Leaves A'Turning....

Autumn has definitely arrived here in western NC! (If spring has sprung, has fall fallen?)

The leaves have started turning...

and the fall festivals have begun!

Mom and I went to the Lunsford Festival, a small but fun event in Mars Hill, NC, held a few weeks ago. There were lots of people selling handicrafts and such, and of course, there was food! And when I say food, I mean FOOD. The local baptist church was making bbq:

How's THAT for a cooker?

Also loved their t-shirts. Heh.

We saw some other friends working on stirring a big cauldron:

What's in it? Only one of the best things ever invented:

Homemade apple butter!! YUM.

If you've never had real apple butter, especially with homemade biscuits...well...I just kinda feel sorry for you. ;)

In other food news, my aunt and I went to a quilt show last weekend. There were some real beauties there.

There was even a seasonally appropriate quilt!

But wait...what do quilts have to do with food? Well, I'll show you!

This was an entry in their junior category. Fun!

I liked this one too - good 3D illusion.

This one is an embroidered quilt with manatees, which has nothing to do with food. Hopefully. It's just pretty.

Also this little square seemed appropriate. :)

Anyway, all this deliciousness over the past few weeks inspired me to dig out the ol' baking sheet. I decided to do chocolate chip cookies to send to Noel and my friend Lisa, as well as try out a new recipe for old-fashioned molasses cookies. These didn't look promising.

Eeew.

Thankfully, 10 minutes in the oven made all the difference in the world, and Lisa reported that she loved them for their yummy spiciness. Yay!

On another tack, Animal News! We have a new neighbor!!

Isn't he cute? I couldn't get a better picture because he runs into his burrow (which is right beside the driveway.) I was dorkily thrilled over having a neighborhood groundhog. :)

The boys are doing fine, enjoying the cooler weather, because that means space heater time! And they love their space heater. :) We've also been prepping for Halloween, which involves digging out the Halloween DVDs.

Poe loves Garfield.