Fall is Nature's Canvas

Portage Lakes - foggy Fall morning

Fall is a most beautiful season.  Watching the trees turn colors is a different painting every day.  The shapes of the leaves and colors lend to a magnificent vision against a blue sky backdrop.

I love everything about Fall (except raking leaves of course).  The smell of the air, the cool nights and mornings when I get to wear a soft warm sweater and the crunch of the leaves under my feet.  I love riding my bike on the trails in the Fall.

Some special memories of my Fall childhood growing up in Auburn, New York on the Finger Lakes

• The migration of the geese - watching the V formations and hearing them honk
• Making piles of leaves and jumping in them on the playground at Herman Avenue School
• Watching the sunsets move further south on the lakes
• The Flaherty kids (there were a bunch of them) and I would rake leaf pile outlines that we pretended were houses and play for hours
• Apple picking from the green apple tree in our yard.  My mom, sister and I would make homemade applesauce and pies
• Going to Hislop's and picking out my fall school clothes
• Collecting different leaves and putting them between wax paper (we would iron them) to save or take to school
• AHS football games and heading to Eddie's after the game
• Halloween - picking out and carving the pumpkins and planning our Halloween costumes
• Herman Avenue parade where we would parade around the school in our Halloween costumes
• Apple cider
• Maple sugar candy at the Trading Post

Maple Leaf bracelet for sale

Then I grew up and shared these memories and more with my children in Cincinnati

• Going to the pumpkin patch and riding the hay wagon
• Graeters pumpkin ice-cream
• Making our Halloween costumes
• Walking up to the haunted house in our Northside neighborhood and the kids trying to decide if this year they could make it all the way in
• Miami bike trail - stopping to see the chimpanzee on the trail along with the reward of Hawaiian ice after our ride
• Baking pumpkin cookies with chocolate chips
• Roasting pumpkin seeds - and trying different seasonings - garlic - sugar and cinnamon
• Stocking the bird feeder with seed to attract all the colorful birds

I have included a chili recipe.  Please forgive the measurements as it is my own and I don't measure.  I also try to use my garden produce.

Linda's chili

1 ear of corn

1 onion

Several tomatoes from the garden (peeled and chopped) or a can or two

1 package of italian sausage

l pound of ground turkey

Several garlic cloves

Black beans (I like the dry ones that I have soaked but in a hurry 1 can will do)

Red Kidney beans

Hot peppers

Assorted seasonings - cumin, oregano, thyme, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper - to taste

Roast the corn on the grill or take the kernels off and roast the kernels in a skillet. Set aside.  Cook the onion chopped, peppers chopped and garlic minced in a small bit of olive oil.  Set aside.  Cut the italian sausage in small pieces and cook the sausage and ground turkey - drain.

Add everything in a dutch oven or large heavy pot and cook for several hours on top of low heat.  You can also put this in a slow cooker.

Serve alone with cornbread or on top of cooked spaghetti (Cincinnati style) with grated cheddar cheese.

View our Fall Collection at our website at www.svintagecollection.com or shop at our store at http://www.etsy.com/shop/SVintageCollection.  All of our items are vintage - one of a kind.