simple things...

It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.  

~Laura Ingalls Wilder

One of the sweet pleasures of  the season is the fall blooming clematis...

with it's heavenly scent.

The bees thinks so too.

Crisp apples from the garden...

another simple pleasure of the season.

As of today...

only the red ones remain.

It quite fun to pick five varieties of apples from one wee tree!

Though we haven't found much pleasure in the downpours we had this week...

a few wee drops on a leaf look quite lovely.

If enough people think of a thing and work hard enough at it...

I guess it's pretty nearly bound to happen...

wind and weather permitting.

  ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder

There are enough people thinking of getting our fall cropping completed...

and working hard towards it...

and if the weather permits...
the last crop of grass for this year will soon be in the barns.
They cut well into the evening yesterday.

There is sunshine in the forecast.

We have hope.

the diaper cake recipe...

It's been months since I made it...the cake for Lucy's baby shower.  Buying the supplies was easy...putting it all together was fun...but finding instructions was the hardest part.  So I'll do my best to pass along the recipe as best I recall...for those of you who asked.

Ingredients:

• 100 brand name disposable diapers...more or less.
• scrap ribbon to tie each tier
• 2" wide decorative ribbon to wrap the tiers
• narrower co-ordinating ribbon to top wide ribbon
• glue gun
• cake topper (teddy bear)
• co-ordinating goodies to attach to cake
• round pizza pan
• soup can or pop bottle...or anything round 
• doweling
• stick pins (use to secure ribbon while gluing)

For three tiers, use the following proportions: Tier 1 - 48 diapers / Tier 2 - 32 diapers / Tier 3-20 diapers.  Each tier should be about 1/3 smaller than the one beneath it.

 Method:

1. Place a round bottle or can in the middle of a pizza pan.
2. Working with forty diapers, begin by laying the first few on end and fanning them around the bottle.  Continue working, adding more and more diapers in pinwheel fashion around the centre, until 36 are used.
3. Tie tightly around the middle with a length of scrap ribbon.
4. Remove bottle from the middle, and stuff with remaining four diapers.
5. Repeat for the second tier, using 28 diapers, and four in the centre.
6. Repeat with third tier, using 16 diapers, and four for the centre.
7. With scrap ribbon securing the tiers, go back and straighten out diapers to ensure even spacing.
8. Measure out lengths of  decorator ribbon, allowing two inches overlap for each tier.
9. Cut the ribbon, wrap around tier (over scrap ribbon) securing with stick pins.
10. Glue the ribbon TO ribbon (not to diapers).
11. Once glue has hardened and cooled, remove stick pins.
12. Untie and pull out the scrap ribbon.
13. To add a second layer of narrower ribbon, glue directly onto wide ribbon.
14. Assemble the layers. 
15. Put a doweling  (cut to length) through centre to hold tiers together.
16. Now the fun part...decorate as you choose!  (Use floral picks or double-sided tape to secure decor items.)

I used flowers made from baby socks...washcloths rolled up...baby spoons and pacifiers...and topped the cake with a knit Teddy.  Place cake on a large round cake tray...and 'serve it up'.

homespun...

Before the rains arrived to wash it all away...

...we had a gallery of woven threads to enjoy out here.

In the morning fog...

...every spider's work became a masterpiece.

I was about to mow the lawn...
and decided to document the webbing before destroying it.

I'm not that fond of spiders...

but they do a lovely work.

If only they would stay on the shrubs...
and the greens...
and away from 'my front porch'.