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia. It's there for security reasons, though. I prefer the literary reason; it's a lot more fun!

Fall is Knocking

To paraphrase Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, "My! Seasons come and go so quickly here."

Just a week ago we were enjoying some unseasonably hot weather. Summer still seemed in full swing. But as often happens here, mother nature decided to pull back the curtain and reveal that, yes indeed, Dorothy—I mean, Kelly—summer is at an end.

It's not like it's suddenly 60 degrees and we're busting out jackets and sweaters. We're enjoying gorgeous weather. It's just that feeling, like a switch has flipped and things are changing.

Don't get me wrong—I love the fall. Cooler temps, opening the windows and abandoning the AC; the turning of the leaves and the glorious scents associated with it—spice, warmth, apples. But it's so painfully short. Summer might seem like it passes in the blink of an eye, but fall often does. It quickly gives way to the pall of winter—bare, cold, dark.

But let's not think about that right now. No sense borrowing trouble, as they say. For now, I'll relish the present and enjoy this changing of the guard.