“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”

L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

It’s amazing how vibrant the fall colors are out here on our 5 acres. I’m not sure if this is a normal autumn or if this is a particularly splendid year. It takes my breath away almost daily, though I couldn’t enjoy it the past few days because it was so cold and blustery. I’m surprised there are any leaves left on the trees.

I took these photos last week. The colors are even better now.

For the first time ever, my husband and I are hosting the family Thanksgiving. I have hosted Thanksgivings in the past for friends who had nowhere else to go, but they were small affairs that only required a turkey breast. This time, I’m cooking a whole turkey for 7-8 people.

Of course, I realized after buying the turkey that I didn’t have a serving platter. I never really needed one before now. I wanted to get something vintage, so I went to shopgoodwill.com to look for a secondhand piece. I bid the minimum ($3.99 + shipping) on a gorgeous mid-century Noritake platter, and I won.

This platter costs $85 on the Replacements website, so I got an incredible deal.

In other news, we now have 4 apple trees. Three of them were cut down, and we’re hoping to get to the remaining ones here soon. We also lost a tree in our woods at some point last week, so we spent 4 hours last Saturday making firewood out of it.

We celebrated 19 years of marriage on Tuesday. It was a low-key celebration. Breakfast at Sunny Street Café, dinner and dessert at Olive Garden, and we watched the latest Downton Abbey movie. Mostly we just chilled at home, and I had a dental appointment in the afternoon.

We’ve now had a few frosts, so the flower garden is basically done now. I can’t remember it ever getting this cold this early. We even had sleet a couple days ago. Just glad I got to see a couple of garden friends before the cold snap. (The cosmos are all dead now.)

I have a decoupage project I need to get started on. I have this vision in my head of what it will look like when it’s finished, but the reality is hardly ever like my imagination. I’m not a super crafty person, but I did a few decoupage projects when I was a kid, so it can’t be too hard, right?

Anyway, if it turns out well, I’ll have two really cool pieces to hang in the kitchen — and I’ll post the results here. Fingers crossed!