Ramblings from the Homeplace

A chilly evening here in the South !!! YEAH YEAH!!!  Can you tell I am so excited?  I just love Fall/ Winter and I am so ready for the temps to cooperate with the season.  I know,, the 7 day forcast shows us getting back into warmer temps. but for tonight and the weekend I can pretend the cooler temps are here to stay.

Yesterday was Darbee Rae's 4th birthday.  What a bad Nana I was not to make a post and wish her Happy Birthday.  But I did call her early in the morning and sang to her.  She had a fun day with a party at daycare and last evening along with her parents and her other Grandmother, Papa and me joined them in Fayetteville at Chunky Cheese for a fun filled evening.  She is having a big bash on Sat. so tonight I am just going to share two pictures with you.  The  one on the left was when she was 2 weeks old ready for her first Halloween.

And on the right , just before our night of fun on her 4th birthday.  She is so proud to be four.  She told anyone who spoke to her yesterday, she was a big girl and she was 4. 

Monday morning I had taken a project out on the porch and was sitting there listening to  the water feature Mr. P has in the yard and the maillady  stopped at our mailbox.  She sat there a few minutes and then pulled off to the side of the road and came up the walk.  Now,,,, I smelled the package she had in her hand before she reached my front steps. Really, it smelled wonderful, and she commented on that fact.  I laughed and told her I had no idea who it was from , but it had to be tarts or candles.  I bet she really hated to leave  the package  with me because it had to make her mail truck smell good too.

Shirlee over at Farmhouse Ponderings was so generous and gifted me with all these wonderful  tarts and so many different yummy scents.  I was so touched by her generosity.  She had sent a package to me (posted in a previous post) and had included a few tarts.  Those were the most wonderful tarts I have ever burned and lasted such a long time in the burner.  She gave the e-mail address to me of the lady she purchases them from and decided to share with me until I can get my own.  You should smell my house tonight... prim , cozy, and simply delicious. 

Smelling those tarts before I had even seen them put my old brain to thinking.  How we take our senses for granted.  True, I had rather loose my sense to smell than my sight, but what would life be without the smells we are so familiar with  in our daily lives?

How many times have we walked into a primitive shop and the aroma of a tart or candle makes us feel so comfortable and puts us in a shopping mood?  Often times that smell becomes the ice breaker between us and the shopkeeper as we ask what scent that is and  does she have it in stock?  I have so often purchased the item I smelled in  the shop in hopes of making my home smell that welcoming once I returned from my shopping.

The smells of fall, what could smell better?  Apples cooking in the kitchen, whether it be apple butter,  sauce, bread,  muffins, cake, or apple dumplings the scent gives us a feeling of comfort. And we can not forget all the recipes that are available for pumpkin this time of year.  Hot, spicy and yummy. Do we ever stop to think would these foods taste as good if we could not smell them while baking in the oven or cooking on the stove top?

The smells of cotton candy, hot dog stands and corn dogs at the county fair?  Smells that we have grown to enjoy since our childhood.  And all the craft fairs we attend in the fall.  There is funnel cakes, kettle corn, curly fries, all the smells that we associate with that particular outing. 

And not only are there smells of food, the smell of fresh cut firewood and kindling awaiting the first fire of the season.  The smell of leaves burning after a morning of raking  and a the smell of a fresh cut hay field.

Yes, one could go on and on with our favorite smells.  But do we think what life would be without them?  I am going to try this season to march to a much slower pace and enjoy the simplest of gifts, the gift of smell.  I am beginning as I type. One of my favorite smells of fall.....

Yes, tonight we are having our first fire in the fireplace.  It is warm and cozy inside and the aroma of coffee brewing in the kitchen is drifting in the room.  Tonight  life is good here at the homplace.  Wish you all were here to share it with Mr. P. and I.  But since you are cozy in your own homes,, won't you share with me your favoirte smell of the season? Tonight I am thankful for the gift of smell.

Until next time.......