Falling

Does anyone else's heart beat faster with the first hint of crispness in the air? Fall has finally made an appearance here in sunny Southern California, and it's lovely and cool and I can finally wear tights and boots and sweaters and scarves. Even better, it's cool enough to bake turning the kitchen into a hothouse, so I can start making shortbread and cookies again on a regular basis. I'm especially excited to try this scrumptious looking recipe for Chocolate Earl Grey Tartlets from this blog. A cup of coffee, a chocolate tart, and a cloudy afternoon- what could be more perfect?

Bluebells

"The house they had built was quite modest--it even had a thatched roof--but their gardens soon became one of the wonders of the land. It was said that Abdullah had help in their design from at least one of the Royal Wizards, for how else could even an Ambassador have a bluebell wood that grew bluebells all the year round?" -Castle in the Sky, Diana Wynne Jones
I know it's fall, and I love fall, but these images from Bright Star and I Capture the Castle keep popping into my head. I love bluebells--I don't even think they grow in this part of California, but they're one of my favorite flowers, and I wish I could have a bluebell wood that grew bluebells all year round. Wouldn't it be lovely to wander about at dusk with a lantern lighting your way and revealing that perfect, autumn-sky blue around your feet?

Kindred Spirits (Time Travel Edition)

Thanks to Ken Burns' new documentary The National Parks, I've discovered another person whom I intend to befriend once I have my time machine up and running. Her name was Margaret Gurkey (I'm not sure about that spelling of her last name), and she and her husband traveled around the U.S. visiting National Parks nearly every year of their marriage, beginning in 1915 and continuing into the 30's and 40's. They began by taking the train, but quickly moved on to car travel and camping. Along with a succession of dogs, they criss-crossed the nation, taking in the scenery from Maine to California. Margaret's goal was always to get away from the crowds and experience what she referred to as the silence of the woods. At times this required a certain amount of adventure- rough roads, no easy access to supplies or assistance in an emergency, being at the mercy of the weather- and Margaret admitted that at times their decisions weren't exactly in line with common sense, but in her words, "to be sensible is to be commonplace, and to be commonplace is unpardonable."