Busy, busy...

Dearest friends and readers, I've had a hard time getting back into blogging (as you have probably noticed), not because I have lost interest, but because I have been very busy with lots of fun things.

Here's the reason:

Fall has started making an entrance, even if only very cautiously here in the south. It's still quite warm out, so how can I tell?

Well, the first sign in our garden is the fig tree losing its leaves. The first years I thought it had some disease every time, because it is the first tree to lose its leaves every fall. By now I know it is the signal that the long summer is coming to a close.

A few leaves have started turning color (although the real gorgeous fall colors don't arrive here until November) and our beautyberry bush is producing the most intensely colored berries.

But...summer hasn't left yet either and I have been indulging my zinnia love every day! Daniel just threw out some seeds in June or July and our garden is filled with them now.

 So many that I can have beautiful bunches of flowers in the house all the time.

These photos also show a few of my favorite things. The tiny blue vase we got at an art fair, the dragonfly fetish we bought on the Zuni Indian reservation, the beautiful green ceramic piece Daniel brought from Minneapolis a few years ago,...

... a pretty little candle holder we brought back from Oaxaca, Mexico and my new favorite tea cup my sister-in-law sent me for my birthday.

Speaking of fall, it makes me want to make things. Every year I get this urge to be über-creative around this time of the year and this year I've been indulging fully. Daniel will spend a couple of months teaching in the south of France this winter where it can get very (very!) cold. So I knit him a hat and scarf to keep him nice and toasty with gorgeous wool yarn I bought in Münster on our last visit. Turned out nicely, don't you think?

I've also been trying some new things such as making pickled okra and bread & butter pickles.

The pickles are delicious and the okra I just made yesterday, so we have to wait a little before tasting it. Canning things has always intimidated me, but this year was the year to just forge ahead and do it. It all went perfectly!

My inspiration? My dad who decided he was going to learn how to preserve all the different kinds of plums in his garden. He made enough jam to last him through the entire year until the next harvest! And then some...

Also yesterday, I sewed my first pillow complete with piping around the edge. It turned out beautifully. I'm going to make another one this week. Sewing always seems like such a big deal to me until I actually sit at the sewing machine - then I just love it!

I promise there will be more pictures of Europe, but for now I had to show you all the things that delight me around here. Life truly is good!

Wishing you all a most wonderful week!!

❧ Silke