HERE COMES SEPTEMBER!

Hello, September. This is one of our most energetic months as summer fades and autumn sneaks up on us. Our nights turn cooler and our days are crisp. We stash our summer clothes and dig out our fall garments—jeans, flannel shirts, sweaters, and light jackets. Best of all, we get to take a walk and look for trees and bushes with colorful leaves turning to scarlet, gold, or orange. If we’re lucky we’ll see geese winging their way south or see a squirrel scurry over the ground as it searches for acorns and seeds.

September heralds a season when an assortment of activities now fill our lives. It’s apple picking time. It’s a trip to our farmer’s market, filled with pumpkins, winter squash, carrots, and peaches. We clean out our garden and flowerbeds. And let’s not forget that the cooler weather chases us willingly back to the kitchen for baking cakes, cookies, donuts, and pies. The scent of cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla swirl in the air. 

Below I’m featuring an apple treat. This is an old recipe I copied from my mother’s handwritten notebook of her most loved recipes.

Nobby Apple Cake                                                           

6 TBSP butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups sifted flour
6 cups diced apples
½ cup chopped nuts
2 tsp vanilla

Cream margarine, sugar and eggs;
Sift dry ingredients together and add to creamed mixture
Stir in diced apples, nuts and vanilla
Pour into greased pan. 

Bake: 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

I prefer to lightly ice my cake with just a plain thin layer of vanilla frosting.
Great with ice cream or whipped cream or plain.

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HERE COMES AUGUST!

“August rain: the best of the summer gone, 

and the new fall not yet born. The odd uneven time. 

                                                                                                     ~Sylvia Plath 

 

Here she come comes…August and her last days of summer. I don’t know how those days flew by so fast. My husband saw some sumac changing to red on one of his many jaunts around the area. For many, myself included, it’s one of the harbinger of fall.

 

And who doesn’t think summer is sliding to an end when our local Clearfield County Fair gets underway? If you are anywhere in the vicinity of the fairgrounds during fair week, you can smell its presence. The sweet smell of cotton candy and waffles dunked in sugar wafts in the air with the flavored smoke of hamburgers, hotdogs, beef, and hot sausage cooking on burners under the concession stands. Anyone who owns land near the fairgrounds have lawns and driveways that look like parking lots. Children gather in groups to lose their money on games of chance or to ride any fast moving mechanical apparatus that swings its riders high into the air and twirls them around and around.                                                                                                             

Speaking of lawns in Central Pennsylvania, they are morphing into shades of light brown—which means less mowing, less gasoline consumed, and less work. Scott is not heartbroken over this occurrence, even though he agrees a thunder storm once in a while is a welcome relief from the heat we’ve been having. 

 

August is the month of reaping what we sow. Tomato plants, scattered around in my flowerbeds, are dressed in bunches of still green tomatoes. But if you’re lucky, you can find a handful of small red cherry ones to whet your appetite or to use for a treat on your salad. Why do the flavor of fresh juicy tomatoes from the garden taste better than any you can buy at a store?

This year, we tried a bucket garden again, concentrating on spices. We now have parsley, lemon thyme, rosemary, sage, mint, along with two buckets of marigolds and a bucket of lettuce. I also have chives in a bed and a container of basil on our patio. What get used the most? Ironically, it’s the chives that come up each year without fuss or coaxing. 

 

For some odd reason, instead of writing, my wandering mind and body heads off to do other chores that need my attention. I think it’s called procrastination. It’s one of my many talents. Do you have an activity or special summer chore you put off despite the nagging of a little voice inside your head? 

 

I’m always curious to hear how others enjoy the end of the summer season. Drop me a line in the comment section below. And, let’s enjoy August as summertime in all her sunny glory abdicates and autumn splendor ascends the throne next. 

 

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