Ingrid says:

Beautiful images showcasing autumn!

steveknife says:

Just beautiful!

athousandbitsofpaper says:

Lovely images – we are going into spring here but a very dry one – happy Autumn

Anne Copeland says:

Autumn is a quiet time of preparation for things to come . Leaves fall from trees as the trees form new buds. Flowers appear to be asleep as within they will fully come into bloom in the early spring.

In California, the oranges and other citruses are just about ready to pick come December, and I know that I am thinking “It’s fruitcake weather,” remembering a favorite Christmas story by a man who was not largely known for his Christmas stories, but for true accounts of murders. This is a time when I start getting all my ingredients. Now a lot of folks have fallen out of love with an old American favorite, fruitcakes, but not me. A good fruitcake must be made in November, and then be soaked with rum or brandy to soak in for more than a month to be really delicious and rich, instead of one of those dried things masquerading as fruitcakes and filled with that dried and almost tasteless candied citrus fruit.

The fruitcake is not baking; it is a ritual. The ingredients are sacred and must be treated as such. There are the nuts, and they must still be in the shells, for those dried things in cellophane bags may seem like nuts, but they have lost their flavors, and every single ingredient has to have a special flavor all of its own to bring to the cake. You must spend the proper amount of time to bring the pieces of delicious nut out. Some people prefer walnuts, but in Texas, where I spent a lot of my youth, we had pecans, and so those are my nut of choice. Now dates must also be really delicious and soft and wonderfully chewy. Here in California, out near the border, dates have been grown for many years, and they are the dates I like. I suppose I could get some that may be shipped to some fancy store from Arabia, but that is too fancy, and it starts getting away from the sacred aspect. Dates were grown here along with camels, believe it or not. I guess the military thought that they would be good for dealing with the the dry climate, and also they would probably scare the Indians into going to New Mexico or Texas, thinking that something dreadful was happening to horses in California.

And even though I use dates, I also like to use figs, and they are plentiful in a couple of fig trees in this ancient senior mobile home park, believe it or not. I like to get them when they have begun to turn a dark color signifying that they are almost overripe. A good fruitcake must be really moist and chewy, each bite bringing such a rich flavor that you have to really force yourself not to ask for more, or sit ungracefully licking your plate. But we are not nearly through. Fruitcakes are NOT diet food.

We NEVER put dried candied citrus in a sacred fruitcake. But we will put more dried fruits, as it is, after all, a “fruit” cake. So dried apples, apricots, pineapple, and whatever other dried fruits you find at the local vegetable and fruit market that are still moist and wonderfully chewy will work, but use your imagination, and if you see one you have never heard of before, go ahead and add it to the mixture. It might just end up being that special ingredient that is needed for the sacred cake. And of course we add the spices, and those that come in jars are likely too old and stale from the minute you open the jar, to really put in that much needed touch. You need a good selection, and this is where you get to add all the old standards plus anything new that sounds good. Imagination is a critical part of any sacred fruitcake. And then you will use honey or molasses, or a combination and perhaps some brown sugar too. And you will add a touch of lemon juice. Remember, a true and sacred fruitcake has exotic flavors, so spend some time with this. This is your work of art to celebrate not only the autumn, but the time through the New Year.

Your flour and dry ingredients can be special if you want to make the fruitcake a true masterpiece of a lifetime, but this can also be flour and baking powder and a pinch of salt for good luck. Then you pick one of the nice deep baking pans that has a removable round side and you can cut a ring of baking paper to put on the bottom over a bit of oil to prevent it from sticking. You bake it in that pan, and you can put a flat baking pan with water in it – about an inch or so, to hold that pan, and you bake it for the correct amount of time. When you get it out, make sure you have eaten first so that you won’t start trying to pull pieces of it off into your mouth. Let the pan cool a bit and then when you are ready, you can put a flat pan on top of it with some wax paper under it and hold the pan as you turn it over. Then you can remove the side pan and the top. You can, before you slide it into a metal container with a lid deep enough to hold it and go ahead and pour over it when cool a good brandy or rum, or your favorite flavor of alcohol. After this, you can check the cake regularly to ensure that no human has taken a nip or bite or piece of it until around Christmas eve, when you can indulge yourself and your dearest ones. But remember that you want to have enough left over to serve up on New Year’s Eve. No, it isn’t the same if you make a bunch of them unless you are sending the extra ones out to friends. I hope that you make this one of your most memorable traditions each year instead of running from store to store trying to find things for gifts. Autumn is about creating memories, and celebrating the beginning of the sacred. Happy days.

teamfollowthrough says:

Beautiful!!!

Winnie says:

This is such a beautiful post! I love the beautiful photos.

edgarone2 says:

“place of beauty”

Your photos are rich and beautiful.

JanBeek says:

Our autumn ended in Sept. when the first snowfall turned green leaves brittle and they fell before the change to gold and orange could appear. We had to ATV up the mountain trails to enjoy the autumn colors. Thanks for sharing yours!

The Trainer RN Hood River says:

Thanks